Fastest rejection ever!

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Kempo Kid

Do I get a prize for this? I think this sets a record.

Schiavone Literary Agency accepts e-mailed queries, so I sent an e-mailed query this afternoon. They rejected it with a form response in (and I counted) 1 hour and 6 minutes! It was a long shot, and I didn't really expect them to be interested, but this short a response time amazed me so much that I laughed. :rollin (<-- me laughing)

In the good news/bad news segment, a top agent rejected my requested partial :cry but wants to see a partial for a future project! :D

She likes my writing but just not that particular book, I guess.

Problem is, I don't know what to send her! I have other outlines and even partial manuscripts, in fantasy (which is what I'd sent her), sf, mystery, and nonfiction. Any of these could be picked up and worked on until complete in a reasonable amount of time.

But which one? :head
 

Greenwolf103

Wow. That must still burn, though. Sorry to hear that. She must be a speed reader, have a small submission rate or a huge staff!

As for your question, go with the book you want to write NOW. If you really want to try to land this agent, work on the kind of book they accept.

Good luck!

--Dawn
 

Kempo Kid

Fastest Rejection Ever!

Trouble is, the book I'm working on now is the sequel to the book she just rejected, and she said she didn't want to see that. I'm wondering if I should send her the same kind of work (traditional fantasy), or if I should send something different, such as an urban fantasy, sf, or mystery.
 

kenjoel

You may hold the record for e-mail rejection but I bet I hold the record for snail-mail rejection. I live in NYC. On 10/06 I mailed three query letters to NYC literary agents. On 10/09 I received rejections from all three!
 

Greenwolf103

Yikes. Kinda makes it scary to even submit... :gone

Take heart, though. Keep on keepin' on!
 

Kempo Kid

Last night I e-mailed a short story to a publication. Today I woke up, got online, and there was the rejection.

Writing is a hard, hard business. No wonder writers take to drink (or antidepressants).
 

aka eraser

All rejections sting but at least the quick ones reduce the time we spend wandering/wondering in the fog of limbo.
 

maestrowork

Amen, Frank.

I hate those who promised a reply in 6 weeks, then 6 months later send you a form letter: Not for us. By that time you don't remember remember what you've sent them.

Or the ones who send you: "Your story, How to Kill a Man Without Him Screaming does not suit our need." Eh? Excuse me. I never sent you anything with that title.
 

Kempo Kid

Fastest Rejection Ever!

I've gotten some rejections from agents lately. Form rejection letters that start out "Dear Author" and say "After careful consideration...." Not that careful if they can't spend five seconds scribbling my name in.

One was a form rejection strip, 2 x 8.5 inches, badly photocopied, crooked on the page, that went into the "we have considered your project very carefully...."

Uh-huh. Was that a turnip trunk that just rounded the corner?
 

Greenwolf103

Re: Fastest Rejection Ever!

The nerve! We put sooo much effort into making our submissions pretty, they can't return the favor when rejecting us?? >:

(I'm being sarcastic here, though it would be NICE to get a clean, typo-free, professional-looking rejection complete with a masthead.)
 

Kempo Kid

Good (?) rejections

I actually got a very nice one from Linn Prentis. She said (in a personal letter), that she found my project intriguing enough to review it at length, but they just weren't able to fit another project into their schedule.

Sigh.

And I was happily pounding away at the keyboard earlier today on a synopsis for a proposal--

--and the word processing program crashed on me!

Yes, I back up, but I lost about a page's worth. And for a synopsis, that's a lot to lose.:bang
 

Elyse

Rejections

K. Kid,

Was that the R.L. Agency in PA? I got one of those two. In fact the 2x8.5 copy was so bad and so crooked, that I was embarrassed for them, THEN I had a good laugh over it. In my opinion, that type of response tells me that the agency is sloppy and would not have done a good job trying to sell my ms. They did ME a favor!

-Elyse
 

Elyse

Rejection Correction

I meant to say, I got one of those TOO!

Geez, I need a good night's sleep.

-Elyse
 

Kempo Kid

Re: Rejection Correction

Yup, RL agency. I guess that's what they send out to everybody. (Yet we're expected to be professional.)
 

Greenwolf103

Re: Rejection Correction

Elyse, good on ya for being able to laugh at your rejection!! :)
 

Elyse

RL Rejection

If you had seen it, you would have laughed too!

In a world where we have to get their names spelled correctly and follow a staunch protocol, and then they send something like this! It's a kick in the pants. No-o-o...They need the kick in the pants!

-Elyse
 

Greenwolf103

Re: RL Rejection

Well ... as far as being rejected by them goes, I could think of some other things I'd rather do instead of kick them in the pants.... :teeth
 

arrowqueen

Re: RL Rejection

Every now and again, I get other people's rejections in with mine. I send them back with a wee note and we now have a Secret Underground Writers' Network with half a dozen members who write regularly to one another.

It's very comforting, particularly during the summer sales drought, to know everybody else is in the same boat.

Cheers,
aq
 

skylarburris

Re: RL Rejection

I got one within 10 minutes of submitting once! Do I win? (A poem to a literary magazine)
 

Kempo Kid

Re: RL Rejection

Yeah, that beats mine.

I've been dethroned! (But was this a throne I really wanted?)

(Where are my icons? I wanted to do the head banging icon, and it's not there. Nor is my favorite computer banging one.)
 

drgnlvrljh

Re: Rejections

In my opinion, that type of response tells me that the agency is sloppy and would not have done a good job trying to sell my ms. They did ME a favor!

I would most certainly agree to that assessment. Maybe you should send them a very polite letter thanking them for the rejection? :evil
 

StephanieCordray

RE: RL Rejections

If you had seen it, you would have laughed too!

In a world where we have to get their names spelled correctly and follow a staunch protocol, and then they send something like this! It's a kick in the pants. No-o-o...They need the kick in the pants!

-Elyse

Why not send them a letter thanking them for the rejection and describe exactly why you are thanking them?
 

aka eraser

Re: RE: RL Rejections

It's very tempting to respond to some rejections with thinly-veiled sarcasm (or worse) but it's not worth the risk. Editors and agents talk and you want to be careful not to singe a bridge along the way, let alone burn one.

That's why we have threads like this. So we can vent safely.
 

maestrowork

Re: RE: RL Rejections

That's why I don't respond to rejection letters.

You don't know who you're ever going to end up working with...
 

Amie87

Rejections

The only rejection I ever responded to was for a short story that I submitted to an on-line market. The editor included a brief comment about why the story didn't work for him, and I e-mailed back and thanked him (sincerely, not sarcastically) for the feedback.

Amie
 
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