Can You Crack the Code?

Lisa, those are good Rs (as much as an R can be good) and it shows you that every editor is looking for something different. For example, one liked the MC's interactions with her mother, one thought the adult relationships were too prominent. There's nothing really to change yet, and hopefully you'll get in front of the right editor.

Hugs and good luck.

If you open it up, copy what you want to work on in a separate doc so the current version remains. Looks like you just haven't hit on the right editor, yet. Trust your agent to tell you if you get to the point of needing revision.

As for literary vs. commercial, I know I've seen threads in Novels about divining the difference, with examples.

That's true, LMC, that two did mention that the ending didn't have the pop they wanted. Listen to your agent... She's read the book, and I haven't!

Simply put, literary novels are usually character-driven, and commercial novels are plot-driven. Literary/commercial is plot-driven like commercial fiction but with literary voice and character development. That comment may not mean there's anything wrong with your book -- just that it wasn't the right editor. There are plenty of editors who want commercial books.

I'm thinking the punchline is: you got personalized rejections. If you're in a genre where the editors do that for everyone, let me know what genre that is.

Personalized rejections really boil down to, "It is so awesome that it came this close. One or two things were fatal flaws for us."

Sometimes I suspect they send those out because when your book becomes the next bestseller, they can always whip those out as proof they weren't total idiots for passing it up.

Listen to your agent. The book is regularly hitting an inch off the mark. It's entirely possible another editor will love it like her own grandchild. IF, and only IF, you get turned down by everyone, then maybe you should consider calling your beta back up to go over consistent pace and the ending. Until then, go buy yourself chocolate to celebrate getting FOUR personalized rejections.

There's never a code. All such rejections just mean no. When they mean anything other than no, the agent will spell it out in no uncertain terms.

It does sound like you're close. Best of luck to you!

Overall I'm getting: "Like the concept, the execution not so much, especially where the ending/payoff is concerned."

Your agent seems to be unsure about the ending, too. Ponder it, as suggested, and try out some alternative endings.

Red herrings are clues that lead nowhere, or at least not to the solution of the central mystery.

What I'm reading here is two things:

1. You telegraphed the punch. What this means is that there's some hint in the text about what the ending was so there was no "Aha!" moment, or at least not enough of one that it felt anticlimatic. That also affects the pacing because the important stuff happens too quickly so the middle feels draggy and the ending feels bleh---even if the action itself ramps up.

2. The characters didn't have enough depth. This is actually really easily fixed in the text without much fuss. It might be that it's a plot focused book, which is fine (or at least, it WAS fine for a very long time. But lately I've noticed the publishers want very character focused books, regardless of the plot. Probably because those are the books topping the lists.) What an editor is going to want to see is that the characters had lives before the book opened and will continue to have lives when the book closes. The easiest way to convey this is to have some aspect of their "before-book" life nag at them throughout the story and bite them in the butt during a crisis point. It's sort of like having a fern in the kitchen window. You forget to water it Monday, you notice it's a little droopy on Tuesday and think, "Oh, I must water that!" but forget. You never make it to the kitchen on Wednesday, and the leaves are hanging down by Thursday. You water it. It's too late. You then remember on Friday that, "Crap! That wasn't my fern. It was the one I was watching for the neighbor! I moved my fern to the bedroom." Now what to do? Poof. You have depth in the character over the course of the fern episode. (But dealing with people are better than ferns. They need the same attention and have more violent reactions.)