Blogger: Rachel Kent
After weeks, possibly months, of waiting for an answer to your submission, you receive a short, polite letter (or email) informing you that your project isn’t right for the agent or editor you were submitting to. Your hopes and dreams were resting on that publishing connection. You feel like you’ve been dumped. Even worse, this letter isn’t the first rejection you’ve received. So what are you going to do about it?
My advice to you: “If at first you don’t succeed try, try again.” Whenever I hear that quote, I think of Elmer Fudd and his never-ending hunt to capture Bugs Bunny. That’s the kind of dedication you need to have to survive in the publishing “hunt.” Like Elmer, however, you need to try new, unique methods to catch that “wascally publishing wabbit,” and if you’ve started to collect a large pile of rejections, that’s a sign it’s time to try something new. Here’s what you can do…
If your query letter is rejected consistently, the reason could be:
#1: Your query letter. Perhaps you aren’t presenting your book the way you need to. Ask a few unbiased readers to look over your query and let them offer advice on how to make the letter clearer–or more exciting. Then take the best advice and revise accordingly.
#2: Your project idea. Perhaps your project isn’t quite right for the marketplace at the current time; consider revising your idea or shelving it and starting in on a new one.
If you have a pile of rejections from sending requested proposals or manuscripts, most likely your query letter presents your idea well and your idea interests publishers and agents, but the writing fell flat. This is the time to have your critique group step in and help you to see what could be improved on the project. Attending writers’ conferences and workshops can also help you to improve your writing.
If you receive a rejection letter that asks you to resubmit after some revision, be sure to follow through. Do the work and resubmit.
I believe that if you are passionate about writing, then you are supposed to write for one reason or another. Even if you never are traditionally published, your writing can still touch lives.
So keep trying! Don’t let rejection get you down, and don’t take it personally. Work on improving your writing and know that your writing makes a difference.
What helps you get over the sting of a rejection?
There is a sting that comes with rejection. I think that is because we pour our hearts into our writing. We are taken back a little (or a lot) when someone says it isn’t a good fit. As an author, particularly when I am asked for a revision, it helps to take a little time (even just a few hours) away from the project before I try to address the suggestions. Remembering that the other professional also wants the work to be its best makes me thankful for that input and the opportunity to revise and resubmit.
This is so very true, Rachel. I set out on this writing journey 14 years and 6 months ago. My goal, to be published in 6 months. Today, that little novella that I wrote just for fun, it releases and I am now an author. It was close, 6 months with 14 years tacked onto the end. I was looking back at the notes that I kept about my writing for most of that time and saw that my writing instructor highly approved of the first agent I planned to submit to back in 2005. Who was that agent? Janet Grant and I believe that it was just her at the time. At least I’ve been reading her website and hoping and dreaming since Books and Such was a one gal operation. Well, I still don’t have an agent, my house is still messy, and that book I spent 5 years writing has not yet sold, but despite my huge collection of rejections, I am an author today and our Family is going to eat pizza and drink root beer and watch Return of the King even though there are ghosts in it. My youngest is really really excited! Ghosts!!!! So yes, keep going. It won’t look like you think it will, you might have 14 years tacked onto the end of your 6 months, but God is good and He does good things with and for His children.
Gandalf would be really proud of you little one.
Seriously – your long, persistent journey to Mordor, will ripple through the ranks of every doubt or shadow or ghost that shared that journey.
Thanks … your story inspired me greatly. Enjoy the beer – only Samwise truly knows how special that will be.
Thanks Peter, we loved Return of the King for our celebration and I’m very glad I was just writing instead of fighting Shelob!
Enjoy this, Kristen! So proud of you. 🙂
Thanks Shelli!
Kristen, good for you! Don’t they say, it’s the journey. . . . Think of all you’ve learned and crammed into those 14 years. I, too, have a book I poured heart and soul into which consumed my summer vacations as a teacher. I later abandoned it when I learned it was not well written, amateurish. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. You have persevered, and I think that’s a winner. Enjoy the movie. “Celebrate good times, come on! (Let’s celebrate)”.
Thank you so much Norma! We had a blast, it was a wonderful day.
Kristen, your comment reminds me of how important it is to be in every moment, especially with our families. 🙂 Mine look forward to the day when they get to watch the LOTR trilogy. We’re reading the books first.
*And thank you for the reminder that this journey requires time and our best efforts.
We just finished reading/listening to the audio books! That was our requirement too! The books are so good, as are the movies, only in different ways.
Thank you for sharing your story! It is true that God is good and he also has a plan. Hope you all enjoyed the movie!
Thanks so much, Rachel. So amazing to watch my 7-year-old sit down to read my book. Romantic comedy? Really? But he was determined and he is actually half way through. It was a great day, celebrating with the people I love.
Rachel, are otherwise viable manuscripts rejected because the author’s online presence is too small?
Yes. This happens a lot!
An anecdote that has so long inspired me relates to the greatest golfer, Jack Nicklaus. He watched how weekend hackers would curse themselves for every bad shot and then stumble on, curse for curse, to the 19th hole. Jack chose then, in his formative years, not to do that to himself. He changed his confession to “I failed”, not “I am a failure”. He also gave himself a quota of bad balls per round, which is analogous to a writer giving herself realistic latitude and a sense of perspective.
It’s not, “I failed.” It is, “Well! That was a learning experience.”
As long as I learned something useful, all is not lost.
Nice! I love this.
