We need a rejection bell

[Boopadoo]

Ding, dong, down goes number two.

 

[Chase Gamwell]

4 Rejections in the past week on my space opera over here. About to consider sending out another round of queries...

 

[Boopadoo]

Ding ding ding! Number 4...

What's encouraging, however, is every single one has summarized exactly what AgentPete wrote in his "Why Did My Manuscript Get Rejected" article - it's entirely a subjective, personal preference decision and please don't give up.

 

[Boopadoo]

Five and six, ring-a-ding-ding. Same basic "personal preferences" responses as mentioned before, but number six even worded it "I strongly urge you to continue seeking representation."

That's still encouraging, right?

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Five and six, ring-a-ding-ding. Same basic "personal preferences" responses as mentioned before, but number six even worded it "I strongly urge you to continue seeking representation."

That's still encouraging, right?

That's immensely encouraging, better than anything I've received in 84 replies to a total of 220 queries I've made so far in the last three years.

After hearing nothing since New Year's Eve, for the last tranche of 60 queries that I emailed last November, yesterday I got two form letters of rejection. Ding-Ding! Both were from people whose names I didn't recognise, and not who I submitted to, presumably editorial assistants or interns...can this process get any more demeaning?

 

[Richard Sutton]

I used to keep them all in a file folder, then read how F. Scott Fitzgerald actually wallpapered his writing office with them -- filling all four walls before he sold Tender is the Night. I have decided it's all "nothing personal, it's just business..." so for me, a bell would make it into a big deal. I like little deals better.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

No rejections in 10 months? Or is it a case of, this is all too common? Anyway, I've sent out few queries this year, been slack, busy, utterly exhausted, but I did get another DING - rejection last week.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

C

No rejections in 10 months? Or is it a case of, this is all too common? Anyway, I've sent out few queries this year, been slack, busy, utterly exhausted, but I did get another DING - rejection last week.

Congratulations, Alistair! It says a lot about the life of a writer that we need rejection to prove that we exist and that we're not a figment of our own imaginations....

 

[Boopadoo]

One thing I noticed was a sudden silence from agents I queried earlier this year - a stream of responses, and then nothing at all for the spring and summer. One late August rejection from someone I queried in March.

In preparing to restart my querying efforts a few days ago, I discovered that 4 of the 7 agents I didn't hear from are no longer at the agencies employing them at the time I queried...

 

[Paul Whybrow]

One thing I noticed was a sudden silence from agents I queried earlier this year - a stream of responses, and then nothing at all for the spring and summer. One late August rejection from someone I queried in March.

In preparing to restart my querying efforts a few days ago, I discovered that 4 of the 7 agents I didn't hear from are no longer at the agencies employing them at the time I queried...

I've been stung a few times like this, for literary agencies are notoriously slow at altering their websites. The worst example I found, was a literary agent who was a one-woman band, having started up two years before. She was after crime stories with a strong regional flavour, which suited my Cornish Detective series. I queried her, getting no reply, despite her promise to respond to everyone. A little online investigation showed that she'd given up agenting to return to university—fair enough—but she'd left her agency site running, for no reason that I could see.

I turn stalker when submitting, by researching the social media presence of an agent who would be a good fit for my manuscript. They often reveal what sort of stories they're looking for on Twitter or Facebook, sometimes contradicting what their dated agency profile says. It's also worth looking at Manuscript Wish List.

 

[MaryA]

Thanks for that link, @Paul Whybrow. You find the most distracting and irresistible links to send me off down rabbit holes.
* sighs and gets back to limping draft of new fiction*

 

[Geoff]

Late to the party .. but my three chapter submission date has ticked beyond the eight week sell by date, plus follow-up, so in total ten weeks ... dong.!

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Oh, yes, I had a request for a full manuscript...rejected two weeks ago! I get a DING for that!

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Does a contract from a vanity publisher count as a DING? I think so...

 

[Lex Black]

*{(GONG)}*

Last night I received a form rejection from a source so old I had completely forgotten about it. I'm...more confused than anything.

Anyone interested in reviving this thread? It, and the submission thread, always struck me as great incarnations of Litopia's spirit of communal support. Also, seeing the names of so many members we don't hear from much any more makes me nostalgic. Here's hoping we get to see some old friends again soon!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

No dings or gongs lately. Doing plenty writing, but not sending out. But I will send out again before long, even if I see in my crystal ball it's going to be a no. Because in this world one has to act. And one could always be wrong.

