“Thanks for sharing this—it's perfect in spirit for this project, but we received over 200 poems every week, over 100 about the Baltimore riots and maybe 50 about the earthquake—and I can only pick one.”
—A rejection from a Rattle Poetry in the News submission

“…we are currently reading over 400 poems a week…. We accept less than 2% of all submissions.”
—Tar River Poetry

__________________

The reality of submitting poetry to literary journals is that there are so many incredible poets doing it, and editors only have so much room in their magazines. All of us are inevitably going to face rejection in the writing world, and if we’re equipped to hit it head-on, we won’t be beaten down when we get that first “thanks but no thanks” letter. And bracing ourselves for rejection, or reframing it as proof of effort, makes us better writers in the long run.

Magazines typically accept less than 1% of the submissions they receive. In Submittable (as of March 2026), my rate of acceptance versus rejections is 174/1801, making my acceptance rate  about 10%. I find that knowing this motivates me to submit more—for about every 10 pieces I send in, one will probably be accepted.

Editors are looking at thousands of submissions and can’t always provide feedback or respond personally to submissions. You’ll often see editors acknowledge this in a rejection letter. But if you volunteer to work on a literary magazine (which I highly recommend), you’ll quickly come to understand their perspective. I have read for a few magazines and contests, and when I have, I notice how quickly overwhelmed I can become. It doesn't take long for me to engage or disengage with a poem. Patterns begin to appear:

• Careless errors
• Misnaming the editor or reader
• Not following the submission guidelines
• Stylistic or aesthetic differences (readers are subjective with subjective tastes! And that's OK, but this is why magazines tell you to read before you submit; you may quickly realize just how much they vary in aesthetic interests.)

Understanding these patterns can help improve the likelihood of your work not being rejected. 

 

Why Was My Work Rejected?

Here are the most common reasons a literary journal may pass on your work:

• You didn’t follow the guidelines: With so many submissions received that do follow the guidelines, it sets a poor first impression when a submission does not follow the guidelines—and gives an easy excuse for a reader to reject. I know if I see a submission that doesn't follow the guidelines, I wonder:  if someone didn’t take the time to read my instructions, will it really be a good fit for the magazine?
• It’s just not a good fit for this magazine (arguably the most common reason for rejection): The reality is that magazines are run by humans, whose tastes are subjective, and poetry can be a particularly subjective field. A poem may be incredible, but it’s not in line with the editors’ or the magazine’s values, or doesn't work well alongside the other accepted pieces. Magazines are a curation of pieces that speak in conversation to one another. If you read a magazine and could see your piece in conversation stylistically, aesthetically, or even thematically with the other pieces, it's certainly worth submitting! But if you don't engage or resonate with previous issues' poems, it may not be worth submitting. There are plenty of other literary magazine fish in the sea.
• Wrong timing: Sometimes editors love a piece, but they’ve already accepted a piece similar to yours (e.g., “We already have a lot of poems on lighthouses”).  If you receive this rejection, do not lose heart. It means you’ve found an editor who values your work, so resubmit next time!
• We’ve already accepted a poem from you: Some magazines only accept one piece per author per issue. If that’s the case, congrats for your acceptance!
• You’ve been unkind, rude, or uncommunicative about a simultaneous submission: Editors are people, and literary magazines are a labor of love. If your poem is accepted elsewhere, please make sure to communicate with any magazines that were also considering the piece. Do not reply to the rejection unless they invite a resubmission, or if they have a note that they’re happy to provide feedback on why your work wasn’t accepted (rare). Definitely do not argue with them about their decision!

 

What does my Rejection Letter mean?

It’s very important to read a rejection letter carefully before throwing it out! We have a tendency to feel that because our work’s not being accepted at this time that there’s nothing valuable in the rejection letter.

But I like to think of a first submission to a journal as a first date. The rejection letter isn’t necessarily a no to a second date. In fact, many editors use the rejection letter as a place to say, “This piece didn’t fit, but please submit again in the future.” You don’t want to overlook that invitation in a moment of despair!

