Rejections that got our attention…

Editor: The writing's not for me or [REDACTED]. We actually get a fair number of memoir proposals in this space … but it's rare to find anyone who can elevate this to the sort of upmarket nonfiction [REDACTED] acquires and publishes.

Rejections Squad: This level of superiority gives us an inferiority complex!

Editor: “Urban Legend?” I don’t get it...

Rejections Squad: We don’t get that! The concept has been used by folklorists at least since 1968, and Jan Harold Brunvand, introduced the term to the general public in his 1981 book The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends & Their Meanings. Contributors to english.stackexhange.com suggest the term was included in a 1931 Vanity Fair article, but maybe that’s an urban legend.

Editor: While your work was not selected for publication, we appreciate the chance to read the poems. We are also grateful for your support of our press and the confidence you have demonstrated by sending your work our way.

Rejections Squad: Great. Now we have (another) crisis of confidence.