I fear rejection, too.
For me, it's less about someone saying "No", than the thought that what I've written isn't good enough - and that I'm not good enough, by association.
The key seems to be realizing that it's a necessary part of the journey.
The thing that I cling to is knowing that even when I do get published, there will be some people who'll read what I've written and still hate it. Because that changes it from being a purely black and white thing into a million shades of gray.
All writing is subjective, as is the "nope" avalanche we're about to walk into. Even JK Rowling was rejected 12 times and told not to quit her day job.
At the end of the day, agents are only interested in taking on books that they believe they can make money from selling to a publisher. That publisher will only buy books they believe they can sell to a large enough audience to turn a decent profit.
We are not our books. Whether an agent can sell what we've written or not, is no reflection on who we are.
It's a reflection of their perceived marketability of a product we've pitched at them. Some of the time, they won't even read past our query letter.
Even when our ideas are good, we'll still need to nail the execution - and we all know just how hard that is.
But with enough persistence - one day, we'll pitch the right thing to the right agent at the right time - and the rest will hopefully be History.
For me, it's less about someone saying "No", than the thought that what I've written isn't good enough - and that I'm not good enough, by association.
The key seems to be realizing that it's a necessary part of the journey.
The thing that I cling to is knowing that even when I do get published, there will be some people who'll read what I've written and still hate it. Because that changes it from being a purely black and white thing into a million shades of gray.
All writing is subjective, as is the "nope" avalanche we're about to walk into. Even JK Rowling was rejected 12 times and told not to quit her day job.
At the end of the day, agents are only interested in taking on books that they believe they can make money from selling to a publisher. That publisher will only buy books they believe they can sell to a large enough audience to turn a decent profit.
We are not our books. Whether an agent can sell what we've written or not, is no reflection on who we are.
It's a reflection of their perceived marketability of a product we've pitched at them. Some of the time, they won't even read past our query letter.
Even when our ideas are good, we'll still need to nail the execution - and we all know just how hard that is.
But with enough persistence - one day, we'll pitch the right thing to the right agent at the right time - and the rest will hopefully be History.
