God What Am I Doing Wrong?

I haven't even queried anything and I know that it takes a stack of rejections.

Maybe you aren't marketing right?
Maybe your story isn't interesting?
Maybe your query is bad? - we all think what we write is amazing
Maybe those agents just didn't like your writing style, it happens.

Who knows? You can either give up and start over or stick to the grind. If you're like me, put it in the closet and start anew.

I have stacked away over 30 rejections for two different books. I know people who have over 400 rejections. Some people query for 10 years before finding the right agent. It takes a lot of time, lots of luck and a pile of rejections.

OCEAN said:

I'm stuck, I have worked so hard since summer with my MS, then professionally editing it. My query and my proposal I thought was strong...My cover is complete and unique, with a title that pulls it all together...and here I sit....

Maybe I'm just having a bad day with two rejection letters.

I'm doing something wrong, and I could have sworn I had all my ducks in a row.

Ocean

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You might not be doing anything wrong at all - you just got unlucky with two coming in at once. Chin up! It's out there now and you have to keep the faith until either you get some really useful responses, or the acceptances come rolling in.

Put this day behind you for the moment. At least you won't be getting one of those two tomorrow

Everyone gets rejections. Loads of them. If you have two and can't stand it emotionally you're going to have a tough road ahead.

Also, I see at least two red flags in what you've listed:

One: Finished novels (which I assume we're discussing here) don't require proposals. They require a synopsis, which is very different.

Two: Why on earth do you have a cover? Publishers will get their own cover artist should they desire to publish your book. Including something you’ve whipped up yourself (or paid someone for) will only signal to agents and publishers that you haven't bothered to completely research the industry.

In that same vein, unless English is your second language or you have some sort of learning disability that keeps you from completing a manuscript at the same level as other writers, there is no reason to hire a professional editor. Your publisher will edit your manuscript, they expect to do so. Spending money on that kind of thing probably isn't worth it.

Another thing to remember is that a lot of first novels (which I'm assuming this is) do not get published. Why? Because the writer has not yet learned how to tell a competent story. How many things have you written? Is this it? You may have a lot of learning yet to do.

I suggest doing a bit more industry research, and a ton more writing.

MJNL said:

One: Finished novels (which I assume we're discussing here) don't require proposals. They require a synopsis, which is very different.

Two: Why on earth do you have a cover? Publishers will get their own cover artist should they desire to publish your book. Including something you’ve whipped up yourself (or paid someone for) will only signal to agents and publishers that you haven't bothered to completely research the industry.

In that same vein, unless English is your second language or you have some sort of learning disability that keeps you from completing a manuscript at the same level as other writers, there is no reason to hire a professional editor. Your publisher will edit your manuscript, they expect to do so. Spending money on that kind of thing probably isn't worth it.

Another thing to remember is that a lot of first novels (which I'm assuming this is) do not get published. Why? Because the writer has not yet learned how to tell a competent story. How many things have you written? Is this it? You may have a lot of learning yet to do.

I suggest doing a bit more industry research, and a ton more writing.

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Those are very good points though - especially about the cover... I assumed that this was a non-fic and I know nothing about non-fic subs.

OCEAN said:

I'm stuck, I have worked so hard since summer with my MS, then professionally editing it. My query and my proposal I thought was strong...My cover is complete and unique, with a title that pulls it all together...and here I sit....

Maybe I'm just having a bad day with two rejection letters.

I'm doing something wrong, and I could have sworn I had all my ducks in a row.

Ocean

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Why are you so certain you are doing something wrong? There are loads of reasons you could've gotten rejected. Maybe the agent/or publisher was no longer accepting submissions. Maybe they accepted something just your ms last week. Maybe they just do not like your genre. Maybe they are just swamped with work and looked for any reason to reject you. I could go on and on and on.

Have some confidence in yourself. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move on.

Ok, good to know.

I'm just curious--why does a memoir need to have a cover?

Memoir can be one of the hardest markets to crack, and also one of the hardest from which to accept a rejection, as you've put so much of yourself out there.

We'll hope that you find the agent and publisher you're looking for, but in the meantime, please do be working on your next book. This could take awhile.

Edited to add: When it comes to memoir, I think it sometimes can be a good idea to use a professional editor. In my opinion, there are difficulties inherent to the form that can easily sink a new writer, especially when agents are looking for polished work.

There's about a million and one things that have to align to get an agent to say 'yes,' or at least that's how it seems to we writers. Cheer up. You'll find someone. Don't let a couple of rejection make you feel bad.

OCEAN said:

I'm stuck, I have worked so hard since summer with my MS, then professionally editing it. My query and my proposal I thought was strong...My cover is complete and unique, with a title that pulls it all together...and here I sit....

