Things no one tells you...

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leftyfelix2

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Sometimes I even feel like a failure, particularly whenever I get a rejection letter. I got one like five seconds ago. But do you know what you do? You try your hardest and you reply to rejections asking, very politely and cordial of course, what needed to be altered and what they didn't like. Hopefully they'll respond and let you know, then you will know for next time. This is my first advice.

My second advice is to pray hard, and hope for the best. And read, read, read lots about publishing and query letters and hooks and everything you can about them and never, ever give up! Don't ever give up! No matter how people may tell you that publishing is "too hard" or even "that not everybody gets published," this is utter nonsense - YOU WILL get published!! Believe in God, believe in yourself, pray hard, and work hard, and then when you least expect it, it will happen for you and when it does, let us know so we congratulate you on your accomplishments. :)
 

Romangoblets

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Sometimes I even feel like a failure, particularly whenever I get a rejection letter. I got one like five seconds ago. But do you know what you do? You try your hardest and you reply to rejections asking, very politely and cordial of course, what needed to be altered and what they didn't like. Hopefully they'll respond and let you know, then you will know for next time. This is my first advice.

My second advice is to pray hard, and hope for the best. And read, read, read lots about publishing and query letters and hooks and everything you can about them and never, ever give up! Don't ever give up! No matter how people may tell you that publishing is "too hard" or even "that not everybody gets published," this is utter nonsense - YOU WILL get published!! Believe in God, believe in yourself, pray hard, and work hard, and then when you least expect it, it will happen for you and when it does, let us know so we congratulate you on your accomplishments. :)

I would never reply to rejections. It's not the agent's job to tell you how to improve, etc. They didn't want your manuscript for whatever reason - move on. It's a business and agents don't have the time to responding to thousands of form rejections with advice, etc. I would never reply to a rejection unless it was personal, and told me they loved it but not enough to rep it. Only then I might - might - respond with a simple "thank you."
 

eqb

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I would never reply to rejections. It's not the agent's job to tell you how to improve, etc.

Seconded.

Agents and publishers don't have time to tell you why your submission didn't work for them. They get hundreds of submissions each month, and reading submissions is only one part of their job.

Here are some general reasons an author gets a rejection:

They submitted to the wrong place. (Agent doesn't represent that genre, publisher doesn't take un-agented submissions, etc.)

They didn't follow guidelines. (They sent the full manuscript when the agent only wants to see the first three chapters.)

The query letter had problems. (It was boring, confusing, or whatever.) Or the query letter was okay, but the story idea itself didn't appeal to the agent or publisher.

Or maybe the query letter was intriguing, but the writing in the sample pages wasn't up to professional standards.

If you sent your submission to the right place, and followed the submission guidelines, you might consider that your query letter didn't work. For that, you need to get 50 posts here, then you can post your letter in the Query Letter section of Share Your Work. I'd advise you to read all the stickied posts about query letters and to read through the current critiques to get an idea of what to expect.
 

whiporee

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Or the query letter was okay, but the story idea itself didn't appeal to the agent or publisher.

I'd bet this is a solid 98 percent of all rejections. I don't buy every book whose jacket I read -- agents are the same, I imagine.

I think we spend too much time thinking there is a magic bullet to all this -- the perfect query, the right agent, making the synopsis sing. In the end, it's about the story you tell and finding someone who wants to hear it. Sometimes that happens early; sometimes it happens late and sometimes not at all.

I don't think there's anything wrong with sending a follow up to an agent, just expect it won't be answered. These folks aren't world leaders -- a second email doesn't waste their limited supply of time. They are people trying to make a living in the literary world -- just like writers -- and the worst thing they can do is not write you back.

Of course, if they do you might not like what they say. But that's the risk.
 

Fuchsia Groan

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I wouldn't respond to form rejections. Instead, I'd follow agent blogs. A few of them have special intervals when they offer brutally honest feedback on queries, and that could be very useful (though still just one agent's reaction).

I did follow up once asking for clarification on a personal R, and the agent answered politely (though not immediately).

Though I'm not an agent, I sometimes get requests for feedback from people whose self-published books I choose not to review. I have to say, I always delete them unless the book was an "almost there." Offering feedback to writers isn't my job (my job, or part of it, is suggesting books to readers), and in many cases the feedback would upset the writer, igniting a conflict I don't have time or energy for.

