Rhein Rating

I've worked with a lot of different publications, and it always bothers me when somebody takes the time to write a story, send it to me, only to have me reject it.  I recognize that people do a lot of hard work and just because I personally don't see a lot in that story/article to enjoy, that doesn't mean that I'm necessarily right.  After all, there have been examples after examples of how such and such a writer had his/her book rejected by a plethora of publishers before finding one that finally took them and carried them on to unmatched wealth and fame.  I think everybody deserves to have their stories read, after all, how are writers going to get any better unless they bear the criticism of readers?

Bearing that in mind, I've come up with a system that, although it's probably not going to make everybody happy, is the best I could come up with.

My goal is to publish EVERY story that people submit to me (except those that have some extreme content that I feel I can't expose my readers to...but trust me, you'll have to be trying to offend the whole world for me to reject your story, as long as you're making an honest effort to entertain, you will be fine).

Upon receiving your submission in my inbox, I will give it a quick read and assign it a Rhein Rating.  The Rhein Rating is a number from 1 to 10 (one being the worst, 10 the best) which represents what I feel about the story.  I will then respond to you with the Rhein Rating I have come up with and you can choose whether or not I publish the story (you can choose to publish it under a pseudonym if you wish).  Upon your agreement to publish, I will put up the story along with the Rhein Rating and a brief paragraph introducing the work (I might say a few things that I liked or didn't like, or I might just list the Rhein Rating, it's up to me).

Your story will then be "out there" and readers will be able to take it on its own merit along with my thoughts. If they feel I'm wrong, they can leave comments down at the bottom defending the story.  If they feel I'm right, they can leave suggestions for how the author can improve his/her work.

The idea is that this is a place for beginning authors to submit their work and get some exposure and feedback.  I will delete comments that are mean and useless.

Keep in mind also that I'm a pretty tough grader.  Consider 5 to be an average score.  Frankly, I doubt that you'll see too many stories with a ranking above 5.

I will tweak this program as it plays out.  Looking forward to your submissions!