Dear Contributor:

Thank you very much for letting us see the enclosed submission. Unfortunately it does not suit the needs of the magazine at this time.

Your submission has been read by an editor, but the press of time and manuscripts (approximately 850 per month) does not permit personal replies or criticism. For your general information, though, most stories are rejected because they lack a new idea of theme. A great many of the ideas that may seem innovative to an SF newcomer are in fact overfamiliar to readers more experienced in the field. The odds greatly favor this being the case of this rejection.

Another common cause (all too common, we're afraid) of rejection is the obvious lack of basic English compositional skills on the part of the author. By this we mean that the writer has misspelled or misused everyday words, and/or mispunctuated same. Stories are rejected on this basis because a writer must be familiar with the tools of his or her trade, just as an electrician or carpenter must.

Finally, your story may have been rejected, not because it lacked a new idea, or was misspelled or mispunctuated, or because the writing was not "professional" enough, but simply because it failed to rise far enough above the other 849 seen that month.

Sincerely,
Gardner Dozois
Editor

Here is my most favourite, from Aboriginal SF:

Dear Contributor,

Believe it or not, we hate to reject stories. We'd rather buy them. We have all been writers and have had stories rejected, so we know what it feels like.

Do not take this rejection badly. Often stories are good, but not suitable for a particular magazine. Some stories we have rejected have been accepted and published elsewhere, just as we have published stories other publications haven't liked.

Normally, we do not buy fantasy, horror, Twilight Zone-type stories or sword & sorcery. We prefer science fiction stories 2,500 to 5,000 words long, occasionally longer. We also prefer strong plots, interesting and unique characters, crisp dialogue, authentic settings, and original ideas, not to mention good writing. Because we get too many manuscripts to give each a personalized reason for its rejection, we have listed some of the most common reasons below. Please remember that another editor or publication may like the story or have different reasons for not accepting it.

• It's too expository, too much explanation, or explanation disguised as dialogue — needs tighter prose.
• The idea has been used before. (It's even been used in a (yuck) movie or TV show.)
• The characters aren't alive or are too bland.
• The plot doesn't begin soon enough. The plot isn't strong enough.
• The setting doesn't seem compelling or real enough.
• The prose could be tighter, with crisper images.
• It's not plausible enough. You need to make the reader suspend disbelief.
• We can't read Alpha Centaurian, please resubmit it in English.

Please feel free to try again with a different submission. If you aren't a subscriber, we do recommend reading an issue or two of the magazine to get a better understanding of the stories we publish.

Sincerely,
Charles C. Ryan
Editor