I came on here to share my most annoying rejection that I received today. An agency requested my manuscript, I sent it, and today they responded with two sentences: "Thank you for sending us Title. We're afraid it's not a match for us, but we wish you all the best with it."
Am I wrong to think that they could have given me a little bit more of a reason? Or something slightly more personalized? Not whining-- genuinely curious. This seems unprofessional to me. Am I wrong?
Oh man. Sorry to hear. Been there. Many of us have.
There's no way around it: form rejections on fulls SUCK. Like, MAJORLY.
Personally, I think they're plain wrong, though many may argue agents have perfectly valid reasons to send them.
Either way, they are a reality.
My first one (for a previous ms) made me soooo angry--especially because that agent had had the full for almost six months and she had requested it from a partial. I was very ticked off, and then depressed and then offended. And then I realized it was perfectly valid for me to feel all those things, but seriously, would I have wanted to work with that person or any of the many others like that? Probably not. I moved on, accepted the gross reality of form Rs on fulls and that was that.
On the flipside, with my current manuscript my Rs have run the gamut from super-personalized, to kinda weird, to form. The ones that have hurt the most? The super personalized ones. Because they let me see a little of the personalities of those agents and they seemed like truly wonderful people to work with.
But since you just got this form R today, my advice would be for you to go have a good cry, a good rant, a glass of wine, some ice-cream, lots of chocolate and a big pity party for one. Tomorrow (or the day after, if you need more ice-cream), pick yourself up and send out more queries and/or start something new. In the meantime, hugs to you.
ETA: What's lower than a form R on a full? NO RESPONSE AT ALL. And, yes, it does happen, too.