It’s inevitable that as a writer, you’ll have to deal with rejection. You’ve written and sent your query letters, but the majority of the publications you wrote to will probably decline your story proposal. To be polite and to prevent hurting your chances of publishing with them in the future, you should acknowledge and respond to rejection letters.

Thank the editor for taking the time to read your query or submission. Don’t forget that the editor is always very busy, and acknowledge that your correspondence was part of his workload.

Express regret that you won’t be working with the publication at this time. You want the editor to know that you really did want to write for his or her publication.

Express hope that you’ll have a chance to work with them at a later date. To avoid dwelling on the regret part too much, make sure you say something like, “I hope that I’ll have an opportunity to work with you in the future.” Or, if the editor specifically encourages you to query with other ideas, you could say, “I will be in touch if I have other story ideas that will suit your publication.” This sets the stage for a future query. If you send out the next query shortly thereafter, you could even site their willingness to hear other queries from you, as well as any compliments they previously paid to your writing. Remind them that they wanted to hear from you again, and you’ll increase your chances of being selected for publication.

In the era of internet, many publications correspond via email. For these publications in particular, there is no reason for not sending a polite response. For correspondence by regular mail, the price of postage may make you reconsider. In these cases, I suggest you consider how much you value maintaining a good rapport with this publication.

In any case, think long and hard before sending a volatile or rude response, no matter how offended you are by the rejection! The publication industry is relatively small, and word gets around. The last thing you want as a freelance writer is a reputation for being difficult to work with.