Revise and Resubmit (R&R)
Quick answer: Revise and resubmit means an agent or magazine sees promise but wants changes before saying yes. How to read an R&R letter and respond well.
Revise and resubmit, shortened everywhere to R&R, is an editorial response that declines a manuscript in its current form while explicitly inviting the author to rework it and send it back. In other words, it is a no with the door propped open. Literary agents send them for novels, magazines send them for stories, and academic journals formalised the phrase decades before fiction borrowed it.
The term lives in the submission stage of a writing life, in the wide territory between the form rejection and the acceptance. Understanding where an R&R sits on that spectrum, and what it obliges each side to do, saves writers from both despair and false hope.
The term at work: Fitzgerald's third try
In 1918 Scribner's rejected F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, The Romantic Egotist, but the letter, shaped by the young editor Maxwell Perkins, praised the book's energy and asked to see it again if revised. Fitzgerald reworked it and was declined a second time, with encouragement repeated. The third version, restructured and retitled This Side of Paradise, was accepted in 1919 and made his name at twenty-three.
Notice the machinery. Nobody promised anything. The house was signalling that the raw ability was worth its editors' repeated attention, which is expensive, and the writer answered by actually rebuilding the book rather than shuffling commas. That exchange, interest paid for with real revision, is the whole transaction an R&R proposes. Perkins spent credit he had built inside the house on that patience, which is worth remembering when a reply feels slow to arrive.
What the letter is really saying
Editorial time is the scarcest resource in publishing, and an R&R spends it twice: once on the notes, once on the promised second read. Nobody does that casually. A genuine R&R therefore means the reader believes the gap between this draft and a publishable one is specific and closable, and the letter will usually name the gap: a saggy middle, a second act that abandons the protagonist's want, an ending that resolves the wrong question.
It is still not a promise. Some revised manuscripts come back worse, some come back different but not better, and sometimes the magazine's needs have simply moved on. Treat the letter as a strong signal about the work and a weak signal about the outcome.
Learn to spot the counterfeit as well. Some magazines add an encouraging line, 'we would be glad to read more of your work', to ordinary rejections; that is warmth, not an R&R. The real thing names this manuscript, describes specific changes, and states plainly that the editors want to see this piece again. If you are unsure which you received, it was probably not an R&R, and the gracious response is to send them something new instead.
How to respond without wrecking the draft
Sit on the letter for a week before touching the manuscript. Then sort every note into three piles: notes you agree with, notes you disagree with, and notes you do not yet understand, which are usually symptoms pointing at a cause the reader could not name. Revise from the first and third piles, and be ready to defend the second. When you resubmit, include a short cover note listing what changed, because it shows the editor their time bought something.
The trap is mechanical obedience. A writer who executes every suggestion literally, without asking what problem each note was gesturing at, often sands off the voice that earned the R&R in the first place. Scored feedback rewards the same discipline: entrants to Writory's Short Story Contest see marks across five dimensions, and the useful move is always to treat the weakest score as a diagnosis, not a command.
Neighbours and opposites
A form rejection is a no with no information; a personal rejection adds encouragement but no invitation; an R&R adds the invitation. Beyond it sits the conditional acceptance, where the piece is taken subject to agreed edits, and the acceptance proper, after which changes are collaboration rather than audition. Writers also confuse an R&R with an edit letter, but an edit letter arrives after a contract, when both sides are already committed.
What poets can take from this
- Wait several days before rereading an R&R letter; the first read is all adrenaline.
- Reply briefly and warmly to confirm you intend to revise, and ask for a timeframe if none was given.
- Take the time the revision needs; months are normal and speed impresses nobody.
- Keep the original draft intact and revise in a copy, so a wrong turn costs nothing.
- In your resubmission note, list the major changes in three or four lines, not a page.
- Do not send the story elsewhere while an invited revision is under way without saying so; publishing is a small world.
Try it yourself
Write the R&R letter you fear receiving for your current story: three paragraphs, naming its real weaknesses in an editor's plain voice. Then answer it with a one-page revision plan. Writers who can draft both sides of this exchange revise faster and sulk less.
Questions
Does revise and resubmit mean they will accept it?
No. It means the editor or agent sees specific, fixable problems and is willing to read again, which is rare and valuable. Acceptance still depends on the revision landing and on the market not shifting under it.
How long should I take on an R&R?
As long as the changes genuinely need, within reason; weeks to a few months is normal for a story, longer for a novel. If the letter set no deadline, a short email asking about timing is completely acceptable.
Can I resubmit if I disagree with some notes?
Yes, provided you engaged seriously with the substance. Editors respect a writer who solved the underlying problem a different way, and your cover note is the place to explain that choice in a sentence or two.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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