The Daily Rejection

Does anyone use the Jeff Herman Guide to Agents?

When I first started querying what has become the memoir (goddess knows what the genre was originally ), I used both Herman and Sambuchino. The first has more information, while the second has more agents covered. At least for the year I purchased, Sambuchino had an index listing the agents for each genre, a useful feature that Herman lacked.

Now I just use PM and Querytracker to identify potential agents and do research online. The printed guides aren't always up-to-date.

Others' mileage may vary, however. Have you gone to a bookstore and looked at agent guides?

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I continue to unwrite, getting the fiction down to 96,000 words. Sigh, still sounds like a lot, doesn't it? Better than my first draft that was well north of 120,000, though.

Getting it down 7,000 this week has been difficult. I've eliminated minor characters and plot points and squeezed the language even more. I don't know if I can go any further without really cutting into the meat of the book. I don't want to simplify the mystery or the romance or take out any of my jokes.

I'm not necessarily asking for advice now. I just felt the need to vent to people who can understand how difficult this task can be.

Has anyone ever had the experience of having read their beginning maybe 100 times before, always loving it, and then on number 101 seeing that it is dreadfully flawed? I don't understand my sudden epiphany.

I've rewritten and think it's much better. Now I'm tempted to requery all the folks who've turned me down (or not responded) with my new word count and less confused first pages. Is that a no-no? Perhaps if I wait a few months to let their memories fade?

Anyone heard from Carleree in a while?

Hathor said:

Has anyone ever had the experience of having read their beginning maybe 100 times before, always loving it, and then on number 101 seeing that it is dreadfully flawed? I don't understand my sudden epiphany.

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Yup, though for me it happens with endings more than beginnings. Beginnings I usually know suck until the third draft, and expect to change them.

Hang in there. And if you're not sure it's really dreadfully flawed, let it sit for a few days. It might be that you're in a bad place where all of it seems dreadfully flawed. A couple of days distance should tell you whether you need to fix it or not. And if you do, you do. Your revisions might have shown you something you didn't see before.

The strange thing is that I've revised the beginning several times, ran it through betas, etc., and I really liked what I'd developed. Then the last go-round I read it and saw how someone might be confused as to what's going on and would find it disjointed. A committed beta would keep reading and quickly figure it out. A busy agent...maybe not.

I was able to rejigger what I had and now it makes sense (I think).

I've been through the book another time and managed to barely squeeze another thousand words out. I think I've gone as far as I can. Please tell me that 95,000 sounds SO much better than 103,000. I need to sell something. (Just had a preliminary meeting with a contractor who gave us baseline figures for our hoped-for remodeling )

Yeah, where is Carleree? Polly? DJ? NovaOdyssey?

Got a very nice rejection from a horror emag that I submitted too. Its a story I really liked but was told it could use some "tightening up" and grammar checked (grammar I believe, at that stage in my writing I was a grammar anarchist [as opposed to a grammar nazi lol]), but I'm not sure what they mean by "tightening up".

It was followed with the suggestion to submit it to this magazine's version of SYW (through Goggle Docs) which kind of put me on edge. Not that I'm opposed to to SYW but last time I did it (with this same story ironically) the advice I got wasn't very helpful.

Anyways, perhaps I need to post it on the SYW here and see what kind of fedback I get...or maybe its time to retire that old story and work on a new one...

I'm not sure, Bloo, but that has never stopped me from offering my opinion. I suspect "tightening up" means you are taking more words to express something than you need to (redundant sentences, unnecessary phrases, flabby dialogue, etc.). Or they think you are, anyway.

If that's not what they mean, I haven't a clue.

Sorry for the R, but welcome to our thread

R off a very old query, but the guy did say on his site that he takes forever. Ah well--expected that one to be a negative to start. He's highly selective on new projects in my genre. Given his client list, I don't know how he's got time to take anything on, period.

I really need to get my butt in gear and get another round of Qs out. I've been slacking on that the last few weeks. Too many partials and fulls floating around, waiting to hear on, I think.

I think I'm going to put the novel on hold for the moment. I have a friend who is friends with someone who owns a small press. Not a vanity press. Going to try to get him to take a look at the novel and tell me what he thinks of it. And, when I get to 50 posts, will probably post here.

Today's rejection letter reminded me that "the publishing world is a very selective business" and she hopes I'll "find an agent who will have the passion for (my) work that it deserves".

Wow. Form R on a query one hour after hitting send. And I mean to the minute.

That's impressive.

Form R after 48 hours on a short story.

My first submission ever.

Welcome to rejection, Steve. It can sting a bit, but you'll get used to it. Well, that or find something that takes the sting away like copious amounts of chocolate, or a marathon video game session.

