June 2026
Every rejection costs a writer a little more than they would like to admit. I know that feeling well.
Over the years, I received countless rejections from literary magazines and publishers. Sometimes there was no reply at all. Other times, only a short email explaining that my work was not the right fit.
After a while, I began to wonder what every rejected writer wonders: Who am I writing for? If nobody wants to publish these texts, will anyone ever read them? For a time, the doubt became almost as large as the pile of manuscripts on my desk.
Giving up, however, was never an option.
Instead, I kept writing. New fragments appeared beside older ones until they slowly formed a small literary universe. I published a book, but it found few readers. Rather than waiting for permission again, I chose another path.
That was how NIEMANDSLAND was born.
Publishing my own zine meant complete independence. I no longer had to wait for acceptance or adapt my work to someone else's programme. I could simply write, print and share.Later came KONTAKT, a second project that allowed me to experiment even further with fragmented prose, photography and visual art. Looking back, rejection taught me something I couldn't have learned otherwise. It forced me to create my own platform instead of waiting for someone else to offer me one.
Sometimes the best response to rejection is not another submission.
Sometimes it is building your own place where the work can exist.