Thought Nuggets

foodgawker Rejects

foodgawker reject

The deeper into food blogging we immerse ourselves, the more we’ve discovered the power of foodgawker. Acceptance from them can lead to an explosion of hits on your site, while rejection helps to load the bullets of a gun pointed at your ego. Without knowing of its ALMIGHTY POWER, I submitted a photo from our deviled egg post and was rejected for being too dull. No biggie. It probably wasn’t quite up to the level that it should have been anyway.

Maybe spending years aspiring to be a screenwriter somehow prepared me to expect a very high amount of rejection out of life. Maybe I have low self-esteem (BWAHAHAHHAHA). Or maybe we just haven’t been rejected enough times to build up a hatred/envy/hunger for foodgawker acceptance.

Part of me is afraid to submit too many photos–not necessarily for fear of rejection, but for the fear of addiction. I picture myself staying up late, running off the high from submitting photos. Calling in sick to work so I can compulsively check my phone for acceptance emails. All eventually leading to a binge of cocaine and heroin for “creative inspiration.” And is foodgawker going to pay for my rehab?

Too real. Anyway…

To help facilitate the hunger for acceptance, foodgawker recently tweeted a PDF of submission guidelines to remind everyone of what they’re looking for in a food photo. While the tips were technically accurate, I think they were a little too “dull” (to use their word). Sometimes it helps to know what NOT to do. So, I thought it might be helpful to offer up a few specific samples of “foodgawker rejects” and what their corresponding unedited rejection comments might look like.

after photo
Rejection Reason:  What happened to the food?

foodgawker reject
Rejection Reason:  We do not, nor have we ever accepted selfies. And why are you eating a slice of bread in what appears to be a bathroom?

foodgawker dog
Rejection Reason:  This is just a picture of your dog. Yes, you have a handsome dog, but this is a #foodporn website.

food porn
Rejection Reason:  Not that kind of food porn…

foodgawker threat
Rejection Reason:  We don’t respond to grammatically incorrect threats.

I heart foodgawker
Rejection Reason:  We do not accept bribes. And come on, a dollar?

toast gawker
Rejection Reason:  Closer, but this is just a piece of toast. Have you even been to our website?

foodgawker bread
Rejection Reason:  This is clearly just a photo of our website. And WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE BREAD?!

Maybe one day (far into the future when we’ve completed rehab), we’ll be able to provide a post full of useful advice and examples of accepted foodgawker photos. But until then, there WILL BE BREAD!

Standard

26 thoughts on “foodgawker Rejects

  1. This made my day. I’m at the point of needing rehab. I’ve been accepted 3 times and rejected… um… 300. I’m going to start sending them more bread. I think we should bombard them. It’s the only way to go.

    Beautiful job, Evan!

    • Evan says:

      Thanks! Well I guess we have another 297 more pictures to send before we’ll get one accepted! And sliced bread is totally the new cupcake.

  2. Thought this was hilarious. I’ve started a foodgawker rejection blog over tumbler and linked this page. I hope fg starts accepting your food selfies and if not I will. Cheers!

  3. Thank you SO MUCH FOR WRITING THIS. Yes, all caps because I laughed out loud throughout reading this. Absolutely hilarious. I’ve had a bunch of photos rejected from FG & my ego, though I thought was quite small, has shrunk substantially. My acceptance to rejected ratio is so sad & I post better photos than just toast. 🙁 This post made me feel better, hah! You must try to submit more in the future, not for your ego to be damaged, but because you can definitely learn from your mistakes (according to them). It’s worth it! When you hit a winning streak with them, you’ll feel like you’re not such a bad food photographer after all. You know, because they’re the only real source of validation anywayyyy. 😉

    • Evan says:

      Thanks so much for your kind words, Tiff! We’ve since had a few pics accepted, but plenty more rejected. There will definitely be a ‘Part 2’ to this post soon enough 🙂

  4. I just submitted my first pic and got an expected reject (I just started a blog a few months ago). I kind of agree with the reason they gave me. Just stumbled upon your post, made me laugh out loud, thanks for making my evening!

    • Evan says:

      Glad you enjoyed it, Valeria! Yeah, even though it’s fun to hate on foodgawker, sometimes the feedback ain’t wrong… Good luck on your next submissions!

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