The Hub

Hello there! I discovered this cool group by seeing reviews and newsletters by group members, and I've been thinking about applying to become a member! I came upon a question, though, and wondered if it's okay for folks to just pop in and talk.

If not, feel free to delete this!

If it's okay, my question is this: I've been submitting work to pro-rate fantasy and science-fiction publications (Daily Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, Strange Horizons, etc.) lately and, of course, have been amassing rejection letters. But I realized that I don't know what a standard rejection letter in this particular genre is supposed to look like and wanted to get some feedback from folks who have more experience.

I wrote a note on the newsfeed about it here: "Note: THE MOST EXCITING THING JUST HAPPENED, I THINK? ..." because I think I received something ever-so-slightly more personalized than the usual, highly-polished, mass-produced rejection, and from a magazine that explicitly states that it no longer writes personal critiques but may "comment very briefly" if something "almost works" for them. It's vague, certainly, to say the story was "well written," but the comment was, at the very least, directed at my story and slightly personalized? I think?

I guess, my question to veterans of the genre and veterans of submitting work to these sorts of places is... what should I expect? Should I feel encouraged by the minuscule note I received on this rejection or just take it as "rejection-as-usual"?