Magazines use regular “contributing” writers for many reasons. They love having writers already on board who understand the needs of the readership and the publication..

To ask a publisher to give you a chance is to say you don’t feel you are valuable enough to earn markets on your prowess. . . and it says you need a hand-up versus being a writer hired on skill. Instead, you need to polish your material and make it glisten, all in the vein of what that publication needs. And you learn how to do that by studying the publication.

If they turn you down, it’s because of a zillion reasons, some of which include:

1. They have a stable of writers who don’t have to be groomed and who can speak the language.
2. They don’t have the energy to break in a new writer, or go back and forth teaching someone how to fit in.
3. They really don’t need writers at the time.
4. Your voice might be good but not quite what fits this particular readership.
5. The piece sounds too common, not unique enough.
6. You deviate from the guidelines in some fashion.
7. It is clear you haven’t studied the flavor of the publication or reviewed what it has already published.

An editor has the responsibility and the burden of culling submissions down to the brightest and best. They have a limited amount of space to post pieces, and a limited number of dollars to do it with. As a writer, you cannot understand all of the issues at play.

While editors are in the job of giving writers an audience, they are also in the job of keeping a publication afloat, meaning they select the pieces that have the grandest effect. As a writer, you may not fully understand what that means, and it can mean something different with each issue. And it can change when editors change.

Rejection is not personal. They don’t know you, so it cannot be personal. Half of it is because of your work, your online presence, and your query email. The other half is that they don’t need you and your style. The former you can fix. The latter is often up to fate.

Never come back to an editor and ask they to give you a chance. Never ask them to give your piece a second glance (unless you’ve been invited to edit and resubmit). You are burning a bridge. You risk becoming a nuisance. You risk becoming a writer who’d rather barter about your article getting published than rewrite it to better fit what’s needed . . . or find a market that better suits your style.

To ask for a chance only sounds desperate.