Worst rejection you've ever had?

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sarbonn

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I've been professionally writing for twenty-five years now, and I have had a few doozies in my time. A couple of my favorites were:

1. "A series of jokes doth not make a good story...and your jokes doth not make me laugh"

2. In my bio section, I used to indicate that I was formerly a counterintelligence agent who worked for the US government. I received a two page rejection letter, and I mean LETTER, stating something to the effect of: "My husband was a captured POW and is MIA from Vietnam, and I blame the government for not doing anything about this, and I hate everyone who works for the government, and that's why I'm rejecting your cute story of little bunnies who love each other and want the world to be a better place."

3. One of my favorites:
March 1st: We love your book. We want to publish it.
March 20: We may not have enough money to publish your book. Sorry.
March 30: We still love your book, and we decided we're going to publish it.
April 5: The gas bill came, and boy was it high. We can't publish your book.
April 15: Wow, my tax return is going to be great. We're going to publish your book.
April 17: Sorry, I blew the money on beer. We can't publish your book.
April 25: Could you please send your book again. We lost our only copy.

How about yours?
 

jamiehall

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My worst rejection was about three pages long, going into great detail about every aspect of the book that was terrible, how it should never be published, and how the editor actually giggled at how bad it was, and how the editor couldn't imagine anyone ever wanting to read it, under any circumstances.

I was actually stunned the editor read the whole book, and had enough time to write so much about it for a "no" reply. I think it may have been an attempt to get me to give up on the idea of being an author. That was ten years ago.
 

Phaeal

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My worst rejection was about three pages long, going into great detail about every aspect of the book that was terrible, how it should never be published, and how the editor actually giggled at how bad it was, and how the editor couldn't imagine anyone ever wanting to read it, under any circumstances.

I was actually stunned the editor read the whole book, and had enough time to write so much about it for a "no" reply. I think it may have been an attempt to get me to give up on the idea of being an author. That was ten years ago.

This was a blatant act of sadism. Really. The editor without an emotional agenda would just have shrugged and sent a form rejection. This person is probably a serial hope-killer and has racked up so many negative karma points he will never find Nirvana.

Good. We don't need his sort here. ;)
 

sheadakota

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My worst was after sending my very first query out, I got a request for a partial 20 minutes later- I waited 16 weeks for a reply and got one for a full- sent it in and waited 20 weeks- for a rejection-

Basically she said she LOVED the story, LOVED the characters, my pacing was PERFECT and the story was INTRIGING-- BUT- because her client list was so full, she didn't have the time to give it the attention it deserved-

WTF! if she didn't have the time why even ask for partial? To me it was just another form rejection but hurt all the more because it got my hopes up. ugggg-

Now even when I get requests I expect a no, it hurts less that way.
 

Karen Duvall

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My worst rejection was after working with an editor at a big publishing house for 15 months on my book, I thought it was a sure thing, that "the call" would be coming any time. Then that editor left the company and her predecessor sent me a form rejection.
 

Cybernaught

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My worst was from a group of editors; each commented with a resounding "No."
 

Vincent

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The one that annoyed me the most went "I wanted to let you know that I've been torn about this one. It's been a difficult decision, but after much consideration, I believe we'll have to pass on it" and "You write very well. Let me say that first" and "I read and reread it" followed by several paragraphs of constructive criticism.

I mean, it was a great rejection... but man, an acceptance there would have been nice.
 

JoNightshade

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This was last year. Agent who had a full of my manuscript for about 6 months. I had to call her when I got an offer from another agent. Her office person said it had already been read and liked by several people in the office and was now on Ms. Agent's desk. Instead of ringing me back to say "Oh, sorry, no," she wrote a letter and dropped it in the mail, causing me to have to wait several days before I could get back to the other agent. When I opened the letter, it was several paragraphs detailing how wussy and milquetoast my narrator was and basically implying that any agent who actually wanted this wasn't worth spit. And yet it was quite clear that she'd read the whole thing. ??? I saved the letter and plan to read it out loud to small children when I become rich and famous. :)
 

Jersey Chick

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This is one of my favorite rejection stories - stop me if you've heard it.

Ahem

I received a rejection from an editor at a big-name publishing house, and in it, she told me that I needed to pay closer attention to my details if I ever wanted to even think about being published.

she spelled my name wrong on the letter.
 

Calla Lily

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An agent asked for a partial, then requested revisions on one of the chapters. I made them. Agent requested more. I gave 3 choices. Agent picked one--all the while comenting on my characters, my writing, my story. Agnet asks for full. I'm thinking "if agent likes my stuff enough to work with me through a few revisions of one chapter, then this could work--I've made it plain that I'm willing to work to make my stuff more marketable and agent obviously sees something in my work.) 48 hours later, a half-form, half personalized R: "client list full" (the form part) and "needs too much work" (the personalized part, because specifics were cited), and "not enough time" (more form). This was my only R out of a LOT that made me furious and miserable and gobsmacked to the point of thinking about throwing in the towel. (I got over it, tho. :))
 

cjhallman

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I had a rather rude rejection from an online magazine regarding a poem I had submitted. The editor called the poem "too creepy" for his magazine...and in a way that insinuated that I was creepy, too, for authoring the poem.

Everything I write is a little bit weird, but jeez, I'm a perfectly normal successful non-creepy person. I submitted the poem to a print magazine the next day, and got an acceptance a few weeks later.
 

Ken

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one of the worst I got was from the well known newspaper. They sent back my 3-4 page manuscript, which looked like it had gone through a war. A note accompanied it explaining that they had water leak in their building and my MS had got wet. "Okay, but what about the dark blotches on the pages?" I continue to wonder.
 

cate townsend

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Every full rejection has been pretty much the worst for me, but the most irritating one was a few years ago, when I was shopping around another book. I probably vented about this one before on another post...

The agent asked for a partial via snail mail, and several months later I get I cheesy greeting card with some pastoral-y scene on the front, and on the inside, way way way up in the left-hand corner and sort off-kilter, was a handwritten note (looked very much like a kid's handwriting) apologizing for the late return of my materials. That was it. No other letter, no note stating why it was rejected, and no signature anywhere. The thing that got me was that it was from a very well-respected agent/agency with a stellar track record.
 

KikiteNeko

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One time I got my own query letter sent back to me with "no" written on it.
 

dgiharris

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My worst rejection:

1 Apr 08 Day of acceptance
"Hey we loved your story and are going to publish it in our july-Aug edition and would like you to be a regular columnist"

25 Jun 08 Day of printing
"Um.. sorry, the senior editor read your piece today, and even though it is my periodical section, he thinks its too negative, we have to pull it."


Yuck. that sucked. Ripped right out of the press and my heart :(

Mel...
 
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