Rude rejection letters could cost publishers

[Paul Whybrow]

This article is in today's Independent newspaper, a report on September Publishing founder's statement about how publishers need to be more encouraging towards new writers.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...de-rejection-letters-publishers-a6762696.html

She says kind and wise things, but I don't see attitudes changing soon. Many literary agents and publishers will remain rude and remote, largely because of time constraints. I'm not making excuses for them, as dealing with any large company has the feel of being an amoeba attempting to attract the attention of a brontosaurus!

Of the 150 submissions that I made in the first seven months of 2015, I received 56 form letter rejections and four personalised rejection letters. These offered helpful advice, and all came from small literary agencies, two of which were just starting out. I've said it before, but once a publishing enterprise reaches a certain size it doesn't have to be polite any more as they adopt a might is right attitude to business.

Having said that, September Publishing appear to have an open and welcoming attitude:

http://www.septemberpublishing.org/

 

[Emurelda]

I don't actually have a problem with them being rude. It just means they didn't click with it. Although 'rude' is an objective viewpoint...let's call it misunderstood

I worry if we put too much pressure on publishers that might put them off opening to new writers altogether to keep 'pc' and as such more will close their doors and open to a few select agents that they know.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

I don't think I've ever had a rude rejection letter. They've all been extremely nice form or the occasional personalized rejection.

 

[Carol Rose]

I've never had a rude rejection letter. 99% of them were form letters anyway. The few that were personalized weren't rude. Blunt, perhaps, but not what I would call rude. You know what they say about perception being everything. Wonder if perhaps some people view the form letters as rude? Considering so many agents and publishers don't respond at all these days if they aren't interested, I'd say that a form letter is better than no response at all. And I know I've said this before, but there used to be a lot more agents and publishers that took the time to offer personalized advice. They, in turn, were subjected to rude and snarky responses by disgruntled writers, so many of them stopped giving it. Can't say I blame them. I'd have done the same thing.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

I've probably have a couple of hundred rejections, and not one rude one. But then there's all those hundreds of no replies, maybe that's rude? lol (but normal)

 

[Paul Whybrow]

After starting this thread about rude rejection letters, I received a polite rejection today. This is my first thanks but no thanks message in two months, so it's nice to have confirmation that I still exist as a writer—I was beginning to think that I was a figment of my own imagination!

Julie Crisp is a relatively new agency, so might be worth a look if you're querying as she's building up a client list.

Here's the rejection she sent, which is the fifth personalised response I've had; 50 others were form letters.

Many thanks for sending me the first three chapters of your novel THE PERFECT MURDERER. I did read and enjoy this and think it was well-written with strong characters and an engaging storyline. It had that nice balance of good characterisation mixed with suspense, action and compelling storyline.

However, while I did enjoy reading this I didn’t quite love it quite enough to take it any further. That’s not to say another agent may not absolutely adore it.

I do wish you all the best with your writing and many thanks again for sharing THE PERFECT MURDERER with me.

Sheesh, it doesn't take much to cheer up a lonely old writer do it? Back to the keyboard.

 

[Emurelda]

Yes, that's a lovely letter from Julie. She has a brilliant way of cheering us up whilst rejecting us at the same time. I love that method.

It doesn't hurt

I think @Jason Byrne and @Katie-Ellen Hazeldine had similar threads too.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Manners makyth Man. Nothing good can be expected from a rude person.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Actually you're a figment of our combined imaginations, and we almost got it right And yes, it's nice to get a personal rejection, it helps to keep the candle burning.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

This, by way of a change from the kindly Julia...but still kind. Agent Jo Unwin, from her blog:

Now you know what it’s like when you go into a bookshop: you have a fairly good idea of the shelves where you are likely to find something right for you. You can flick through a book and pretty quickly get a sense of whether you’re interested or not. Like it or not, that is often how I prioritise my own reading. Something will grab me, quickly get under my skin, excite me. Something else… just won’t. I’ll read a few pages, and if the book isn’t getting to me, then I recognise that I’m not going to be the best person to champion it through the publishing process. So it goes on my ‘no’ pile.

And then, because of the aforementioned teenagers, great-uncles, dog and laundry (just checking how closely you’re reading this – he’s ninety-nine) I send a fairly standard ‘rejection’ letter. I try to be very clear that what doesn’t grab me may well thrill someone else: there are hundreds of books in my own house that I’d never dream of reading, my sons and husband just don’t share my taste. But there simply isn’t time to write and tell you why it’s not for me.

