Withdrawal
Quick answer: Withdrawal is the act of formally pulling a poem or manuscript from consideration at a journal or contest. Learn when to withdraw and how to do it politely.
Withdrawal is the act of formally removing your poem or manuscript from consideration at a journal, magazine or contest before a decision has been made. The most common reason is happy: the piece was accepted somewhere else while under simultaneous submission, and honesty requires you to pull it from every other queue at once. Less happy reasons include discovering an error, losing faith in the piece, or giving up on a venue that has gone silent.
Withdrawal sounds dramatic and is actually routine. Editors process withdrawals every week without resentment, provided they arrive promptly and politely. What editors do resent, and remember, is learning that a poem they spent meetings discussing had already been promised to someone else.
How to Withdraw Properly
If the journal uses a submission platform such as Submittable, use its withdrawal button, adding a brief note if the form allows. Otherwise send a short email to the address you submitted through: name the submission title and date, say the work has been accepted elsewhere or that you wish to withdraw it, and thank them for their time. Three sentences is plenty. No apology tour, no explanation of your feelings about the poem.
Partial Withdrawal
Poetry submissions usually contain several poems, and often only one of them gets taken elsewhere. In that case you withdraw only that poem, a partial withdrawal, and leave the rest under consideration. Platforms rarely handle this well, so the standard move is a message through the platform or an email saying, for example: please withdraw the poem Salt Map from my submission of 3 March; the other four poems remain available. Editors appreciate the precision.
Contests Are Different
Journals expect withdrawals; contests often do not allow them in any meaningful sense. Entry fees are almost never refunded, and some competitions state that entries cannot be withdrawn after the closing date because judging is anonymous and already underway. This is one more reason to read the rules before entering and to send contests only work that is not simultaneously submitted elsewhere, unless the rules explicitly permit it. When a contest does allow withdrawal, the same courtesy applies: prompt, brief, specific.
What poets can take from this
- Withdraw from every other venue on the same day an acceptance arrives.
- Use the platform's withdrawal function first, and email only when no button exists.
- For partial withdrawals, name the exact poem and the submission date.
- Keep withdrawal notes to three polite sentences; editors need facts, not feelings.
- Check a contest's rules on withdrawal before you enter, not after.
Try it yourself
Write a poem in the form of a letter withdrawing something that cannot really be withdrawn: a word said at a funeral, a promise to a child, a name carved in wet cement. Keep the tone formal and let the ache come through the politeness.
Questions
Will withdrawing a poem annoy the editors?
No, as long as you do it promptly and politely. Simultaneous submission is standard in poetry, and editors expect a share of withdrawals. What annoys them is silence followed by a duplicate publication.
What is a partial withdrawal?
Removing one or more specific poems from a multi-poem submission while leaving the others under consideration. Name the withdrawn poem and your submission date so the editors can update their records accurately.
Can I get my contest entry fee back if I withdraw?
Almost never. Most contests treat fees as non-refundable because they fund judging and prizes, and some do not permit withdrawal at all once judging begins. Read the rules before entering.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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