I mean, let's say my candid reaction to a book blurb is "Ohhh-kay. Not another memoir of some boomer's experience protesting in the '60s and going back to the land. We see dozens of those every year." Or "Good Lord. Not another collection of short stories written in our 'colorful' regional dialect." Will it really help the writer to learn that his/her book doesn't feel fresh to me? Maybe the book still has an audience, but it lacks that special something that makes it stand out from other submissions. That's a hard thing for me to express politely. And, admittedly, there's a subjective component. (I have never wanted to read '60s protesting memoirs. Other people do.)

That's why SYW is an invaluable resource. It offers a range of candid opinions. I can't stress it enough.

You just need to be ready to hear stuff that may feel harsh to you, and weigh it all carefully. When I shared the query and first pages from the book in my sig here, a few people thought the whole idea was unoriginal. Tbh, I see where they're coming from; it's not the world's newest premise, though I hope I developed it in fresh ways. The book still sold. No doubt some readers will pick it up and have the exact same "Seen it" reaction. Hopefully more will be intrigued by the new twists. That's the most a writer can ever hope for.
 
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eqb

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I'd bet this is a solid 98 percent of all rejections. I don't buy every book whose jacket I read -- agents are the same, I imagine.

More like 10 or 20 percent, based on what I've read. Agents and publishers get lots of terrible submissions. See Slushkiller for a typical breakdown of why books get rejected.

I don't think there's anything wrong with sending a follow up to an agent, just expect it won't be answered. These folks aren't world leaders -- a second email doesn't waste their limited supply of time.

Again, based on what I've heard from my agent and others, it does waste their limited supply of time, and they do find it irritating. As Fuchsia said, you could make a case for it if you received a personalized rejection that indicated "almost." But otherwise? Not recommended.

You're far better off getting feedback here or in a professional workshop.
 

nighttimer

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This is more of a rant/ me whining thing. I am writing it because I know a ton of people on this board understand what its like to feel like a huge failure.

I went to all the right colleges, got all the right degrees. Everything "the man" tells you to do to succeed. Then after giving birth to my first child, I found out I had lupus sle and APS. I was medically retired from the Air Force and I became a stay at home mother because sometimes all of my medications makes it impossible for me to do more than spend time with my face in the toilet bowl.

My husband, who is the most supportive man in the world, encouraged me to write rather than be miserable about how my life was thrown off track. With his encouragement, I started writing while my kids were at school.

But now I am coming to the point where I am wondering, what if I suck at writing? What if I can never be successful in the workplace or at home?

I am raising two beautiful, brilliant, and good kids. I support my husband who is gone with the military half the time. So I know I am not a complete failure.

However, this writing thing is not for those who need to feel a sense of accomplishment. I wish someone had warned me about all this. That you could spend countless hours pouring yourself into a novel, which becomes your baby. Then you hand your novel to someone, hoping they will even give you the time of day.

Long rant made short- I wish I had known that writing would make me question myself almost as much as being a parent does.

You should question yourself as a writer as much as you do as a parent. It's the only way you're gonna be any good at it.

Writing rarely provides immediate gratification. Oh sure, there's a small degree of satisfaction in getting the words all nice and neatly arranged and all the vowels and consonants lined up just so, but the work never expresses its gratitude for all the effort you've put into it. It kind of just lies there and doesn't do much of anything until you dress it up and send it out to the world.

The accomplishment Ringading is in the creation of the work, not whether the world gives a damn about it. Whether it is your children or your words, you and only you have created something that has never existed before. There have been billions of children and trillions of words, but nothing like what you gave birth to.

There's your accomplishment right there and you should take pride in it. Think of all the people you know who can't do on their best day what you can do on your worst.

Writing is pain and writing is pleasure. Writing is an unmatched joy and a splendid misery. It can be an dirty, sweaty and arduous toil and sometimes all you get from it is utter drek that makes you put your head in your hands and say, "I slaved for hours, days, weeks, months and years for this?"


To be a writer is an act of madness. You put time into it. You put writing before family, friends, leisure, food, exercise, sex, and even the bathroom when you're on a tear. Sometimes the ideas are flooding out of your head and other times you're running on empty staring numbly/dumbly at a blank screen or paper.

You're right to question yourself, doubt yourself and beat yourself up over writing, Ringading. Everyone does because that's included in the price of the ticket. Writing is harder for writers than anyone else.

But you aren't the first writer to wonder if this is really your thing. Here's an easy way to find out: stop writing. Don't do any writing for a week or two. If you don't miss it maybe you never loved it.

However, if you do begin to get twitchy, feeling a vague, yet maddening sense there's some unfinished business you need to attend to, then you'll know you're into this thing come hell or waters high.

I love writing even if it doesn't always love me back. I hope you can get to the point where you feel the same way.

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
Ernest Hemingway
 
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