Necessary Fiction

Prose rejections

Standard

2014

Thanks for sending "---" our way, but unfortunately it's not quite for us. Sorry for not making as personal a reply as we would like to but the volume of submissions doesn't always make it possible.

2017

[Name],

Thanks for sending [Title] our way, but unfortunately it's not quite for us. We're sorry for not making as personal a reply as we would like to but sometimes we're swamped by submissions and trying to catch up (which is very much the case right now).

And sometimes a story is perfectly good but for whatever reason doesn't quite grab us -- maybe it's a type of story our taste tends not to run toward, or it depends on a particular pop culture context we don't know well -- and any feedback we offer might cause the story more harm than help. But it's never meant as disrespect to a story or its author.

Yours, Necessary Fiction

2023

Dear —,

Thanks for sending "—" our way. We appreciate your interest in publishing with Necessary Fiction but, unfortunately, this piece isn't quite for us. We're sorry for not being able to reply more personally, but sometimes the number of submissions makes that difficult.

We invite you to submit again, though we ask that you wait one month to prevent back-ups in the queue. And stay tuned for a special themed submissions call for 2024—we'll share more about that later this fall.

Yours,

Necessary Fiction

Higher Tier

December 2018

Thanks for sending "---" our way. Although elements of it caught our attention, we're afraid it's not quite for us.

We wish you success placing this elsewhere.

Best, Necessary Fiction

2023

Dear [writer],

Thanks for sending [title] our way. We appreciate your interest in publishing with Necessary Fiction. Although elements of it caught our attention, we're afraid it's not quite for us. We're sorry for not being able to reply more personally, but sometimes the number of submissions makes that difficult.

However, we hope you'll consider sending more of your work to us in the future. We would welcome the opportunity to read it. Our annual summer flash fiction reading series will open to submissions in April, or you can try us again when our regular submissions period reopens in the fall.

We wish you success placing this elsewhere.

Best, Necessary Fiction