Maybe I'm just having a bad day with two rejection letters.

I'm doing something wrong, and I could have sworn I had all my ducks in a row.

Ocean

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You had only two rejections?

That's nothing. Work on something else while querying and be patient.

As for a book cover and proposal, don't send anymore of those out. You put a cover page and a synopsis if the agent requests it, or a proposal for nonfiction. Always follow the agent's guidelines. If they have not, err on the side of caution and send the query letter only.

Memoir. Hmm is there an overall theme? My immediate thought is, "is it original? Something new?" Not that that is the only thing that matters, but maybe those agents are seeing something they've seen before. Or maybe by sheer volume it's likely you'll get some rejections on your way to success. It's hard to know without getting into the agents' heads. Have you tried query hell in SYW? I've never finished something longer so haven't used it, but I keep hearing good things. Well, bad things. But the bad things are just that it kicks your butt until it's sore and you can't sit down. That's good, right?

OCEAN said:

You don't have to have a cover....but I'm artsy as well. I like to humor myself, I'm on the cover...lol.


Ocean

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Then my original red flag comment still stands.

Memoir's a funky genre. It's non-fiction but it's queried like fiction. Send your queries out in batches-- 5 at a time, for instance-- and make sure you tick all the little "I want" boxes of the prospective agent.

Running your query through Query Letter Hell might be good, just to make sure you don't have any blind spots.

Uh, ok. Your OP makes it sound like you're sending this all out in one package. If you really want us to help you try and figure out what's "wrong" you need to communicate your situation clearly.

But if you were just looking for support, that's cool too.

First off, you should not be approaching agents or editors with a cover for your book. Leave that to them to choose the best cover to sell the book. Writers who query with cover art and other added extras come across as being very unprofessional and too difficult to work with. (Even if you only mention that you can do a cover, but don't send any samples along, that still looks very amateurish.)

You probably need to learn the basics of how to approach professionals in the most effective ways. Sounds like you're not hitting the mark there. Also, your spelling and punctuation are problematic. You said you had your book professionally edited...that's great! Are you also having a professional or at least a very experienced amateur (or three) look over your query letters to be sure they are free of mistakes?

OCEAN said:

Maybe I'm just having a bad day with two rejection letters.

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Two? Just two?

You've barely started. You're selling a product that's difficult to sell. If it's the memoir that you've been working on, know that memoir is a harder sell than other genres.

Keep going.

I think any of us who have and are sending things out remember that first batch of query letters we sent out, no matter the genre, non-fiction or fiction. We were so sure that we had "it" that we sent out one query. We got that SASE back and ran all the way to the ouse to open it or maybe we torn it open right there at the mailbox.

"I've done everything right, this is it, I wonder how big my advance will be, maybe they will make a movie out of it. I wonder what I'll wear at my first author signing?"

Then we read the line, "I'm sorry but your XYZ doesn't' fit our needs at this time." Instant deflation. And the fall was hard very hard, maybe even broke a few bones on impact.

You can be doing everything right. Have the perfect query, the perfect MS--but it didn't strike a cord with the agent or editor, or that agent didn't feel that they could sell it, or it didn't really meet the needs of the agency you sent it to.

I sent out 45 queries before I landed my agent.

And a memoir? Very hard sell, unless you are someone famous, or infamous in some way, very hard to sell indeed.

I did this with my queries, I got 5 ready to send out, put them in envelopes and sealed them, then as soon as I got my SASE back before I even opened it I dropped those 5 in the mailbox. Then I opened the the SASE. This can work with e-mail as well, save them in drafts, and before you open the e-mail fomr the agent, send them out.

What will happen if you open the letter and find an offer to rep you and then someone else says they want it too? Then you have a choice to make.

As to when do you know the stack of rejections is large enough? When you run out of agents that rep your subject matter, then you have collected enough.

Shawn

I think it's also important to realize that not all books -- even good books -- land an agent. And of those that do, not all find a buyer. There are a limited number of slots out there, and you have to be better than everyone else. Memoir is an especially difficult genre.

I don't remember how many books you've written, but if this is your first or second, it's possible, too, that the book simply isn't ready -- that the craft isn't strong enough to make it "best in field."

If you've made it the best you can, then all you can do now is target agents and submit. Submit in small batches. If you don't get a decent percentage of requests for partials or fulls (from a well-targeted query), either your query needs work or the concept just isn't working. If you're getting requests for partials and fulls but no takers and little feedback, then the manuscript likely needs work. If you get feedback and personalized responses, you're probably on the right track -- just be persistent.

No matter what, though, there will be rejection. It sucks, but it's part of the game.