For Your Amusement

I received a rejection the other day that I feel compelled to share with you. It's beautiful in its simplicity, really. Somehow, the brevity of the message takes my breath away. The effect of the message is similar to when you take off a band-aid quickly: the less time it takes, the less pain one will feel. That's right, this message inflicted no pain, and it's not because it said yes.

Not for nus. Thanks.

Yep, that's it...that's all. The literary agent sent a quick message, with a typo, and no signature. She couldn't bother to spend the time to write out even a slightly less perfunctory but feel good rejection. Not even a "Thank you for your submission, but it's not right for us," which would have been more appropriate, I think. (And something you could simply plug in as an automatic signature line.) I won't incriminate the guilty, but if an agent can't even take the time of day to make a polite reply, then I'd say just don't reply at all.