How to deal with rejection as a freelance journalist

Rejection is an essential part of freelance journalism. But when you are starting out it can be fiendishly difficult to take. When you are pitching out email ideas the worst rejection is not hearing anything at all. You send emails into the ether and nothing comes back - you don't know if the commissioning editor has even seen your idea. Your inbox, no matter how many times you check it, is devoid of commissions.

The next step up in rejections is the "thanks for your idea but it's not for us - good luck with it". When the going is tough, getting one of these in your inbox is better than nothing. Well at least you've heard back and you can cross it off the list as a definite "no". These replies are usually from commissioning editors who have a previous career as a freelancer. They know how tough it is and are keen to let you know the status of your pitch.

However, the "no, we don't want your idea" comes, it can put some new freelancers off completely. But after 10 years freelancing I've come to see it as a game of numbers. When I'm pitching out I literally write the numbers one to 20 - and know that once I've sent out 20 strong ideas, I'll have at least one commission. With experience I've reduced it to about one in 10 or less, but that's only after years of freelancing. However, when the recession was beginning to bite late last summer, I was writing one to 50. The first thing publications do when a recession starts is cut the freelance budget, so this point in the economic cycle is always a challenge.

So don't fear rejection. Without rejection there won't be any commissions. See it as a necessary part of the process and develop a thick skin. You have to receive several rejections to get a commission. Editors are not rejecting you personally, it's just that your idea doesn't fit any of their particular slots that week or month.

If you are starting out I'd suggest that you probably even need to write the numbers one to 100 - and know that somewhere in there, probably long before 100 will be a commission. Just keep sending out the pitches until one of them finds the right home. The better you research the market and hone your ideas to fit the publication, the less numbers you will have to write. You will begin to instinctively understand what a particular editor is looking for and how your knowledge and skills can fit that need.

Andrew Crofts (How to Make Money from Freelance Writing, Piatkus books) says "You will have to get used to being rejected, and you need to have this clearly in mind before you start trying to sell your work. If you are going to be so hurt by rejection that you won't be able to work effectively, then you will have to find another way to earn a living because there is simply no way round it.'

'At the beginning of your career virtually everything you do will be rejected, often with no explanation at all. There is no way of avoiding this and will happen to you over and over and over again..."

"It is the people who stretch themselves beyond their know limits who get rejected most often..."

So get out there and get at least 100 rejections, if you are starting out...tick them all off and somewhere in there will be a "yes".