Handling Rejection Productively
March 8th 2010 20:08
(I realize it's an offensive picture. I'm an offensive kind of guy.)
So, today I got my first rejection ever, from any site (including constant content grammar nazis). It was for a "list" on Demand Studios. What list? Atlanta Dinner Cruises. Let's think about the initial problem. Atlanta is landlocked. Ok, I got around that by adding nearby lakes and adding a riverboat. One of my problems was my intro mentioned the Chatahoochee River which is the only one in Atlanta and featured a paddleboat dinner cruise for that river without (oh my god!) taking the time to spell out Chatahoochee for the 3rd time.
The editor said it was puzzling to not include the name of the river which led to the rejection. Am I the only one who thinks that if someone is smart enough and can afford a dinner cruise in the first place, they'd probably know what the name of the only river in the area would be?
(How much SEO do you need for "atlanta dinner cruises" really?)
I guess not.
Either way, I've been thinking about handling this in a productive way. I really don't care personally about the editor's comments. I try to look at things like that objectively and now I know next time to either A) Skip stupid topics that I know are stupid or B) Do what they want me to do no matter how stupid I feel it may be.
So that's that. My two options for that particular site and that particular format. No harm, no foul.
What got me thinking is I know many people who have been rejected entirely by Demand Studios and rejected so many times by Constant Content, they won't even mention that site anymore.
So what should one do when faced with rejection? Let's take a look!
1. Blow off steam. Load up your favorite game and ruin people's lives. If you play Call of Duty, grab a sniper rifle and go to town. Play Farmville? Sell those stupid cows. You know you hate them anyway. What about penguins making icecubes? Sell those bastards.
2. Take a break from that site. If all your eggs are in one basket, you're doing it wrong anyway. Put some time into a different or new endeavor. Know of some lame product people might buy? Slap up a spiderweb of Squidoo lenses touting how that product "claims" to be the best thing since Diet Coke (I don't care for sliced bread).
3. Ask a site for advice that will make you feel so stupid for asking, whatever your rejection could have been will look like a Grandmother's kiss on the cheek. Yeah, sounds strange but if you feel more like an idiot for something else, a rejection doesn't feel so bad.
4. Start a blog about how much you hate a specific site. Put Adsense on it. Don't limit it to one site, let the hatred spew! Hate your mailman? Hate your apartment by the train tracks? Someone, somewhere will comment on that.
5. Evaluate the feedback on your article and apply it in the future. Sounds like a no brainer but people take things too personally. On the Internet, who you are and who is judging your stuff doesn't really matter does it? I know the Internet is serious business but it doesn't have to be. Relax, see what they said, and make a note of it. Now, if they reject you later for following that advice, let the DDOS attacks fly.
Personally, I'm just going to divert my attention to a different site for the rest of the day and start fresh tomorrow. Right after I shoot 100 people in the face with a grenade launcher.
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Comment by Marie Anne
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