I feel stupid jumping into this discussion, because I am unpublished, and even unsubmitted at this point.
But I have experience from a different field that I believe would apply. Please forgive me if my inexperience causes offense, and please keep the ridicule to a healthy minimum.
I was a road musician for years. Now I am a music teacher. Better paycheck, less heartbreak. I CAN like to talk about creative production and the business of selling that creation.
In music, you have the talent, the talent buyers, and the talent sellers.
The talent is the musician, in my case. They do something because they love it. It can include songwriters, or even the very best sound techs. The operative word is love, in this case. They are also driven by angst, fear, insecurity and desperation. There is a fair amount of lust and need for self actualization involved. Please believe me on this one. Even second rate rock stars get more groupies than almost all writers.
The talent sellers go by a lot of names. Some are "Managers", some are "Booking agents", sometimes it's "the guy in the band that does the business", sometimes it's "Vinnie the Drummer, 'cause his phone is still on." They want to help the talent, but they don't care about the love. They are businessmen. They search for what they believe will sell, and they try to sell it. They want the artist to make as much money as possible, so that they can make a cut. They aren't selling the Talent, they are selling the product.
Talent buyers tend to be guys like record company guys (I had no good experiences with these), bar owners, club owners, and festival coordinators. They are also businessmen. They are passing judgment on the product, not on the artist. They want to pay as little as possible for the product (and to the artist) as possible.
When the buyers reject a project, they are not rejecting the artist, they are rejecting the product.
It isn't personal. Honestly, in almost every case, unless you screw up, they don't care who the heck you are. They don't know you from Adam, and much of the time they don't want to. But they want to sell your product. They want as much money to flow as possible.
Some basic rules.
1) Be professional.
2) Continue to produce the best quality product you can. Constantly improve, and constantly enjoy. Do it because you love to do it.
3) Don't take it personally. You are in this for the love, not for the approval. It sucks when your project isn't as good as you thought it was. Rejection is feedback too.
4) Don't EVER do it for the money, 'cause there ain't no money.
5) Don't quit your day job. Ever. If you have reached a point where "you have to", you can get a leave of absence.
6) If you screw up, or suspect you have screwed up, apologize as soon as you figure out you might have done it.
Ignoring these rules is a bad idea, in my opinion. Like I said, my own experience is limited, as far as writing is concerned.
It's not a bad system. It's just a heartbreaking system if you don't understand it, or approach it from the wrong viewpoint.
I was heartbroke. It soured me to no end. I hope that you don't have the same experience.
Dave
