The Daily Rejection, Vol. 2

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NotForUsThanks

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I see that at least three of you mentioned that you'd had your book professionally critiqued.

I was curious about three things:

1. Were you satisfied with the results?

2. Would you reccommend it as a positive step to take?

3. Did it cost so much that you lost your house and first-born?

Thanks. :)

RLG, I have only so far had my actual submission package critiqued, I think it was about fifty quid for the query letter, synopsis and first three chapters. It was critiqued by a published author who also runs writing retreats and offers editing services. I had to do it for my own sanity, because I was revising and revising and revising, and not sending out! She was brilliant, very attentive to detail, whilst giving great feedback on my general submission. It was good for my moral and now at the very least I know what I am sending out is not an obstacle to an agent taking an interest lol!

My latest book is a crime thriller and I am sorely tempted to get the whole thing critiqued by the Crime Writers Association for about £300, I think. That's a reasonable price compared to other critiquing services and it will be genre specific. I am so battered after 15 years submitting (on and off) that I just want to put the odds in my favour)

Hope that's useful :)
 
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NotForUsThanks

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I got a rejection this morning :hooray:

For those of you that read my Newbie post on the other thread, you'll know I sent a small handful of queries out for my latest book in January after a writing break of about 5 years. The deafening silence from those agents was only bearable because I had submitted to agents I wasn't all that bothered about, as a sort of trial run.

Well one of them has finally got back to me, and it's a "I didn't feel passionately enough about it" but what's really nice is that she also said that I "write well". I know it's crumbs from the table, but I'll take any moral boost going :D
 

OctoberLee

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Hey fellow rejects. Long time no post. Well, piles of Rs... but I do have to celebrate a partial, that I sent out this morning!

I'd begun to fear that what one agent told me was true - good writing, but nothing to make it stand out in the sea of YA. That might still be the case but it feels so good to get a partial. I don't think I've heard a peep on this one in a while.
 

liritha

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Congrats on the partial, OctoberLee! Don't let rejections get to you - has your MS been beta read and if so, what did your readers think about it? Honestly, I think good writing might be more important than the story itself - I've read books that, if I had to summarise, wouldn't tell a unique story but the way it was told left such a lasting impression that I've put them on my favourites list.

As far as I'm concerned, my email has been silent for the past week, not counting one form rejection I got a few days ago. I've started to wonder whether I'm presenting my MS in the right way, genre-wise. I can't keep myself within the boundaries of a single genre which of course makes the whole thing that much harder...
 

Liz_V

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Qwest - I've been shopping around the same book for more years than I care to admit to. There've been several hiatuses (hiati?) in there, so it's not as large a number of queries as it might sound, but it's not small, either. I'm currently gearing up to do one last push, hitting every agent I can find that sounds viable.

And if that doesn't work, I'll retire it for now, try to sell something else and hope I can bring this one out of inventory in future. (It's not dead, it's only resting....)

NotForUsThanks - Congrats on being back in the Rejection pool. Have a cookie!

OctoberLee - Cheers on the partial! And remember, what doesn't stand out to one agent may be what another one has been waiting all their life for.


As for me, I've collected two Rs on the new short story so far. My goal to someday make party streamers out of all my rejections is that much closer....
 

Qwest

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Thanks so much for the words of encouragement Liz_V and Nova. Your stories have all encouraged me to take the long view. Yes, if this one doesn't attract an agent, there's another book in the works which hopefully will, but I will give it this very best shot. It's a long distance journey for me. There are those wonderful tales of writers who jump into the query waters and are hooked almost immediately, but that isn't my tale. And now that I've accepted that I'm in it for the long haul, I feel a lot calmer and more positive.

OctoberLee, great news on the partial! And remember, feedback is subjective, so like what Liz_V said, one person's not standing out, is another person's gem. Just look at the Goodreads reviews of any of your favourite books ;)

Liritha, I'm also a bit of a genre bender, and I do think it's a little more of a tough sell. However, I do think the London Book Fair has slowed querying down a lot. I think we'll see things picking up a bit more in the next week.

NFUT - great on the personal feedback: "write well" that's a great compliment!

Good luck all, and thanks again for your support.
 

RLGreenleaf

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JJ Litke and Qwest:

Thank you for your response. You both said a lot in those two responses.

Having someone critique your work can be a useful thing...but only when the person doing the critiquing is doing it for the right reason, and gives you useful feedback. The worst feedback I ever got is the phrase "I liked it". That does not help you improve your writing. :)

JJ Litke: Yes, I remember reading about that critiquing after the 50 posts. I wonder how much of your work a reader is willing to look at, though. The first book in my trilogy is about 150,000 words. Every time I try to cut down on the amount of words, though...I end up making it larger. :(

Qwest: I hope you managed to sell that second book. Good luck. :)
 

JJ Litke

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Well yeah, you can't post 150,000 words in SYW. But I really meant it about learning more from critting others than getting your own work critted. It's much easier to be objective about someone else's work. Regulars don't hang around those areas out of pure altruism. :) And if you participate, you'll build relationships, and maybe eventually find a crit partner or beta readers who will read the entire manuscript.
 

Liz_V

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Qwest - Yeah, those people who send out maybe five queries and land an agent and a contract right away... well, I'm happy for 'em, but they should never be taken as the norm.

RLGreenleaf - I hear you on the feedback. If nobody ever says "It's fine" about my work again, it'll be too soon. (Of course, that was my ex-writers group's way of saying "I don't want to do the work of critiquing this properly", but even so....)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cannot send story back out yet; next market doesn't re-open until tomorrow. Am twitchy. This is probably a good sign.
 

