*Originally Published in the October 2023 Newsletter* Duotrope.com, the leading database of submission opportunities for writers, listed *The Pierian* among its “Most Personable Poetry Publishers” in September 2023. Duotrope lists 3,685 poetry publishers and ranks fewer than 25 of them as “Most Personable,” placing *The Pierian* squarely in the top 1% of “personability.” What does that mean, exactly? Duotrope has not experienced our winning smiles and engaging newsletters, so they are left with hard data: a top personable publisher has “a personal rejection to form rejection ratio of at least 90%” over a sample size of “at least 10 rejections reported within the past 12 months.” Acceptances are a writer’s favorite outcome, but they are rare. Short of that, a direct personal response demonstrates that a submission has been read by the editors. It builds a relationship between author and magazine and supports mutual growth. Unfortunately, time and editorial attention are limited, so stock rejection slips are common at all levels of the submission game. Stock rejections can be an artifact of limited time available for communication, or may indicate that the manuscript was filtered out by an overburdened intern and never truly considered. Writers who routinely receive stock slips can’t be blamed for growing cynical about “the system.” At *The Pierian*, our motivation for sending out personal editorial responses is not some Quixotic attempt to take on the entire institution of literary production. Rather, we recognize that with blind reading as a core value, a poet we reject in one submission may end up anchoring a later issue. But that’s only possible when we let them know what we like and what we need. Know a budding poet who is impatient with the waiting and wondering game and would like to receive real responses from real people? Please encourage them to submit work to us!