And congrats on the first attempt! Just taking that leap for the first time takes courage.

So far my record is half an hour for an R.

Got another form R this week, but so much crap going on in my life, the Rs just don't seem to matter lately.

Thanks guys. I actually took it better then I thought I would. I sent it right back out the door, but it has left me with a gnawing twinge of self doubt in the back of my head. I'll shake it off and get back to writing something new today. Good luck to everyone else.

Yeah, that twinge is pretty common during this phase. And the feeling will come and go. Sometimes you'll be brilliant, other times a hack (example? Right now I'm convinced the opening sentence of my novel is complete and utter sh*t. Despite not one beta or agent ever saying it is. Check back with me in two hours and I'll probably be happy with it again).

Sending it back out right away is a good way to go. Nothing like a little revenge submission to make you feel better! And try to remember that it's not personal when they reject. Publishing is a business that's highly competitive and market driven, and sometimes great stories never see the light of day. But yeah, some days that won't matter and it'll still sting like you stepped in a hive of hornets.

Krash: Sorry you're having a crap stretch. Let me know if we need to set up the chocolate IV for you.

krashnburn said:

So far my record is half an hour for an R.

Got another form R this week, but so much crap going on in my life, the Rs just don't seem to matter lately.

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I find that if on the day I receive a rejection, but find I've sold books at Amazon on that day, it kind of evens things out a little. A little pain, a little joy. Life's balance.

tri

Well, I just got the second Form R on my short story. My skin is feeling a little thinner today.

My WiFi shorted out so I've been off the internet for a week. Had a hell of a time trying to configure a new one and get back in the swing of things. 490 messages in my email--51 friend requests, and two form Rs from publishers.

Oh, and a publisher who emailed me, rather pissed off, wanting to know why I didn't respond to their contract offer four months ago.

BECAUSE THEY HAVE A BAD REP, which I just discovered not too long ago. I didn't tear into them, but kind of, sort of hinted about their bad press and other things, like a very substandard boilerplate contract.

tri

Eek, that's forward of them. I guess they were eager, but if they have bad press I'm sure it's best to steer clear.

No real news on my end. Another R, but mostly crickets. My query is in the WriteOnCon pitch-fest and I'm waiting for the agent feedback on it. The agent assigned already rejected me in Nov, so I'm not expecting to be asked for pages. That's ok. I'm more curious why she rejected to start. If it's genre, that's fine. What I'm pitching is considered a little niche. If the query has a weakness, though, that's better. It'd be something I could fix before hitting anyone else on my list. The squirrels here worked it over pretty good, but there could still be a flaw I missed.

Just a post to tell ya all I'm still alive. I've been going through the fiction slowly, trying to be objective and find more cuts. I need to see if I can rewrite the beginning of the NF, too.

Then I'll nudge some folks and shoot out more queries.

I'd like to get back to my next book, but I seem to be distracted by remodeling. We're still at the interviewing/research stage. I seem to be able to spend an unlimited amount of time looking into appliances, fixtures, and tile. Maybe that's because designers/contractors/vendors aren't going to reject me.

So I queried Query Shark herself yesterday. Janet Reid says she gets back to people within a day or two, so I am waiting. Would be thrilled to get a yes but I'm actually waiting to hear any response at all... sort of like waiting to hear from a famous actor or rock star.

Good luck, merlot! I have one of her minions looking over a partial. It's like brushing greatness or something, lol, and I'm not even dealing with the Shark herself.

I have a lot of respect for that woman. She knows her stuff.

My query to her ended up getting lost last year for about 4 months. I'd sent it just before she closed to queries because of a contest she was doing. She was so mortified when she found my query that she sent me a very personalized apology, and a rejection. She is definitely a class act.

Good luck, merlot!

Good luck, Merlot.

Crickets here too. Of the 30 I sent out, I got 14 R's from the fast repsonders. Everyone else either has a long lead time or is a no responder. So, I'm giving it all another month or two before I go to back to QLH and SYS SF/F and try to improve. Working on another book in the meantime, trying to keep myself from thinking about it.

On the flip side, my company is relocating to another state sans most of its workers. So, I'm working on another kind of query--my resume. Great, so I can have both my hopes and dreams and my reality crushed. (I'm a little bitter here if you couldn't tell).

Krash, from another soon-to-be-laid-off person. It sucks. My company told me two weeks before Christmas. It'd be really nice if we could get a break on one side or another, huh?

If we both end up unemployed, I say we just make lots of decadent desserts and say "F it" to everyone trying to crush our dreams. We'll get drunk and enjoy the summer, and post ridiculous amounts on AW. If it the summer ever shows, anyway.

Hang in there.