Hello everyone. I hope you all enjoy an awesome day of merriment.
(Insert more Xmas wishes here)
Now, I know how some of you probably feel about Equestria Daily and their insanely high benchmark requirements to be featured. Today I would just like to point out that one does not have to be an already established reader, be "in" with the prereaders, or be blowing Sethisto.
My friend Dutch Tilt just had his story--The Country of Roses-- approved and posted. It's his first story, he had all of 8 followers at the time and only 13 upvotes on it.
I shall also point out that I had my first story--These Flowers Never Bloom-- featured too, when it had all of 30 upvotes and I, 32 followers.
If you truly believe that you are a decent writer, there is no reason why you can't also make it. Say what you will about Equestria Daily; there's no denying that any featured story gets a tonne more attention, in a lot of cases many times more.
Just believe in yourself, select an underdone/unique concept, get your grammar right, lay off on telly language/ exposition/ talking heads etc and hire at least two experienced editors/prereaders.
If Dutch and I can do it, you can too.

2454454
Hardly, if your story doesn't feature exactly what their pre-readers like personally it ain't getting in even if it's of higher quality than something that personally appeals to them.

2454459
You think it's luck, then?
That stories like Well of Pirene, Sparkling Reflection of Princess Rarity or Country of Roses made it through? Hell, my story is a death metal album-inspired fic and it made it.
Most of the time, the negativity seems to come from rejected authors. For the record, I was struck once by Amacita for genuine errors that I have since learned to recognise, twice by Air Pirate for things that Amacita missed which I also corrected, before finally being approved on the third try.
As long as you fix what they tell you to, there's no reason you can't make it. At no point was I told that my story was not to either of their tastes. They were rather encouraging, truth be told.

2454478
Once again, personal appeal on the pre-readers part. They're biased as hell to what they like, and anything that they obviously aren't interested in is rejected with emails that seem like they read the summary and went no further.

EqD has a bad rep and for very good reason.

2454485
Hmmm. I can only assume that you've had personal experience with this issue. Which of your fics got rejected?
That aside, I must have written a hella-interesting story

2454492
Personal experience plus countless tales from others of stories being rejected for things like spelling errors that aren't there, cliches that might be assumed to be in the story from the summary but that aren't actually used in the fic and more than once personal insults against their writing ability.

Equestria Daily is run by asshats. If you got in and want to take pride in that by all means enjoy it but to me knowing how their pre-readers are and that their bias is what dictates what goes through severely dilutes the sense of accomplishment to the point that I've just stopped bothering, I no longer WANT to be featured even if any of my stories hit the right buttons to go through.

2454454
You know what? You've just inspired me to give it a shot with my latest work. What's the worst that could happen, right? I'll just review their submission rules first, which are a bit strict.

EDIT: Scratch that, I'm not going to bother after seeing some lengthy rejection letters. They really do have strange standards, don't they?

2454454 yea I just submitted one of my fics. I'm interested to see how they'll react to my unusual premise

2454842
2455176
The important thing is not to get discouraged if you do get a strike. Too many people quit after receiving their first one, and they rage or cry or pull a "woe-is-me" and spit the dummy. A first strike is not a flat-out rejection, but too many people take it that way.
Also, check the date of the rejection letters. These days, they only go into a super-detailed analysis of a story's fault if requested. They have a new format now where they just list dot points of possible improvements required, along with a referral to their editor's omnibus.
Amacita was very helpful to me: he told me specifically why a certain point of mine would keep it from ever being accepted after I emailed him directly about it. I actually managed to convince him that it was necessary for the story and he agreed with me and changed his mind.
They can be very reasonable people if you are just nice enough to show respect and courtesy in return. Too many people forget that they are human too. They might have had a really bad day and the story they read probably just wasn't what they wanted at the time to cheer them up. Unfair? Probably. Entirely possible? Sure. Take it to heart? Nope.
If one reader does flat out tell you that your story sucks, I'm very sorry for you. That is terribly unlucky. They aren't all like that. If you want decent examples of rejection letters where the prereaders have been firm but still kind/constructive about their criticism, check out EletreXcessive's blog: he's listed a few reasons why his own fics have been refused, without getting overly sad about it. Something to think about from this blog is how receiving this criticism can either help you improve as a writer, or turn you into a little blubbery mess who thinks the world is out to snuff your talent. I have personally grown a tonne as a writer because of their criticism on my first story, so much so that my second story's first strike contained only two small points wrong with it. The editor I hired to fix up my own (now-accepted) story taught me so much, while at the same time making me realise just how terrible my grammar really was.
It's all a learning experience. Just don't be afraid to get shot down, because it's not the end of the world.

2456090
Oh, I have no problem with criticism (usually), and have revised my work when suggestions were made. I'm far from being a great writer (hence the membership to the Decent Writer's Club), and it's obvious that everyone sees stories differently and therefore can catch issues that the authors don't. However, I'll admit that I've always had a fear of rejection and some pretty severe confidence issues. The people here seem to like my work well enough, but sending it off to another place for review is a little intimidating. And honestly, I'm a bit worried about just screwing up the submission form, since my stories are all hosted here and the form isn't specific about whether I should link it to the story's page or to a story chapter itself. I have a long-standing fear of making mistakes, it would seem.

And it's not even a big deal, for me. I like the community here, and I'm mostly just here to entertain people. I guess I could reach a wider audience on EQD, but it's not that important to me.

And, actually, it was a rejection letter to EletreXcessive that made me go, "These people sound ridiculous and very nit-picky." An odd coincidence, there. Of course, that was within one of the groups that didn't favor EQD very much, which I was looking into for general info about the connections between this site and that one (I looked at favorable groups as well).

You're right, of course. They're not only human, but they would appear to be quite overworked. I guess it's just that their differing standards feel a little strict compared to some other places, though I know they want only the "best," whatever that means. I guess I'll give it a shot. Worst case: I'm informed that it sucks, which would sting a bit, but I'd get over it. It's not like anyone's work is universally-liked, so one can't really take it personally.

2456090 eh, its not a big deal to me. I just want to see their reaction to a story involving twilight in a moshpit

2456325
Well, I liked it.

2456327 which I still appreciate your kind words