My favorite rejection

Congrats! I'd definitely tape this one to the bathroom mirror!

Nope. Form form form. A lot that say 'well written' or 'send again', but nothing I'm convinced is personal. Actually, even when I get accepted no one actually says they like my writing. It's almost like they avoid telling me I can write.

Congrats on the personal – and from Tor, unagented, I figure that's a major achievement.

EDIT: Actually, I did receive a letter from an agent a couple weeks ago that said I had great ideas, but my book was too short. That might be form, too, though. Who knows

The majority of my rejections have been form, especially on the last book, but I did receive one that apologised in great length for taking a while to reply, as they'd been moving office or something but at the bottom said they hoped I'd found a placement for the book in the time I'd been waiting for their reply. Another form one, I suppose, but for some reason I felt a little better about that one than the 'sorry, we have lots of books to look at' ones.

My absolute favourites were the ones where something had been scribbled onto the form rejection though. I got one ages ago from a literary agent, form rejection, with some chatty lines about how she used to live in the same part of London as I did (at that time) and what a nice area it was. She said she wished me all the best with my work but she had to turn it down as she 'just didn't like Elves'. That made me laugh.

Another one I got from I think Orbit Publishing had some notes scribbled on it saying not to pay anyone for publishing, but to keep trying. Just when there's something written in pen or pencil on the letter, I feel it's a bit more personal.

I think some agents realize what a few personal words can mean to a writer, but even they get overwhelmed after years of clueless submissions. The really valuable rejections are those that come with a two-page analysis based on a couple of reads, with the suggestion that you work on it and resubmit.

I've been sent a full barf bag, and I've kept it all these years. Go ahead, send me your manuscript and I might share it with you.

I'm kidding!! And if I think that's funny (I do!), maybe I should stop editing for beer.

My favorite rejection was one that was addressed to someone else.

My second favorite was a handwritten comment from the Saturday Evening Post that said my poem was "cute" (but they couldn't use it).

My first submission ever went out to Weird Tales. I was as green as could be: didn't check my spelling properly, left some horrible grammar errors, and other such nonsense. They sent it back with a type written rejection, apologizing for the long response and pointing out some of the obvious mistakes. They even tossed in the first page of my manuscript with some red-ink corrections for me to see. It threw me off for a while until I realized what an idiot I was. They were trying to help me, not tell me to give up on my new-found passion. I read everything I could about writing after that then started scribbling stories like mad. I still keep their rejection in my traveling office for a reminder to keep an eye on those little details.

Pike

Conman said:

So has anyone else ever received a rejection letter that really inspired them?

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Yup - several. When they began mentioning the same likes and dislikes I made the appropriate changes, submitted to a different market and - sold. Good luck on your changes landing you a sale.
Linnea

Personally I've learned to hate all rejections though some are very encouraging, it's still rejection....

A couple of years ago I sent a first reader copy to my son. He passed it on to his roommate's aunt who's a free-lance editor. She went through the whole thing (no charge) and sent a detailed letter. I highlighted one line in the letter and it still hangs on my bulleting board. "You are a good writer."

Pat~ said:

My second favorite was a handwritten comment from the Saturday Evening Post that said my poem was "cute" (but they couldn't use it).

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that's one of the best I've ever heard.

Conman said:

So has anyone else ever received a rejection letter that really inspired them?

Click to expand...

Nope. Have only received form letters.

Except for a short story I sent out once about this blind man and the whole story was told using all the other senses and you didn't discover he was blind until the end when he was at a playground and kids were petting his seeing eye dog.

The rejection said something like, all the sensual imagery became disturbing with the presense of the children at the end.

Congratulations--that is so encouraging!

Yes, I did have a couple of encouraging rejections of proposals. One agent even gave detailed suggestions for revisions and left the door open for resubmission.

Good luck!

Susan

I recently received a 'wonderful' rejection with a personal note saying how much they 'admired my intertwining of Scottish history with vibrant fictional detail,' but ultimately they didn't think they could place it in today's market.

Sigh.

A nice, bad reply...