How To Interpret Rejection Letters From Literary Agents And Editors

Writer's Relief Blog :

Rejection letters from literary agents and editors of literary journals can be discouraging—especially impersonal, one-line form letters. But rejection is a necessary part of the writing process, and creative writers should know how to interpret the information in rejection letters and then use this knowledge to improve their submissions.

Read the whole story: Writer's Relief Blog

Comments

[NancyPeske]

09:08 PM on 06/04/2011

I agree that you shouldn't look too closely at the wording of reject letters--unless you get more than one reject for the same reason, in which case you might consider taking it as constructive criticism and changing your book proposal (I work with nonfiction and used to be an in-house editor at HarperCollins and, before that, at Putnam). Also, with nonfiction, unless the editor specifically says "I'd like to see this again if the author ... (builds her platform further, recasts the material in a particular way)," I would never assume that the editor wants to see it again.

Ideally, you work with an agent who has a clear sense of what particular editors are looking for and can pitch it to build their excitement; in this case, you're likely to get a comment that's more personal ("I can see why you love Mary Author's style..." "I, too, want to see more books that address this important issue and I wanted to love this, but.."). My advice is to build your platform and brand, get a great marketing plan together, hire a developmental editor to give yourself the best possible shot (unless your agent really, truly has that talent and is willing to work with you), and don't obsess over rejections much less rejection letters.

http://www.nancypeske.com

[garyd63]

12:24 PM on 06/03/2011

Here's a question I have for those authors (writers of fiction not non-fictio­n) who have literary agents and receive rejection letters/em­ails/tweet­s through this middleman. I've been shown these terse, paragraph long communique­s, by friends. (I'm not an author and don't plan to be.) My candid reading of these rejections is that they are as often as not aimed at keeping a good relationsh­ip between agents and editors as speaking to the failings or weaknesses of the manuscript­s they have (or haven't) read. Am I right or wrong in this observatio­n? Or is this just a naive, duh! question, something to be expected in the corporate world of publishing today?

[keep it solid]

06:06 AM on 06/02/2011

I wonder how many masterpieces never saw the light of day due to rejection...

[BlackJAC]

06:37 PM on 06/01/2011

One of my rejection letters said they were shooting me down because they were simply too busy to read it.

[keep it solid]

06:08 AM on 06/02/2011

don't fret, even JK Rowling was initially rejected by publishers

[BlackJAC]

08:13 AM on 06/02/2011

If you haven't been shot down at least 100 times, you're not even trying. I queried Playboy knowing full well I'd get shot down just to take that swing.

[SF TKF]

04:48 PM on 06/01/2011

Once. I once got. Why can't I proof read until it posts? ARGH!

[SF TKF]

04:48 PM on 06/01/2011

Rejection letters are something you just have to learn to deal with them. I’ve once got my own query letter back with “NO” stamped in red across the top (three times, just in case I was unclear). I got a form “we do not represent your genre” from an agent who had asked for specific revisions (and no, I didn’t bother trying to clear up the obvious mistake on their part; a sloppy agent is one thing nobody needs). I got lots of “just not in love with it” rejections. And when I eventually did find the right agent, it was all worth it. Of course six months later she jumped ship to work for another agency leaving me stranded with her boss, who doesn’t rep my genre and clearly has no interest in being my agent. *sigh*

[BlackJAC]

06:38 PM on 06/01/2011

You couldn't have asked the boss for passive representation, where you do all the submitting and they handle the paperwork aspect if someone wants it?