Ranting About Rejection...or anything else for that matter

I don't know. You can't win whatever you do -- writers are supposed to be using social networks, blogging, etc. to build future readerships and connections, so what are we supposed to be saying? Hopeful lies? Cheerleading? Hype? I hope not, because what's the point?

One person's rant is another's brave, honest essay on their personal journey through the heartrending business of publication. Decide what your own boundaries are.

I used to read a blog that was allegedly by an aspiring writer who never seemed to do any writing... Anyway, one day she blogged about being knocked back after a job interview, said she never wanted the job anyway (then why apply for it?) and called the interviewer a wanker when she ran into him days later.

And. She. Blogged. About. It.

Miracle of miracles, she managed to finish a novel and subbed it to four agents. They all rejected it so what did she do? Dissed them all. Not by name, but she made it easy to find out who one of them was at least, because she told another writer, "One of them was your agent."

Jesus. Some people.

We all whinge. Yeah, I have. But one rule I try to stick to is never complain about rejections on your blog. Why? Because an editor could read it and reason, "Huh. This book she just subbed...isn't it the same one that's been rejected five times already?"

(n.b. None of my books have been rejected five times. Just an example).

And for God's sake watch what you say about other writers. Writers sometimes become editors. Editors for publishing houses you may sub to one day.

It could be seen as deceitful, holding it in, not naming names, but unless someone does something provably illegal or unethical, I'd bite my tongue.

But I might, once the dust has settled, blog about shady business practise, professionalism or so on, and hope their consciences pricked them...

There's still a difference between using a bad situation to help educate others, and to rant and insult people. Lmc71775 - I saw your other thread, and I saw your most recent post confused as to why people thought you were doing a bad thing. It wasn't your confusion about the rejection that had people commenting about your bad behaviour, but the words "mean" etc. You characterised the mistake that was made (an honest one at that) as nasty, almost as if it had been done on purpose. You could have said:

Hey guys, I got this weird email. I don't understand what's going on, should I email and ask or leave it?

Which is, admittedly how you started, and it was all politeness until you started to rant about how horrible that publisher was being to you. And that even if the mistake was an accident that it was an unkind accident. That's when people started to warn you of your behaviour.

I've had a really bad couple of years. And I have A LOT that I could vent about. But I didn't. Why? Because I am not in the business of saying bad things about people. I am a professional, and if I take personal issue with someone else, that's no one's business but my own and that person. Now. What I have done is blogged about feeling stuck and frustrated, and using that as a teaching tool to hopeful writers that it isn't all fun and games even after you've been published. I didn't name names, and while I explained that I'd been rejected I didn't act like it was personal - because it isn't. I was very pragmatic. AND, most importantly, tried to show how you can turn a bad situation positive. Here's that post in case you're curious: http://ididntchoosethis.blogspot.com/2010/08/introspection-or-land-of-limbo.html

Venting has its place. If you leave out any names etc, then there's a place for it on a writing forum. But really, I think the biggest place for venting is within one's social circle. Remember, anything can be found on the web, and we are professionals. No one said that it was fair that people might google us, and yes, it's harder to curb one's feelings than to just pour them out all over the place, but that's what being a professional is. It's not sharing every little thought one has in one's brain. It's called self-censorship (something that so many these days think is "curbing freedom of speech!!!!!!!!").

Further NO ONE wants to read self-pitying posts. No one. The odd rage-filled rant is entertaining, but woe is me no one understands my plight my life sucks and I hate everyone in the publishing industry posts are not a fun read. (not saying you did that, just taking this to a far extreme) So if one is going to write about something negative, there has to be a positive as conclusion to the post. Otherwise it is intolerable to read.

So. In conclusion. I think your original post was spot on.

As an addendum, this person once asked me to look over her first chapter, which I did. I then gave her my critique and she went BATSHIT. Got her friends to spam my blog with insults and so on...and those four agents? They rejected her book for exactly the reasons I had highlighted in her first chapter. Basic, easily-corrected issues like telling-not-showing, etc.

Anyway, my point is, she refused to take my advice on board, whether it was good or bad. She didn't thank me for my time, she lost her dignity and showed her lack of class all over the internet. Now tell me which agent would want to work with someone like that?

I've since deleted the blog her friends spam-insulted to make a fresh start with my pen name. She's had five or six blogs since then. I occasionally pay her an online visit just to see what she's up to, whether or not she's changed.

Here's the thing - she is so easy to find. If me, an amateur computer geek, can find someone in minutes, don't think for one moment an editor or agent can't do the same thing.

It just boggles my mind that someone can get a rejection then diss one of the biggest agents in the country, making it damn close to obvious who she's referring to (Toothpaste, your old agency in fact) ON. HER. BLOG. "They gave me such an awful rejection they made me think about giving up writing!"

Lady, if four rejections, one in particular, make you do that, you were never a writer in the first place.

*headdesk*

I am sincerely amazed people like this exist and think they have the right to call themselves novelists.

Tell the truth. Opinions are seldom truth, and even if they are, you can't prove it.

If a publishers actually cheats me, unlawfully, cheats me in a way that means we're going to court, I would say so for one and all to read.

If a publisher strikes me as being a scam and a sham, such as PublishAmerica, I'm going to say so loudly and publicly.

If an editor cuts up my prose in a way that means it becomes codswallop, or just bad writing, as one editor did when she removed every contraction from a writer's book, and did so after the galley process, I'd say so.

But I wouldn't mention the editor's name. And it's flat dumb to call someone names because they reject your work. The best thing to call them is smart.

There's nothing wrong with ranting, but ranting about how agents reject you is not smart. Ranting because you think rejection slips should tell you what's wrong is not smart. Ranting because you think rejections are mean, is not smart. Ranting because you find grammatical errors in a rejection is really not smart. Ranting because an editor things twenty thousand of your precious words should be cut is not smart.

Calling agents or editors rude or unprofessional because they have a no response policy is dumb.

You can believe any of these things. You'd be wrong 99% of the time, but you can believe them. But it's truly dumb to post them where anyone can read them.

Ranting because you're simply tired of getting rejections is fine. As long as you're ranting about your own feelings, and aren't claiming that you're being rejected because agents and editors don't know good writing when they see it.

Ranting can be good, it can be soul-cleansing, it can be healthy, as long as it's about you.

Rejections usually don't get me that much, but there was one that sort of pissed me off because it had grammar errors in it. I was incredulous.

Jamesaritchie said:

There's nothing wrong with ranting, but ranting about how agents reject you is not smart.

Click to expand...

This, exactly. The only agent I've ever ranted about (without naming, and never will) is the highly-regarded NY agent who lost a positive response requesting a full manuscript on his desk for EIGHTEEN MONTHS, then sent me a letter apologizing and re-requesting the manuscript, which I sent, and for which sending I never got any response. THAT sumbitch was worth ranting about, but I still won't do it by name. It's simply a story illustrating how bad "he process" can sometimes get.

Beyond that, any ranting I do is essentially about my own lack of ability.