Here are some things I look for when I receive a rejection letter:

• “I really liked X poem”: Is there a personalized note? Sometimes an editor will add to a form rejection a note like: “I really liked X poem.” It may not seem like much, but it’s a sign that your work was noticed and that this might be a good home for future work. And if a piece is mentioned by name, I always make a note (I use Notion to keep track of when to submit, and rejection feedback in Omnifocus to search when I resubmit) so when I resubmit, I can look for poems that are similar aesthetically or stylistically.
• “We would welcome a resubmission with edits”: Are they asking for a resubmission with changes? Some writers are discouraged by this, either not wanting to change their original work or perhaps questioning their own work. But this is actually great news! It means the editors feel your work is so noteworthy that they’re willing to take the time to help make it a good fit for their magazine! Take a look at the changes—often they’re very minor. And if you aren’t comfortable with their edits, you have the option to politely decline.
• “We have to turn down many great submissions” vs “Thanks for thinking of us…find a home elsewhere?” If a magazine specifically mentions “elsewhere," they may feel like you two are not the best match stylistically—and that's OK! It may mean you should focus your efforts on other magazines. However, if a magazine encourages you to resubmit work in the future, or apologizes for having to turn down “so many great submissions,” it’s worth submitting again. Editors aren’t required to tell you to submit again, so if they say it, they mean it.

The Pros of Rejection

You may be asking: if the odds are statistically low, why bother with submitting? Why bother facing rejections? I'd like to highlight a few reasons why rejection is good for us:

• Rejection can invite connection. The poetry world is small in many ways. It continues to live through persistence and love. The poetry community can be so incredibly generous. Some of my closest allies and friends in the poetry world came from acceptance and rejection letters from early litmag submissions, people who took the time to provide thoughtful feedback and encourage me to keep going even if they couldn't accept my piece at that time.
• Rejection demands reflection. Some readers will provide comments. I like to examine these comments, as well as the response certain poems get (Are they getting encouraging rejections? Almosts? Or consistent form letters?). Do the comments give any explicit feedback or suggestions? Do those comments help further or clarify the work my poem is trying to do? Or do they suggest the reader wants a different poem than my intent? Ultimately, feedback only is worthy of implementing if it furthers our goals with our work. If it doesn't, it can be tossed aside. But when I have a poem that is getting little engagement, or frequent "almosts," it's an opportunity for me to revisit that poem and ask if it's doing the strongest work it can do, and if not, what I can do to push it even further. In this way, rejections have helped me develop some of my strongest work.
• Rejection demands persistence. At perhaps the lowest of low of my writing career, when my agent parted ways with me, an author friend told me, “This is when most people would give up." Studies show that particularly women are likely to stop submitting due to rejection. The people who get published are often those who continue to send despite rejection—so keep going!
• Rejection is an opportunity. Like any adversity in life, we have a choice in how we respond to rejection. Do we stay in the wallowing? Or do we find a way to channel those feelings to propel us to action? Frustrating rejections have led me to creative solutions, like making a bad-review pinata for a chapbook release (that me and attendees hit until we got candy! So cathartic!), and a rejection bingo board. Christin O'Keefe Aptowicz turns hers into a poem. Now, I'm working on a book proposal for a kidlit story about rejection letters, messy workshop feedback, and how to persist. There are people who set a 100 rejections a year challenge. However you need to reframe rejection to help yourself keep writing and keep sending works—be creative! Keep going!
   

Remember that a rejection letter says nothing about your value or quality as a writer. It’s merely a statement on whether your work is compatible with this magazine, this issue, or even this current editorial team (many college-run magazines have student editors, who change every few years). The only way to guarantee not being published is to never submit, so I encourage you to keep persisting and keep submitting until you find the right poetic home for your work!

_____________

 

Meg Eden Kuyatt is the award-winning author of the 2021 Towson Prize for Literature winning poetry collection “Drowning in the Floating World” and the forthcoming “obsolete hill” (Fernwood Press, 2026) and children’s novels including the Schneider Family Book Award Honor-winning “Good Different,” “The Girl in the Walls” and “Perfect Enough,” all with Scholastic. When she isn’t writing, she teaches creative writing students in Maryland and beyond. Find her online at megedenbooks.com.