Wikipedia
A rejection slip is a notice to a freelancer, particularly a freelance author, that a submission has been taken from the slushpile, read or examined, and rejected for purchase. The format may range from a form letter with one or more boxes checked off, to a lengthy handwritten note explaining in detail why the piece is not being purchased, often inviting the freelancer to make further submissions.
Due to the central role of rejection slips in the life of a freelancer, rejection slips play a large role in creative culture, being the subject of many cartoons, stories and even poems. Charles Bukowski's first commercial sale was a short story titled "Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection Slip" Isaac Asimov, better known for his prose, wrote a poem titled Rejection Slips.
Usage examples of "rejection slip".
It came back three weeks later with a form rejection slip attached.
So eventually, I talked her down to admitting that maybe even successful writers couldn't sell every story, and that if I could get a personal letter from the editor, rather than a standard rejection slip, I would win the bet.
The gist of the matter was that I intended to continue to make the writing of science fiction my principal occupation until I received a rejection slip, whereupon I would retire.
It was time to remember that my very first rejection slip in 1951 had come from Amazing Stories.
The next page of the file was a rejection slip from the DA's office.
Three months later all I got was a rejection slip, without even a letter of explanation.
But the interview was curling with age faster than Victor's first rejection slip (also prominently displayed: it was from the New Yorker and had the distinction of sporting an actual, human, hand-written note of comment scrawled in the margin, viz.