Iron Horse Literary Review

"When we began publishing six issues, we also slightly altered our original mission: not only do we continue to feature our nation’s most established writers and to highlight relatively unknown regional writers who deserve critical attention, but now we also spend a great deal of time ferreting out those up-and-coming writers who keep poetry, fiction, and nonfiction new, challenging the boundaries of what the literary arts can accomplish."

Prose rejections

Standard

Thank you for submitting your Submission entitled "---" to Iron Horse Literary Review.

While we appreciate the time and talent that goes into every submission we receive, we can only accept a very small percentage of them. Unfortunately, this particular submission does not meet our current needs.

Visit our website at: www.ironhorsereview.com to catch up on our latest news or purchase a sample copy for only $5. Or follow us on Twitter @IHLR and on Facebook at http://bit.ly/aTwiSW.

Thank you again for considering our journal, and we wish you success placing this submission elsewhere.

Sincerely, The Editors Iron Horse Literary Review

Personal

2024

Dear ______:

I always hate sending a rejection letter when a manuscript like your long story, "What She Knew," is so good and makes it all the way into the final round of consideration.

I want you to know how much we enjoyed reading this story--the language is deft and lyrical; the world-building is amazing ... and the compelling narrative arc ... was so compelling we had to follow it through every page. For our purposes with the Long Story competition, this story ultimately felt a little shy of its possibility. We hope that the Long Story gives writers an opportunity to make use of a larger range and reach in their prose, and so we would have liked maybe a fully developed past narrative thread, running in the background. Say, for example, how did we get here with ...?

But we did like this manuscript so much that we named it a finalist: it made it through a board of Associate Editors, then my managing editors, and then me. So we want you to know there's a lot of love for your work in our office, and while we are not accepting this manuscript, we hope we'll see more of your work in the future.

Follow us on social media to learn about our future submission days: Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky @lunchwithironhorse; and Facebook at http://bit.ly/aTwiSW. We are no longer on Twitter.

Again, thank you for sending us such a terrific read!

Sincerely, Jill

Dear [name]:

Thank you for submitting your work, entitled [title of story], to Iron Horse Literary Review. Though we have not selected your work for publication, we did find much to admire in this submission.

[long paragraph offering detailed feedback on story]

We recognize how much talent and skill went in to your submission, but we can only publish a small percentage of the work we receive. In the final round of selections, we start looking for the smallest of reasons--reasons in line with our own personal tastes--to reject a manuscript. This part of the process, we understand, is so very subjective. So we want you to know that while we are not accepting this manuscript, we were pleased with your submission and hope we'll see more of your work in the future.

To learn more about our preferences, you can visit our website at www.ironhorsereview.com. There, you can keep an eye out for our next submission period, stay in touch with our latest news, and read our online interviews with writers as well as our free electronic singles. You can also purchase a sample copy for only $5. Or, follow us on social media to learn about our future free submission days: Twitter @IHLR; Instagram @lunchwithironhorse; and Facebook at http://bit.ly/aTwiSW.

Again, thank you for your interest in IHLR, and we wish you great success placing this submission elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Bibiana Ossai

Managing Editor

Iron Horse Literary Review