My Take on Rejection--Harsh but Fair

Recently, I read about a writer who had queried a publisher by email about her book and received a form rejection within a day. She was angry about this because she thought it showed the publisher hadn't given her work fair consideration. Perhaps the publisher even had an automatic reply rejecting every query that came in!

First of all, publishers who don't accept unsolicited queries have no hesitation saying so. I can't believe any publisher would ask for submissions, only to reject them all out of hand.

And while I sympathise with how disappointed writers get when they receive rejections from agents and editors (I've had them too!), I find it difficult to understand this 'you owe me' attitude. Just because we would like things to be a certain way (prompt responses, detailed feedback, etc) doesn't mean that's what agents and editors should do. Frankly, these professionals are running a business, not a charity. They don't owe writers anything, not even their time, unless they have signed the writer or given personal assurances or encouragement to submit. Courtesy is always nice, and prompt responses, whether rejections or otherwise, are great, too. As long as they're not too prompt...

Of course, if the agent/editor doesn't behave with courtesy or respond in a timely manner, the writer is free to submit to someone who will. That's how the market works.