Hello Rejecter,
I just came across your blog today and found your honesty refreshing.
Speaking of honesty, I'm trying to decipher some agent rejection letters. They say many positive things about the story and writing followed by:
Agent 1: "After long consideration, though, I have to say I am just not enthusiastic enough to offer representation."
Agent 2: "I'm afraid, however, that I simply didn't fall in love with the work as I would have to, to take on a new project. "
Agent 3: "Unfortunately, however, I am being extremely careful about taking on new projects, and while I admired this a lot, I fear I didn't feel as enthusiastically about the manuscript as I need to in such a challenging marketplace.
Author friends tell me I should continue to contact agents but I'm wondering if the above replies are code for: "Give up now, you'll never get this book published."
Thoughts?
Flattered but Confused
Unless the agent mentions specifics about your novel, there is no reason to believe it's anything but a form letter. If you get a reply letter that looks like it might have been photocopied 100 times, it's definitely a form letter.
Rejections are really frustrating. I get them now, but mostly from publishing companies, and sometimes they are personalized (depending on how well the agent knows the editor) and sometimes they are not.
A form letter means the following things:
(1) Your book is bad.
(2) Your book is good, but not really good enough.
(3) You submitted the book to an agency that doesn't handle that genre.
(4) Your book is too long or too short.
(5) Your book is thinly disguised Twilight fanfic. Hell, some people don't disguise it at all. They understand nothing of copyrights and we don't amazingly compelled to try to explain it to them.
(6) The agent you queried is not taking new clients.
For the most part, you're not going to know what it is (unless it's that Twilight fanfic thing). So send to every possible agent, and if they all reject you, take it as a sign that it's time to write a different book.
8 comments:
Being rejected a lot can make you stray from my three golden rules - which I gleaned from the Rejecter. sound contract:pro editor:you never pay. Send queries and be immovable on your own rules. Nothing against agents but I got my debut novel contract without an agent. Next I want poetry, maybe I'll pay, and I know it will be without an agent as they all run a mile from the word poetry!
hehehe Fanfic - can be soooo amazing and SOOO BAD!! *shudder*
Not got to the point of querying yet but thanks for the examples of rejection letters to look out for.
Thanks for the post.
Believe in your writing and develop an iron hide.
Rejection is rarely personal. Agencies (and publishers) are overwhelmed. Chances are they glance at your first paragraph in your query and pass judgment about your project.
You are lucky if you get one minute or less of "read time."
Make it count.
Interesting article.
What is Twilight Fanfic?
If our writing is bad please just say so. It'll make things a lot easier.
Yet somehow they published 50 Shades of Grey...
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