Writers talk a lot about dealing with rejection. I always used to get lots of messages from editors and agencies that said things like ‘we decided to go another way’ or ‘sorry, this one’s not for us’ or ‘we regret to inform you that on this occasion your application has been unsuccessful’.

But actually I don’t get many rejections any more. What I mostly get these days is… silence. I fire things off into the digital ether — CVs, ideas, stories, MSs — and I just simply never hear back at all.

Hard to quantify, but it seems to me that this is a growing trend. No doubt it’s a supply-and-demand thing: there are so many writing wannabes nowadays that editors could fill their whole days simply turning people down.

But I even get the silent treatment from people who’ve asked me to contact them. A former boss messaged me on LinkedIn to say he wanted a catch-up; a head of an agency said he was turning down my application for a content contract but wanted to meet up ‘to discuss other opportunities’; a charity marketer I know asked me to discuss writing some words for his site. I replied to all these, and… nada.

Things not to do

I have two ways of dealing with silence — two things I don’t do: following up and waiting around.

Sure, if someone’s specifically asked me for something, I’ll send a chaser. If they’re still silent after that, I’ll leave the ball in their court. But if I’ve subbed something cold, I rarely follow up at all.

Let’s be real: editors don’t enjoy endless notes from writers asking ‘if there’s any update’ or ‘just checking in’. Keep going like that and they will eventually start to notice you, albeit for all the wrong reasons.

If an editor has use of you, you’ll know about it. If you don’t hear, they’re…