McSweeney's Quarterly

Prose rejections

Standard

Postal submission 2025

[rubber stamp on cover letter with handwritten signature]

Thank you for trusting us with your work. Making things is an act of resistance and bravery, and I admire you for it. This piece was’t a fit, but I’m grateful to have read it.

Yours, Rita Bullwinkel

Sent from submittable

Dear ——,

Thank you for sending us "—." We rely on submissions like yours, and a good portion of what we publish comes to us unsolicited. Unfortunately, we can't find a place for this piece in our next few issues. But please feel free to submit again in the future as our tastes and needs continuously change.

Thanks again for your efforts and letting us see your work.

Sincerely,

Chelsea Hogue

McSweeney's Quarterly Concern

Sent by postal mail 2012

Greetings,

McSweeney's thanks you for your recent submission. We rely on submissions like yours, and a good portion of what we publish comes unsolicited, through the mail.

Unfortunately, we can't find a place for this piece in our next few issues. Nevertheless, please feel free to submit more work in the future. Our themes and tastes change, and we are grateful for the community of readers and writers that keeps us busy.

Thanks again for your efforts and for letting us see your work.

(Presumably) Standard

thanks for sending this in, and sorry it’s taken us so long to respond—we got sidetracked by a few special projects, and have gotten way too behind on our reading. But we rely on stories like yours, since a good portion of what we publish comes to us unsolicited. Unfortunately, we can't find a place for this piece in our next few issues--but please feel free to submit more work in the future. Our tastes change, and we're always looking. Thanks again for your efforts and for letting us see your work,

Jordan

Possibly tiered?

Postal submission 2024

[handwritten on cover letter]

This wasn’t a fit, but I appreciated the read.

—Rita