Jeneral

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Liz and Qwest - I totally agree. You see a lot of those "how I got my agent" posts, where people land an agent in a couple weeks, and for some people it really happens that way. But once you spend time around here, you'll see that while it does happen quickly for some people, it takes a LOT longer for others. I signed with an agent almost exactly two years after sending out my first query for this book.
 

NotForUsThanks

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Liz and Qwest - I totally agree. You see a lot of those "how I got my agent" posts, where people land an agent in a couple weeks, and for some people it really happens that way. But once you spend time around here, you'll see that while it does happen quickly for some people, it takes a LOT longer for others. I signed with an agent almost exactly two years after sending out my first query for this book.

Guys, the other week I was at a Waterstones event where a couple of authors were doing a q&a. When asked how they got their agents one told how she'd completed a six month writing course in London (the kind of ones that cost about £2000) and after it she had several agents at her feet, but didn't want any of them, so she emailed an agent she did want one Sunday morning and by the end of the day that agent was representing her! What really burned was at the time she didn't even have a completed book :Shrug:

Afterwards I said to my friend that I wish I had £2000 to spend on prestigious writing course and he replied, "It doesn't matter how you get there, just get there."

That is now my daily mantra :Sun:
 

OctoberLee

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Thanks for the congrats JJ, Qwest, Liz and Liritha :) Yep I've had some beta reads, and have a much better MS for it. I wasn't getting much action on the query front so I sort of stopped, but this nibble has me out on the query battlegrounds again :D

I halted for what, maybe almost two months, with no writing on my two WIP. I go in streaks like this, where I get consumed by work and don't take the time to pursue my hobbies. The last week or so I've been getting back to it slowly, but I really need to carve out the time again.

Vacation coming up soon! Looking forward to some writing and reading time.
 

ESGrace

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Hi Jeneral, question for you! How did you keep your sanity in those two years? Did your book and query remain largely the same during those two years or did you make any major changes?

I'm only three months in to querying for the first time ever and feeling...lots of feelings lol.
 

Qwest

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Jeneral, I'd also love to know about your querying years!

And I do agree with JJ Litke, I've been doing a little critiquing for people (both in online forums and as a beta reader via email) when querying became too much. It was because of this article I adore: http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/16373/how-to-stay-sane-while-querying-literary-agents.html
I'm sure I've posted it here before, but for those who didn't see it, I have found this really helps. She says:
"Become a reader for a literary magazine. Once I started rejecting (or accepting) fiction submissions for the magazine I read for, it became easier for me to accept rejection myself. Sometimes I’ll read something that is well written, even engaging, but it doesn’t move me enough to want to see it in print. This is the equivalent of an agent saying that they didn’t “connect” to your work. Now, I’m not suggesting you start rejecting writers as some twisted form of catharsis, I’m suggesting you develop empathy for your rejector so that you can understand, and perhaps even appreciate, the thought process behind the rejection of your own work."

It really does help to critique other people's work. And it does have the added benefit of a little altruistic sprinkling too.
 

Moonchild

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Hi all,

Been away for a while as I dealt with the sudden loss of my dad. Steal dealing. Or not dealing. Or poorly dealing. Glad for him because he'd been unwell for a while and now he's no longer in pain, but I feel like crap for my loss and I'm worrying lots about my mum. He was an amazing dad and also my buddy and my champion and I feel completely lost knowing he's no longer in the world.

Anyway, trying to get back into things little by little, so I thought I'd pop by here and see what you've all been up to.

*
ESGrace, liritha, NotForUsThanks and all other new folks -:welcome:

RLGreenleaf - I'm on Vancouver Island, actually. So, B.C. :)

Belle - Hang in there with those two fulls. Some agents can take FOREVER to get back to folks on full MSs.

Tamlyn, JJ, Liz_V, Nova, OctoberLee, Jeneral - :hi:

noranne - congrats on the R&R! :snoopy:

liritha - I'm curious: why would you query agents who do not represent your genre? It seems to me like it would be like self-rejecting even as you query. :Shrug: Also, hang in there for responses: agents are notoriously slow replying to queries (if they even bother to). Common wisdom dictates that an acceptance rate of about 10% means your query and/or sample pages are probably doing their job, but you really need a sample that's a bit bigger than 12-15 queries. I'd say, send out about 20-25 in a couple of batches to give you a better idea of whether your query is working or not. Good luck!

KiwiLady - good luck with the R&R!

OctoberLee - congrats on the partial! :snoopy:

Liz_V - sorry about the short story Rs! :Hug2:
 

Belle_91

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Moonchild - Thanks and I'm so sorry for your loss. Lots of hugs and chocolates and booze for you.
 

NotForUsThanks

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Moonchild, I am so very sorry to learn about your loss xx

Be kind to yourself, take comfort in the love of friends and family :Hug2:
 

Qwest

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Oh Moonchild, I am so very sorry to hear about your loss. He sounds like an incredible father. You are in my thoughts.

I agree with NFUT, be kind to yourself.

Thanks for all the greetings and love, you're an inspiration.
 

RLGreenleaf

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Moonchild:

So sorry to hear about your great loss.

Go hug everyone you know, and let your father's amazing spirit live within you and your writing...
 

KiwiLady

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Sorry for your loss, Moonchild. Hope you and your Mom are doing okay.
 

OctoberLee

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Sorry to hear that moonchild :( I'm glad you had a great dad though :)

For me... Sent some queries, s'bout it.

Anyone got some good beach reads? Read Dangerous Girls circa this time last year. Have the rest of Eat, Pray, Love queued up. We were Liars... um... any other ones of the top of anyone's head?
 
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