….and i would focus on positive things that came out of the rejection. my first submitted manuscript was rejected by every publishing house —BUT it was the book to get me an agent
….that rejected book (While still on submission) taught me a lot about the craft, finishing a novel and writing a synopsis and proposal so that i was able to write a completely DIFFERENT book and that was the one that landed me my contract.
….most rejections (i like to call them passes because it sounds nicer ) we got for my first manuscript were full of GREAT feedback. honestly, these editors showed a careful reading and gave suggestions as well as reasons they passed. i used all of that while writing my second book and now will continue to use it as i write more 😀
Rachel, I love your perspective, how you can see the lessons learned from the process of your first book–writing and shopping it. Thanks for the reminder to look for the upside in rejections. 🙂
I love this perspective! Wonderful.
The support of this blog community has helped me tremendously to keep pressing forward. Writers willing to share their ups and downs … it’s just so encouraging to keep pressing on. And really, the love of learning the craft. I never thought I could love grammar … but even learning to use fewer adjectives makes me smile. 🙂 It’s like the first time I heard Beth Moore speak … I said, “I want to love God that much.” Reading a wonderful book makes me say, “I want to write like that.” You get that nudge that presses you forward.
A support community is a great resource! And I have never seen Beth in person, but I love her Bible study videos!
Chocolate… the answer to what helps you get over rejection.
But I appreciate the reality of a market that publishes less books than writers imagine. I like to think of rejection as either a wake up call to work harder or a means of pushing my work in a different direction, depending on the reason. The stats for how many times famous authors were rejected doesn’t really impact me, but the truth that God has a plan for us does.
So, I keep writing as long as He gives me the passion to do so.
Ah, chocolate! 🙂
It’s not just the rejection that makes this hard to get past, it’s also the time spent waiting for a response (or no response as the case may be). It can feel like you’re wasting a lot of time. Of course there are other writing projects going on, but the wait is a challenge, for me anywa. Patience is a virtue. Hah! Gulp. Makes me think of job interviews and the not knowing while you wait. The good thing is we do learn as we go, like Rachel said. I’m realizing we want to get to the point where we submit work that has class, is well done, and says, remarkable.
“I’m realizing we want to get to the point where we submit work that has class, is well done, and says, remarkable.” I love that, Norma!
Great post, Rachel!
I’ve found there are two things that help me most with rejection:
1) Making sure I’m already in the middle of another project, and,
2) Making sure I have something else out on submission (even if it’s just a small article or short story).
I think the reason these two things help is that when you get a rejection, you’re tempted to believe the lie, “I’m not a real writer.” But if the rejection finds you actively working, it’s a lot easier to remember that rejection is just part of the job – and that it’s time to get back to work!
whoa. super!!!
Love your thoughts here!
Wonderful steps. 🙂
Jessica,
Thanks for the helpful tips!
One thing to remember about rejection,I think, is that it’s not a value judgement of your book, much less you – it may merely be an indicator of what an agent or publisher thinks the market will be in 18-24 months time.
* They’ve got to make that call as a matter of personal financial necessity, and make the choices from what crosses their desks. Each choice is a calculated risk.
* And that said, marketability mush be the final arbiter…good writing is fine, but if F. Scott came back from the dead and pitched his fictional autobiography, “I Am Zombie”, it would get a lot of passes, because zombies are passe…just SO yesterday.
* And the consequences of a couple of bad choices can be devastating, because the time, effort and money lost may not be regained in time to prevent financial collapse.
* With those in mind, I’m not terribly upset about rejection. I know that I can write an interesting novel-length story, that I have a distinctive voice, and that my writing is adequate to the task (it can always be improved)
* But I do write from my place in the cultural landscape, and that can hurt one’s chances. I share my potential readers’ interest in the importance of romance and strong marriage, but ‘we’ have very different aesthetic tastes. Most of my target readers enjoy things as diverse as ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘America’s Got Talent’; I don’t, and that probably shows to an agent’s practised eye, making my writing seem as though it would be less accessible to the readers in whose hands I should like to place it. And so…PASS.
Your points are sadly true. I have had to pass on things I love because I don’t think I could sell them in today’s market. 🙁 It hurts me to do so as well.
I have a friend who verbally brands the publisher “Unworthy!” if they reject his work. His way of having fun with the rejection.
Me, I simply try to keep in mind that I don’t want a publisher who doesn’t love my book and doesn’t catch a vision for it. I’d rather go with a smaller publisher who has a vision for my book than with a larger publisher who feels lukewarm about it.
Blessings to you, Rachel!
Haha! I like his approach and yours, too.
Years ago I learned that rejections prove you’re really a writer. Only people who never submitted anything didn’t get them. But today lots of houses and periodicals don’t even have the courtesy to send rejection letters or even e-mail messages. I know they’re busy but I still think that’s rude.
I echo what has already been said: it’s about not quitting. Not giving up. I’ve had a couple of projects rejected by a publisher only to be picked up by another. There are so many variables, but the driving factor is, as you mentioned, Rachel, passion. Without the passion to write, we wouldn’t survive the rejections. So we keep writing. Pen the next book, and the next.
Davalynn,
I agree that it’s about not quitting. In another area outside of writing, there’s been times when I’ve wanted to quit. It seems as though God said, “Don’t give up; don’t give in. Keep going.” That was enough for that day. Those words also gave me the clue that something better for me is over the horizon. I may not see it yet, but it’s there.