Nice rejections

Laura Lond said:

As I am putting together my collection of rejection letters, I am pleased to say that most of them, so far, have been very nice, positive, and personal. It is funny how it matters. A "no," is a "no," right? Yet we still care about how it is said.

I am beginning to wonder though whether the praise for my work in these rejections is genuine or the agents are just trying to soften the blow. My novel has been called "interesting," "very marketable," "with a strong voice," and "good premise". The main character was described as "easy to love despite his villainy" by a big NY agent (loved that comment ). Well, the question is, if the novel is so darn good, then why nobody is even asking for a partial??

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I'm surprised to see personal rejections on query alone...how would they know if the novel is "marketable" or whether it has a "strong voice" or anything about the main character without reading a partial?

~suki

You can get voice in a query, but that doesn't mean it's sustainable. If the agent never read any of his acts of villainy, then how can he possibly say that the MC is lovable in spite of it?

My genre is non-fiction but on my query one agent wrote: "The relationship market is saturated!!!! There is no chance for the book you propose!!!"

She was so emphatic that I just had to keep going to prove her wrong.

Another wrote no editors were buying relationship books by unknown authors and still another said my platform wasn't big enough.

I ignored these and concentrated on the postive + feedback ones and fine-tuned my query accordingly.

Are any of them letting you know what could be stronger/better? Because that was the most meaningful feedback to me. The ones who thought overall it was strong but had reservation x about representing it. I needed to address their reservations in both my query and the work.

susangpyp said:

I ignored these and concentrated on the postive + feedback ones and fine-tuned my query accordingly.

Are any of them letting you know what could be stronger/better? Because that was the most meaningful feedback to me. The ones who thought overall it was strong but had reservation x about representing it. I needed to address their reservations in both my query and the work.

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Good for you to take the feedback that could work for you and adjust.

And it's a good lesson - being able to differentiate form rejections from ones tailored specifically to your manuscript is sometimes hard. Some agents use forms that sound like they are making positive statements about the manuscript, and like they are talking about your specific project, when it is merely a form.

So while it's great to pay attention and use what you can to improve, it's also really helpful to know that many are forms that really don't evaluate your project, so that you don't twist yourself in circles.

Some even say things like they are sure you will find a home with someone else, or that the writing is strong, or that the project was interesting, etc.

So while it is great to look even at rejections as a chance to improve and learn, it is also important to know that some might just be form rejections and not get too twisted up trying to adjust, unless they really are specific to your project (most likely after partials or fulls, or like with this example when it is obviously about the specific project).

good luck.

~suki

I can think of at least three "nice" rejections I got. One was a straight form letter -- BUT -- it came to me via snail mail and for some reason the agent in question had written "I am so sorry!" across the printed text in a blue pen and signed it. Odd, but it certainly made an impression.

The 2nd was someone who liked the sample pages and style, but I'd mixed up the agents on my list and she didn't actually rep the genre I sent her... may send her something else though.

The last one was a modified form letter where the beginning and end were standard fare, but the middle was extremely specific to the plot, characters, etc. (she read the full) In this case, the agent loved the story, but thought I was set on a particular age group (I took some bad advice and pitched the book to the wrong age group), and it wouldn't work in that age group, so she declined it. I tweaked it a bit and now I'm hoping she'll reconsider it for the age group she thinks it's appropriate for.

I used to keep my rejections neatly filed. Then I got a dog. Now I record my rejections in my computer, just like a sane and rational adult. Then I ball the letter up and let my dog chew it/them to shreds. Very emotionally satisfying. And no, it doesn't seem to matter to me whether or not the agents/publishers are being nice or cruel. Rejection is rejection. I suffer. I eat chocolate. I move on.

wannawrite said:

I used to keep my rejections neatly filed. Then I got a dog. Now I record my rejections in my computer, just like a sane and rational adult. Then I ball the letter up and let my dog chew it/them to shreds. Very emotionally satisfying. And no, it doesn't seem to matter to me whether or not the agents/publishers are being nice or cruel. Rejection is rejection. I suffer. I eat chocolate. I move on.

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I love that image!! Wish I could get my cat to tear up paper.

suki said:

And it's a good lesson - being able to differentiate form rejections from ones tailored specifically to your manuscript is sometimes hard. Some agents use forms that sound like they are making positive statements about the manuscript, and like they are talking about your specific project, when it is merely a form.

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Yikes, that's a good point. As much as everyone vents about how frustrating form rejections are, this kind of makes me wish agents had a big rubber stamp to keep everything clear. It'd be depressing to get a letter with a giant red "FORM" stamped on it, but not as depressing as it would be to spend weeks changing something that you really didn't need to change.

If you do an online search for a unique-ish sentence from a rejection, chances are another writer has posted it somewhere online asking the age-old question: "Is this form?"

I had one recently that I find it hard not to believe wasn't intentionally crafted to look like a non-form. Crossed that agent off my list I'd rather just be told, "You have been form rejected" than to waste time and energy wondering if it means something.