For writers of all kinds, dealing with ideas and words that get rejected is an everyday reality. But there are sometimes ways you can turn a No into a Yes…

So you get your commission, you send in your copy – but the editor or client says they’ll pass. Or you send in a bunch of ideas to a regular commissioner of your work, and they say they’re not really interested. At such moments, it’s tempting to give up. Don’t. You’ve already committed time and effort to research your thoughts or draft that copy, so try these ideas instead…

Try to work out what they didn’t like. Sometimes an editor will hint that a piece could be saved with some rework, but they’re not asking you to do it because it’s more than a few tweaks, and they don’t know if you’ll get it right. But having committed time and effort already, you’re better off asking for some more detailed feedback and having another go.

Offer something else instead. In discussing what didn’t work about your copy or idea, your commissioner may let slip some valuable nuggets about what they really are looking for. This is an opportunity for you to step in and offer to help. A rejected article that leads to another commission is not such a bad result.

Offer your piece elsewhere. Just because they didn’t want your piece doesn’t mean another venue won’t. When offering a piece elsewhere, don’t present it as someone else’s sloppy seconds. Present it with confidence, as an exclusive and original piece that you feel very positive about and thought would be just right for your new editor.

Break it up. It may be that your copy tries to cover too much in too small of an ambit, or that the whole is just not in this case greater than the sum of its parts. Look to see if you can break the piece down into several articles or posts and find a market for each. For example, that ebook or white paper is likely to have several sections that could easily be repurposed as self-contained articles of tips or key takeaways. Likewise, I went through an oft-rejected novel MS of mine earlier this year, and managed to carve out several short stories which have since been published.

Offer it for free. If you can’t find a paying market for your words or ideas, offer them to a non-paying market. Choose a venue that will be of use to you, perhaps because it’s a good target market to promote your author brand, has a decent readership and reach, or because it’s worth a bit of kudos to be published there. One piece I wrote recently that I can’t sell anywhere is going to go on my publisher’s blog to promote my debut short story collection – which, in retrospect, is probably the ideal home for it.

Give them something similar but different. After a long deafening silence and several chases, you might give up on the original outlet for your work and get it placed elsewhere – only for them to come back and finally say they want your piece. Explain that the copy has been snapped up but you have another piece on a similar topic ready for them, as it’s an area you’ve been thinking about a lot. Don’t ask if they’d like to see it – they’ll probably say no. Just send it – I’ve found that once they see it’s similar but different enough, they’ll probably take it.

Publish it yourself. Put the piece on your blog or share it via a platform like Medium. Unsold copy can also make a great writing sample to share with potential clients. If you do any training in writing, it could form the basis of an exercise or activity too.

Final thought. Never give up on getting a return for time and effort spent on writing. Think laterally, and be prepared to repurpose and recycle your content until someone bites.

BIO: Dan Brotzel (@brotzel_fiction) is author of a collection of short stories, Hotel du Jack, and co-author of a new comic novel about an eccentric writers’ group, Kitten on a Fatberg (Unbound). For 10% off your order, quote KITTEN10