The Daily Rejection

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Devil Ledbetter

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Hi. I'm Devil and I'm a reject. It has been 11 hours since my last rejection.

I am learning to live with rejection because rejection means I'm querying, and querying is something I avoided for a very long time. I've managed to double my number of rejections in just two weeks. I did that by increasing the number of queries I'd sent by six times.

My goal is to land an agent in under 200 queries.

It would be nice to know that I'm not alone in rejection. If you were rejected today, please post here.
 

triceretops

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Hi, Devil. I like your attitude. I'm a warrior. They're not going to keep me down.

Just got rejected by a very famous editor, who had some very nice things to say about the concept. Although he clearly misidentified my genre by a mile and gave that as the primary reason for rejection. He said that he didn't publish contemporary SF as of yet, but it was one of his favorite genres, and he planned to pursue it in the future when he had established a backlist. He said he was looking for various types of character-driven thrillers.

I. Sent. Him. A. Straight espionage thriller, character-driven just like he'd asked for in his guidelines. My title to my book is Diane Nine and The Fusion Machine. And that DOES sound like a YA SF book. You see, he got no further than the title itself. (I am going to change this stupid title)

I couldn't let this one rest. I politely wrote back to him and clarified the mistake he made. I said it was a moot point as far as any decision went, but I couldn't in all truth, let him R me like that without knowing what he'd done.

Tri
 

Miss Plum

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Ooh, sorry I missed your thread earlier, Devil. I got a rejection yesterday -- from someone I had e-mailed the day before yesterday. It was good; I scratched from my list another agent who would be wrong for my project.

I still have quite a few unanswered queries floating around out there, so I may be able to post back in the coming weeks.

The more rejections, the less suspense.
 

kaitie

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I got a rejection today! From an agent I thought I had a really good shot with even. ;)
 

Phaeal

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Well, my latest was from a mag for a short story, but it was the good form with request for more.

The story was in "the mail" less than an hour later. That's my strategy -- they toss the flaming ball back to me, I instantly toss it to the next victim in the circle. ;)

HEY!!! You know what??? We should all get together and write this BLOG where we post ALL OUR REJECTIONS and then get SNARKY at the agents/editors!!!! WOW, and we could call ourselves "THE REJECTION MONARCHS!!!" That would be totally unique!!!!!

(Why do I suddenly feel like Mickey Rooney, in a bandleader's costume?)
 

kaitie

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I got two today! Does that get me a special prize? Though one said they were cutting back on fiction, and the other said they weren't taking on new clients at the moment, so they were like even more painless than usual. :)
 

Mr Flibble

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Not today - yet. Had two personals yesterday that said nice stuff about my writing but certain elements weren't their cup of tea and an almost form a few days ago. Ie a standard form with an added sentence(from what I gather from others that subbed there) that was rather nice. Another personal earlier in the week.

Funny how a nice rejection can actually cheer you up. Which I needed considering how the week started writing wise. Don't ask.
 
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Wayne K

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I got one from an editor recently.

The way I look at rejection is that at least I'm in the game. Ya gotta be in it to win it, right?
 

Miss Plum

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I sent out about five new queries yesterday (Friday). What the hell's taking so long? Doesn't anyone in New York work on Saturday?

Oh well, Monday morning should be a berry patch of rejections.
 

kaitie

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Got my daily allowance today, then sent off another five (maybe six, I wasn't counting) to make up for not having replenished the past few days when I got rejections. :tongue

Oh, and today's was on a page request, which sorta stinks. Oh well. I've still got a lot of people on my list.
 

KTC

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You are not alone, Devil. I have so many rejects I already broke through your 200 queries goal. I hope you find one before you reach that wall. I've given myself a no-wall threshold. Just keep sending, just keep sending, just keep sending.
 

cscarlet

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I received my very first rejection today EVER!!! :) It was a very polite form rejection from a very amazing agent.

Regardless, I was quite excited. I have a feeling the novelty will wear off fairly quickly but now I feel like I'm "one of you" as opposed to that random chick who put fingers to keyboard. ;)
 

Drachen Jager

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My best was five in a day once. But today I have only one.
 

Devil Ledbetter

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I had two "non-response = rejection" agents that timed out today.

Geez, I'm so bad I can't even get a form rejection this week.

And thanks, peeps. It's nice not to be alone in this.
 

Miss Plum

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I sent out about five new queries yesterday (Friday). What the hell's taking so long? Doesn't anyone in New York work on Saturday?

Oh well, Monday morning should be a berry patch of rejections.

Got a couple today.

I broke down and paid for a subscription to Publishers Marketplace over the weekend and found a bunch more to query. More queries, more rejections . . . and there was one "Please Send"!
 

Nya RAyne

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I got three rejections today, one was definitely form, the other left me wondering, and the third... Well, I just don't know. What I do know is getting three in one day is harsh on a girl's ego, especially when one starts like a request for a partial and ends with, "sorry, but it was a business decision blah, blah, blah, bulls**t".

Why did I want to be a writer again? Oh, yeah, I'm a glutton for abuse!! At times like this writing seriously sucks!! But I'm so glad I have a nice understanding place to vent my frustrations!!
 

Nya RAyne

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Got a couple today.

I broke down and paid for a subscription to Publishers Marketplace over the weekend and found a bunch more to query. More queries, more rejections . . . and there was one "Please Send"!

Miss. Plum, congrat on the "please send". Maybe I'll get a membership over their also, because the 50 or so agents I've been querying aren't biting.
 

Miss Plum

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Miss. Plum, congrat on the "please send". Maybe I'll get a membership over their also, because the 50 or so agents I've been querying aren't biting.
Thank you, and I urge you to do it. I wasn't sure whether I should and came here (linky somewhere at AW) to inquire. People advised me to do so, and I'm glad I did. There are TONS of agents out there whom you might never find or think to query, but they're listed at Publishers Marketplace. Search up top dealmakers and see who they are and what they're selling.
 

kaitie

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Picked a new one up today. Good luck on the request. :) I'm impressed you sent five queries and pulled a request out of that, to be honest. Oh, to have that kind of skill. ;)
 

kaitie

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So today I had two rejections and a request for three chapters! And yesterday I had one rejection (though technically I'd already gotten a rejection for that one haha) and a request. This is kinda cool haha.
 

dolores haze

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Got an e-mail a couple of days ago from one of my favorite pubs saying my story had made the shortlist. YAY!

Got another e-mail yesterday saying it hadn't made the cut. BAH!
 
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