Bam Bam Bam!

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Hapsburg

Eight bloody rejections right in a row on the same day. Good thing it doesn't phase me anymore. To them I say:

"I enjoyed reading your rejection letter and though interesting, I regret to inform you its not quite a right fit for me at this time. I wish you the best of luck in rejecting other authors."

And why is it with their picky guidlines they can't send a form rejection in the format of a business letter? I got one on a slip of orange paper with a border. If we submitted a query like that they'd trash us!
 

callalily61

Allow me to offer you:

1: An ear to vent into

and

2: Several pieces of cheap china from the Dollar Store to smash as catharsis.


My record has been 3 rejections in one day. Hang in there.

Lily
 

Greenwolf103

That must've really hurt. Sorry to hear about that. But, keep at it! You'll get there.
 

CapeRuby

My first post here... I couldn't resist.

This is from the SFWA website:

"Connie Willis says that at one point before she'd published her first story, she had eight manuscripts in the mail to different markets. One day she checked her post office box, and in it was a slip telling her to pick up her mail from the postmaster. Instead of a package or something pleasant, however, the postmaster handed her rejections on all eight stories. Crushed, she considered quitting, but because she'd made it a habit to address envelopes to the next market for each story, she decided to slip the rejected work into the new envelopes and send them off. Eventually, she says, all eight works found publishing homes."

For some reason, I always think of that "eight rejections in one day" as a huge milestone. Keep on submitting!

:)
 

Kaitiana

Just got my first novel rejection - on Christmas Eve no less - so I can totally relate. And 8 in one day...*wince*...Keep at it, though. You will eventually find a home for your works, and it will be a happy one after all your hard work!
 

Hapsburg

It actually doesn't bother me. If I were new I'd be crushed, but I normally have 2 dozen queries or subs out at a time and average one acceptance per 6 rejects, so I get enough in to keep me going. It's more amusing than anything to me now, I've started critiquing their rejections for amusement. From big houses rejections are pretty much expected to begin with. Everynow and then a small press will reject me and I'll think "are you crazy? You can't be serious!". So I have enough arrogance to stay alive in the biz.

As a note to rejecting editors/agents out there here are my top 3 tips:

3. It's bad enough to send a form letter, but a photocopy of a form letter?!?

2. Borders and graphics on colored paper aren't necessary or helpful. A flowery border does not appease the disappointment.

1. Emoticons have no place in a rejection letter.
 

Greenwolf103

Emoticons??? Good Lord! We're not even allowed to use them in our queries!
 

Hapsburg

A frowny face after the rejection....lol just kidding, it was a placating wink after the "best of luck elsewhere" line.

This thread just gave me an idea for a story/book. A sadistic agent who enjoys ever crueler ways or rejecting hopeful authors rejects the wrong writer. They go off on tangents, the writer submitting ever worse manuscripts, the agent sending ever more horrible rejections, even in the form of a singing telegram. At last in a rage they meet and its love at first sight, and the abusive agent, a woman naturally, turns her sadism to dominatrix fun on the writer, giving him inspiration for his best novel ever.

ROTFLMAO, I kill me.:rollin
 

pasoroblan2003

Is there a point when you give up though? I just have to wonder...got a rejection today, certainly not my first and perhaps not my last, but I've never quite been able to get over the sting of it. If you keep getting rejected, is that the message to listen to? Everyone says "don't give up," but how much rejection is one supposed to take? I have worked hard to make my writing good...and to work for months, maybe years, which many of us do...to have it all reduced to:

"Your manuscript did not engage me as I had hoped."

Gee, thanks for that in-depth analysis.
 

michelle217

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>This thread just gave me an idea for a story/book. A sadistic agent who enjoys ever crueler ways or rejecting hopeful authors rejects the wrong writer. They go off on tangents, the writer submitting ever worse manuscripts, the agent sending ever more horrible rejections, even in the form of a singing telegram. At last in a rage they meet and its love at first sight, and the abusive agent, a woman naturally, turns her sadism to dominatrix fun on the writer, giving him inspiration for his best novel ever.<hr></blockquote>


It's been done already. <img border=0 src="http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/tongue.gif" />
 

Greenwolf103

I think that, no matter how many rejections you get, you keep going, anyway. Because you want to. You have to.
 

Hapsburg

Michelle~

you gotta be kidding me...Was she a dominatrix even?!?

As to the giving up...nonsense. I write because I need to. I would still be writing even if I weren't submitting. I might as well submit if I'm writing I figure, and there are always enough acceptances to keep me going. One brief acceptance can make 10 dismally crushing rejections worth it.
 

michelle217

Yes, I was kidding. But you never know. Stranger plots have seen publication.

As to frequent rejection and not knowing why, have you ever thought about giving a piece of your work to a real editor? Pay somebody who knows what they're talking about and maybe pinpoint if you're doing something you shouldn't be doing? I only suggest this because I did, and I certainly don't regret the money I spent. <img border=0 src="http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif" />
 

Hapsburg

Girl you're not feelin me...I don't get frequent rejections, this case is the result of querying big agencies, and there are far more queries than these 8 rejections so its right along the lines of expectation. In general and in short fiction I've been published several dozen times internationally and have a collection coming out in a couple months. It's when I solicit the big houses that I have to deal with the drudgery of rejections full force and I think we all do on that count.
 

1walkingadverb

I think you left out wham and thank ya ma'am between bams. LOL. Frankly, after 64 rejections, I'm finally getting to the letters that say: I think your MS is well-written, but I have two mixed-genre clients and do not wish to take on another.

I feel good about that.

Don't think of it as rejections posted on a wall, which might be viewed as a writer's wailing wall, but rather a wall of honor.
 
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