It's not IF but WHO...

The key is to keep working on the next project, as you're doing. It will cheer you up to think about how you're going to torture all those rejecting agents by sending them something new before long.

I was excited about my first rejection. Yes, you read that correctly, excited. It just meant I was actually doing this thing.

My second rejection I was sort of in the middle. My third one came with a pang of disappointment and frustration. And the two following them really sucked.

It didn't take long for me to think I was just a failure and never going to get published etc. We'll see how the seventh rejection makes me feel lol.

Rejection after rejection can really wear you down. But when just one person says, "I love this!" it truly makes all the difference. Like the sun breaking through the clouds.

Then you go on sub, and it's time for more rejection! And second-guessing all the positive feedback you've received so far! A merry-go-round that never ends.

After over 100 queries total on three books, I still don't have a skin as thick as it needs to be. Phaeal has it right, though. Writing well is the best revenge.

I had amazing luck my first go-around. Never published. No agent. Two offers (Random House & Heinemann) for my non-fiction.

Random House won. I 'bought' an agent to negotiate the contract. Became published, which led to my writing a column for a major entertainment outlet.

I had a fiction debut in the wings which targeted my audience.

My agent retired.

Having a solid platform matching my fiction debut, I thought finding a new agent would be moderately easy. 'Easy' vanished after two years of rejections; including one agent replying my platform was too large for them to effectively handle. (The prescription for their view of my career needs to be lowered.)

Rejections rarely become bearable. Ironic that my other career requires me to daily reject the work of artists. But I understand the game. To play well we must have the hide of a rhinoceros and the soul of a child.

Make your next move.

It's a cycle. Sometimes I'm all arms stretched shouting "COME AT ME BRO" and other times I'm crying in the corner because "LIFE IS SO UNFAIR."

Querying brings out both the best and worst in you.

I have a similar attitude. While I have faith in my work, I keep my expectations low. Like you, I'm hoping the next rejection might come with feedback. That would be progress.

Finding an agent takes time. It's hard. And we, the people who dare to put ourselves out there, are brave and awesome, and we are the ones who will succeed, rather than those who gave up after one try.

Keep the shiny attitude, friend. It'll do you better than doom and gloom.

Regards,

sbz

I wasn't too bothered by rejections when I was querying, because I only ever expected them. A couple of the close-calls did sting, but they were nothing like being told by a publisher my agent subbed to that although they loved everything about the book, the genre is just dead. Nobody's buying it. Better luck next time. But hey, if I have other books, please submit it to them because they liked my writing.

...sigh.

So I suppose yeah, I started out bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, only to start languishing in the next circle of hell.

zclesa said:

Putputt, I think that's the worry for me. I know the writing is good, but is there a place in the market for it? I'm taking Ray Bradbury's advice: write because you love it, because you have to, and enjoy the writing. Eventually there will be a breakthrough. Even if it takes a different book to get it??

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Yes, I agree. The only thing keeping me sane throughout the submissions process is writing the next book.

Sometimes I get confused when people talk about rejections what stage they're talking about...rejection of a query by an agent, rejection of an ms by an agent, or rejection of an ms by a publisher.

Rejections on my queries don't bother me anymore, now that I've had a few requests. I'm not worried anymore if I can get an agent to look at it. I'm more worried if the book will work for someone. Rejections on the manuscript put me in a funk for a few days, but then I get over it. But I'm still pretty early in the process, so there's still a lot of opportunity out there.

I imagine if I get to the end of my list with no offers, I will be pretty depressed! But hopefully by that point I'll be deep enough in the book I'm writing now that it will temper the disappointment.

Just to play devil's advocate, did the personal rejections include details of your actual work, like character names, or direct mentions of themes etc? Coz those above still sound quite form to me.

If they are personal then I think that's a damn good start so well done

"Commercial" matters, but "commercial" can mean so many things. I read literary fiction, and I still have no idea what would specifically be sellable right now in that genre. Even in the genre where I write, my agent's advice on that really helps. You can get a dose by following agent blogs (in your genre) and Manuscript Wish List.

I would guess that having a strong plot (in addition to great prose) is important. An opening that reaches out and grabs the reader in some way, or that dazzles the reader with your facility with words. (The latter is very, very, very tricky to pull off without overwriting!) Possibly a high concept with a topical angle, but I dunno about that.

In literary, it may also help to have an MFA or have attended prominent writers' conferences or published in print literary journals. All that stuff is pretty meaningless for many writers, but I think there's still an NYC-centered "literary fiction community" that cares about it. That's also why it's vital to be sure whether you're writing lit fic and not, say, mainstream or commercial fiction.

Thirteen rejections doesn't sound like much — unless you haven't sent many queries, or no-response-means-no is even commoner than I thought. Good luck!

zclesa said:

Did you once have this sunny attitude, only to be soured and embittered by the weight of multiple rejections as time went on?

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Yes.

And yes.

caw

Did you once have this sunny attitude, only to be soured and embittered by the weight of multiple rejections as time went on?

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A song that's popular at my day job:

If you're bitter and you're jaded clap your hands,
If you're bitter and you're jaded clap your hands.
If you're exhausted and sadistic and about to go ballistic,
If you're bitter and you're jaded clap your hands.

TessB said:

A song that's popular at my day job:

If you're bitter and you're jaded clap your hands,
If you're bitter and you're jaded clap your hands.
If you're exhausted and sadistic and about to go ballistic,
If you're bitter and you're jaded clap your hands.

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I love this. I must've worked at the same job once upon a time.