Now I know – honestly I do – what courage it takes to send your work off to agents at all, and I can well imagine how disappointing it must be to get a response that hasn’t been personalised to you. The good news is that if you are looking for feedback, there are other places to try. Try critical but supportive friends, consultancies, freelance editors, writing workshops, writing groups… anyone who reads A LOT and will be honest (so not your mum, or someone who owes you money)

This isn’t an apology but I do wish I could give every unpublished author who approached me some personal feedback. It feels discourteous not to do so. But it’s just not possible. There are pants to wash. And I STILL haven’t read Wolf Hall.

 

[Jason Byrne]

This, by way of a change from the kindly Julia...but still kind. Agent Jo Unwin, from her blog:

Now you know what it’s like when you go into a bookshop: you have a fairly good idea of the shelves where you are likely to find something right for you. You can flick through a book and pretty quickly get a sense of whether you’re interested or not. Like it or not, that is often how I prioritise my own reading. Something will grab me, quickly get under my skin, excite me. Something else… just won’t. I’ll read a few pages, and if the book isn’t getting to me, then I recognise that I’m not going to be the best person to champion it through the publishing process. So it goes on my ‘no’ pile.

And then, because of the aforementioned teenagers, great-uncles, dog and laundry (just checking how closely you’re reading this – he’s ninety-nine) I send a fairly standard ‘rejection’ letter. I try to be very clear that what doesn’t grab me may well thrill someone else: there are hundreds of books in my own house that I’d never dream of reading, my sons and husband just don’t share my taste. But there simply isn’t time to write and tell you why it’s not for me.

Now I know – honestly I do – what courage it takes to send your work off to agents at all, and I can well imagine how disappointing it must be to get a response that hasn’t been personalised to you. The good news is that if you are looking for feedback, there are other places to try. Try critical but supportive friends, consultancies, freelance editors, writing workshops, writing groups… anyone who reads A LOT and will be honest (so not your mum, or someone who owes you money)

This isn’t an apology but I do wish I could give every unpublished author who approached me some personal feedback. It feels discourteous not to do so. But it’s just not possible. There are pants to wash. And I STILL haven’t read Wolf Hall.

This is a great way of conceptualizing the process, and insight from "the other side." And it makes sense. Especially when it's their job to dig through a hundred books a week, and maybe not get even one which speaks to them, in addition to exhaustively championing all those authors the agent already represents!

 

[NickP]

We should be like Snoopy. He got a rejection that said something like

""We are returning your stupid story. You are a terrible writer. We wouldn't buy one of your stories if you paid us. Why do you bother us? Drop dead."

Snoopy decides:

“Probably a form rejection letter.”

 

[Nicole Wilson]

We should be like Snoopy. He got a rejection that said something like

""We are returning your stupid story. You are a terrible writer. We wouldn't buy one of your stories if you paid us. Why do you bother us? Drop dead."

Snoopy decides:

“Probably a form rejection letter.”

Or my favoritewhere he gets a rejection letter and sends them a letter saying he's rejecting their rejection letter

 

[Quillwitch]

This article is in today's Independent newspaper, a report on September Publishing founder's statement about how publishers need to be more encouraging towards new writers.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...de-rejection-letters-publishers-a6762696.html

She says kind and wise things, but I don't see attitudes changing soon. Many literary agents and publishers will remain rude and remote, largely because of time constraints. I'm not making excuses for them, as dealing with any large company has the feel of being an amoeba attempting to attract the attention of a brontosaurus!

Of the 150 submissions that I made in the first seven months of 2015, I received 56 form letter rejections and four personalised rejection letters. These offered helpful advice, and all came from small literary agencies, two of which were just starting out. I've said it before, but once a publishing enterprise reaches a certain size it doesn't have to be polite any more as they adopt a might is right attitude to business.

Having said that, September Publishing appear to have an open and welcoming attitude:

http://www.septemberpublishing.org/

Wow! Awesome. I really hope that things begin to change at least at some agencies. If agents actually took the time to answer with some feedback, it would even be beneficial to them in the end. Imagine how many writers are on the verge of a breakthrough but we will never know because all we get is "it´s not right for me", if we get any answer at all. Once I got an answer that said --" I´m going to have to pass on your story because I´m really not excited about the main character living in an orphanage." ---which I suppose is a more direct way of saying "it´s not right for me" but it still doesn´t tell me, the writer, anything about my writing. Alas...tis a cruel world out there.

 

[AgentPete]

"Rude" is never acceptable. On a personal basis, it's discourteous. On a business level, it's a foolhardy hostage to fortune. Should you ever receive one, mentally thank the sender for steering you away from an unsatisfactory relationship... they may have saved you years of crap!