 

[Carol Rose]

Within the next few months, I'll be sending out the women's fiction novel for which I received feedback from @AgentPete this past Sunday on Pop-Up Submissions. I'll keep you all posted, although I have to say I hope I won't be posting about those queries/submissions in THIS thread. LOL!

 

[Kitty]

Well I've just started getting some of my short stories back out there so I dare say there'll be plenty of DINGs in this thread to come. However I did manage to sell two last year so maybe this year I can aim to better that!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I should begin another campaign of querying, now that literary agents have recovered from the festivities. As for the rejection bell, after making 400 queries, I can hear it in advance. Whenever I send off a submission, I think of John Donne's poem For Whom The Bell Tolls:

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I don't have much out at the moment, so no rejections this week. My husband just had a paper rejected though--he was devastated. As a leading scientist in his field, he gets almost no rejections. I was sympathetic and did my best to cheer him up, but at the same time I was thinking how different our basic assumptions are when we submit to publishers. I assume rejection until I hear otherwise. He assumes acceptance until he hears otherwise. I do my best to not put 'myself' into my writing, so each rejection is for the piece of writing, not a rejection of me. He pours his heart into every paper, and each rejection is a personal blow. Those initial assumptions and attitudes make a big difference in our reactions to rejections. Not that I don't have moments (days, weeks?) of despair, but they're usually not tied to any single rejection, but rather to the cumulative effects.

I appreciate Litopia as a place to go to lick my wounds and commiserate, get the support I need to let go of the rejections and move on. Thanks to all of you!

 

[Louise]

Am I the only person here who was secretly pleased to get my first rejection? It felt like an initiation ceremony, a welcome to being A Proper Writer. OK, so the novelty wore off a bit when it got to rejections 2 and 3 but...

And on the upside I've had some hugely helpful rejections. Penny Holroyde at Holroyde Cartey for example was so kind and constructive that I made my next submission to her an exclusive one. If anyone is looking for a recommended children's picture book agent, she'd be mine, even though she hasn't signed me up yet.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Yes, Louise, rejections prove you're writing and completing works! If you think of them in that way, they're fabulous badges of honour!

 

[MaryA]

Along with a rejection from Strange Horizons (my venture into slipstream fiction), I had a long email from one of the editors/readers explaining why she felt it failed for them, as well as telling me what she liked about the story. That was far more useful than an acceptance (well, maybe) because it gave me a sense of connection to the person who had read my fiction so carefully, and because I saw for the first time what I was missing in the criteria for Strange Horizons. I'd read it online for a long time and had exchanged comments on stories with Matt Cheney, but I had missed some crucial points about what SH was looking for.

Badges of honour!

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Ding.... and I hadn't written down when I sent the submission in! Another Hachette job lol

 

[Lex Black]

*{(GONG)}*

Another one I had forgotten about. How many of these did I do back in the day?

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Ding! This one wasn't a surprise. I've got a short story that doesn't seem to fit any neat category...they all say they enjoyed it, but it wasn't the right fit for their magazine...

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Ding! This one wasn't a surprise. I've got a short story that doesn't seem to fit any neat category...they all say they enjoyed it, but it wasn't the right fit for their magazine...

Children's author, Ian Wallace, asked: "Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?"
Start your own short story magazine! (Just like that...)

 

[Howard]

Children's author, Ian Wallace, asked: "Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?"
Start your own short story magazine! (Just like that...)

Short story sites/magazines bother me endlessly. I have never seen anything more insular and incestuous than those who make a living off short stories.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Children's author, Ian Wallace, asked: "Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?"
Start your own short story magazine! (Just like that...)

Truth is, I've been slowly amassing a body of short stories that centre around a particular theme, for the very purpose of publishing an anthology once I've sold them to magazines first. However, this silly little story doesn't fit that theme, either.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Short story sites/magazines bother me endlessly. I have never seen anything more insular and incestuous than those who make a living off short stories.

Well, so far for me, they pay a hell of a lot more than my novels do, per hour of work. I'm not sure how that makes me insular and incestuous, but it does help pay the bills. And they're wicked fun to write, so why wouldn't I do it?