Everyone gets a rejection letter at one time of their life or another. It's normal in the publishing world. Even well known writers receive rejections. Bob Hostetler (who writes books with Josh McDowell) received 106 rejections for his first novel, but he never gave up. The 107 try got him a publisher.
(This is a seal, not blood)
When the letter comes in, all we writers want is praise and promises of further publication. We want to be recognized for the hard work we put into our craft. Instead we get replies saying something like this:
Hello Jamin,
Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to read your synopsis and sample chapters for The King of the Reid. We appreciate your considering Bethany House in your search for a publisher. The editors here were impressed by your creativity as a writer, as well as your passion for this project.
However, I’m sorry to tell you that we must pass on The King of the Reid at this time. I wish I had the time to offer you specific feedback, yet the current stack on my desk prevents this.
But I encourage you to continue to fine-tune your manuscript. Perhaps another
publisher is better able to take on your project.
God’s best to you as you search for a publishing home.
The gentle talk hides the hard fact; you've been rejected buddy!
It's easy to sulk and never want to submit anything again. Who wants to hear this all the time? So what do we do after getting these? I do my best to take them seriously, but not personally. I evaluate WHY they rejected something I sent, but I know no editor is waiting for my name so they can reject it. It's all business.
One thing you can do that eases the burn a little is to anticipate an enthusiastic reply, but brace for the worst.
What separates good writers from amateurs is being willing to be rejected. Learn from your experience and move on.
Does anyone have something to add?
10 comments:
I'm still writing my first book and haven't had any rejection letters yet. But if I do get one I'll hang it on the wall so every time I look at it, I'll try harder.
When I start trying to get published, I think I'll keep a collection of rejection letters, just so I can show how many times I've tried (to myself, and to others, if needed). The more times I fail something, the more I want to keep trying (provided it's something I care about). Then, when my book gets published, I'll keep the letter or whatever that says I succeeded and I'll burn all the rejection letters and keep the ahses in a jar. Then I'll start a new collection for my next book, and so on.
Then when I'm old, I'll have the success letters all decorated and still have the ashes of the rejection letters. And I'll use them as examples of what happens to our failures and what happens to our success.
And I'll have a bunch of books published.
:)Ian(:
That's exactly what I did!
I've heard about a lady who plans to use her rejection letters to decorate a room.
im thinking of edison and the light bulb. He'd tried 100 times to make a lightbulb and it didn't work. His helpers were discouraged but he said he now knew 100 ways to not build a light bulb. Your book will find the right publisher, it just could take 100 tries(although ihope it takes a lot less)
Sorry for not commenting much lately! You'll get a publisher someday if it is God's will. How many times have you been rejected. By the way, do you have an agent to represent your book? I'm wondering because some publishers don't take manuscripts not represented by agents. By the way, I get my email forwards from friends or at emailjunkyard.com in the hopeful section.
I totally agree about getting an agent, but I don't have one yet. Getting an agent can be just about as hard as finding a publishing house. The best solution for getting either is to build up a good reputation through smaller publications.
Hey Jamin,
great post. I know I"m a couple days late, but I've been pretty busy lately. Anyhow, like one of your other readers commented, there's plenty of folks who were rejected for many years before they finally "made" it. The gentleman who invented "Mars" candy company took four years to perfect the recipe in his home kitchen. 4 Years!
Funny how things work out, because I just posted a blog last night about publications and manuscripts.
I've always heard, and repeated, that if you don't have a "thick skin" or if you can't accept constructive (and sometimes not-so-constructive)criticism and rejection, then you're in the wrong biz!
Keep on keeping on...
James
Bummer about the rejection letter. But hey, you got a post out of it. :-)
Debbie
Hey, that's all that matters right?
I just received my first rejection letter. What's bad is now I see editors everywhere laughing at me! :)
Jared,
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