Ever since I started healing my relationship with rejection, I’ve been keeping track of how many times I get rejected. Whether it’s an ARC on NetGalley, an internship, or a freelance project, it’s important to me that I keep stats on what opportunities didn’t come my way.
I think of this practice as data collection. After a year of keeping track, I can get a sense for how many times I applied before I heard yes. I get a number in my head of how many applications I have to complete before I’ll probably get accepted. If I were a sports metaphor kind of gal, I’d say it’s like calculating my own batting average.
Today, I’m breaking down that batting average. Here are how many opportunities I applied for, how many I got, and how many didn’t turn out.
FREELANCE
These rejections aren’t entirely in 2021, but I applied for about half of them at the end of 2020 and didn’t hear back until 2021, so I’m lumping them in.
This quarter, I applied for 32 freelance jobs.
I got 30 rejections and 2 acceptances.
Most of my applications were on Parker Dewey, a website where employers can hire recent grads for temporary “internships,” and Upwork. Both of these acceptances were on Parker Dewey, so I think I’ll be primarily using that platform going forward. The biggest downside is that it’s a relatively small platform and there aren’t a ton of new listings, so I can’t be as selective with what I apply for. But as a new freelancer looking to refine my niche and build a portfolio quickly, it’s a good spot.
JOBS & INTERNSHIPS
This quarter, I got 1 internship rejection and 2 job rejections.
In addition to these, I’ve got two summer internship applications with publishing houses that I’m waiting to hear about. The next month or so is going to be pretty internship application-heavy, so that’s something to look forward to on my next rejection update.
BLOGGING
I started keeping track of my ARC requests this year as well. (ARCs are advance reader copies for bloggers who get a free galley of the book in exchange for a review published on their blog.) I used to exclusively request ARCs on NetGalley, but I’ve joined a few other platforms lately and wanted a singular place where I could keep track of what I have to read when.
So far, I’ve received 18 ARC rejections. I’ve accepted 4.
Wow, that’s impressive. Good for you on putting yourself out there. Here’s hoping for many more acceptances in your near future!
Tracy thank you so much!!!