There's nothing like light-hearted humour help to ease the pain of rejection, as evidenced by this letter from the offices of Mad magazine, one of the most influential humour publications ever released. The letter was sent to all unsuccessful submitters of material during the much-lauded reign of Al Feldstein.
This letter belongs to Kevin Burg, whose grandmother received it in 1938. Despite Disney's declaration that women aren't to do any creative work, his grandmother eventually became an animator during WWII when women had to step up “For the War Effort.” Don't you love the stationery? So perfect to send to all the “girls” looking for jobs.
This editor from Harlequin wrote the meanest rejection letter ever!
Note: Our reader Grace wrote to us to let us know this letter is fake.
Letter addressed to a 12-year-old boy who tried to get into the Marine Corps, from Bill Shaprio's book, Other People's Rejection Letters!
Here's a rejection sent in by a blog-reader from the cruel world of freelance journalism. The editor says: "I can't really do much with this. Some nice writing but it reads too much like a cross between a poem and a pamphlet. We aspire for more 3rd person reported."