Here are two decent rejections, not effusive, not amazing, not completely encouraging rejection letters, but also not generic either. If nothing else, I know that their readers/editors enjoyed the manuscripts I sent them. And that, if nothing else, is really important to me. See, I can appreciate the small things too:
Dear Jackson Bliss:
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider your work. Although we enjoyed this submission, it does not presently meet our needs. We are grateful that you thought of us and wish you the best of luck in placing your manuscript elsewhere.
Sincerely,
The editors
WITNESS
And:
Mr. Bliss,
Thank you for submitting your work to Brevity, the journal of concise nonfiction. Although we do not have a place for your work in the issues for which we are currently reading, we wanted you to know that our readers enjoyed your essay.
We have been blessed with a large number of excellent submissions lately, and hope that you understand that we can only publish a small fraction of the material we receive. We encourage you to submit your work elsewhere and to consider us again (remembering our rule, no more than two submissions per author per calendar year.)
Good luck with your writing,
The Editors
BREVITY
Dear Jackson Bliss:
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider your work. Although we enjoyed this submission, it does not presently meet our needs. We are grateful that you thought of us and wish you the best of luck in placing your manuscript elsewhere.
Sincerely,
The editors
WITNESS
And:
Mr. Bliss,
Thank you for submitting your work to Brevity, the journal of concise nonfiction. Although we do not have a place for your work in the issues for which we are currently reading, we wanted you to know that our readers enjoyed your essay.
We have been blessed with a large number of excellent submissions lately, and hope that you understand that we can only publish a small fraction of the material we receive. We encourage you to submit your work elsewhere and to consider us again (remembering our rule, no more than two submissions per author per calendar year.)
Good luck with your writing,
The Editors
BREVITY