Favorite rejection quotes

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Rjo

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This, from an English agent living in Paris, to whom I submitted a book I've since stopped calling a memoir:
"Nobody these days is interested in reading a memoir by a nobody."
 

Treehouseman

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This, from an English agent living in Paris, to whom I submitted a book I've since stopped calling a memoir:
"Nobody these days is interested in reading a memoir by a nobody."

Sigh, s/he's terribly blunt but accurate from what I've heard of late. The memoir market is pretty saturated with everyone recovering from drug addictions, terminal illnesses or recovering parents.

A friend of mine had his memoir published by Hachette last year, but he was born with no legs and a massive facial tumor, and was kind of well known because his life story had been followed by the papers for 40 years -- he had a platform. I wish I had some good advice. I guess.
 

Rjo

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Thanks for the reply, and please forgive my delayed response.

I think there's a moment when "terribly blunt" becomes "simply impolite," and in my 3-year search for an agent I got a lot of the latter---one reason I finally resorted to self-publishing.
 

rmarquez

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What does it mean?

Why would a publisher hold onto my book for almost six months, not get back to me when I queried at 3 and 5 months, then email me the following rejection? Was I close? Was my novel lost in the slush pile? Should I ever send another book to this publisher (because my work isn't a good fit for them)? Thanks, I'm new at this.

"[FONT=&quot]Thank you for submitting NOVEL NAME. This is really well written. However, I’m going to have to pass. It doesn’t fit what I need for my list right now. I wish you the best of luck placing it with another publisher, and I hope you’ll keep PUBLISHER NAME in mind for future submissions.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
 

Hathor

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You're overthinking this. Six months isn't that unusual, and what you have sounds like a form rejection. Which would mean you can't read anything into it except that it's a "no" for this particular book. You might check out Querytracker and see if there are any stats or comments on this particular publisher.
 

Mjfo634

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I love this quote!

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it." W. C. Fields

This is great!!
 

mrscolumbo

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I think so far the best rejection I have gotten for my full manuscript was this obvious form letter: "Although there was much to like about your story, it wasn't unique/different enough to stand out in this incredibly crowded market."
So glad to know that there are so many other aspiring authors also writing YA fiction about African-American teens set in the early 90's in Chicago.
 

Bundles917

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No, really... you're too big for us.

In seeking a new agent after my first agent retired I received many rejections including this eye-roller:

"You have a tremendous publishing history and I know you will find an agent quickly (if not already). Authors with a big platform, like yours, take a tremendous amount of organization and strategy and neither of us have time, right now, to help you to the extent you need or be the advocate that you deserve."
 

Nanauq

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"Your prose style does not grab me." Hand-written on a form rejection slip. At first I thought the agent had needlessly piled on, and was annoyed. Then I decided it wouldn't hurt to try to write more grabbing prose.
But did she also mean that she liked the setting, the characters, the premise, and the "only" fault was drab language? I had to quit thinking about this one line of personal response I had received, and just go on to the next one.
 

Belinda

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Good Company

How about:

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence
'for your own sake do not publish this book.'
 

dysfunctional_des

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my favorite one is

"Get up. Pretty up that little face of yours. Now did you die? No? So suck it up and try again because there is no harm in that." -unknown
 

Director C

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The only rejection I received that enraged me. It just felt so smug and insulting. I guess it's not that bad, compared to many of the ones in this thread.

[FONT=&quot]Dear Ms. [NAME]
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]No thank you, but thank you for writing to me about [TITLE].[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Yours sincerely,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][Really, really want to reveal his name...]
[/FONT]
 

monkey44

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It's always been a dream of mine to send a copy of my best-seller to each of the agents / publishers that rejected it. I'll include a brief photocopied 'form note' stating that I'm rejecting each one as an agent / publisher.

I also find it amusing when a rejection letter contains grammar errors.
 
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JulieWeathers

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My personal mantra has always been, Rejection is part of the part of the journey. Dejection is a choice.

Julie
 

Lena Hillbrand

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That's disgusting.


On the plus side, it was about 1/2 hr after I sent the query, so at least there was no waiting! Nowadays, I appreciate a quick, blunt rejection more than the ones that drag on and on and get my hopes up and THEN send a rejection.
 

Amy Writes

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I got, sent from an iPhone,

"No thanks."

At least it was short and sweet.

Honestly, this is all any form rejection ever means. I think most agents just pad it out so as not to seem rude.

At this point, I skim rejections for the 'no', and don't read the rest of the extra words. So a 'no, thanks' wouldn't kill me.
 
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