I FEEL THIS SO HARD. *hugs*
I'm three months in and have many Rs. And I really thought this book was the one. I spent like 8 hours editing on Saturday (I'm continuing editing past the 50-page R&R for a potential next round of sub), and afterwards I just wanted to cry for all the hours I could have been working on a new shiny when this MS likely won't sell anyway. But then, that new one probably won't sell either. So I totally get that headspace. Sigh.
I've been feeling the same as you and PuttPutt, with more rejections having come in the last two weeks. We now have 5 editors yet to respond to the first round of subs and it's been almost five months. Five months is my usual cut-off mark, so come 3rd June I'll be drawing a line through the names. And to prove this business is subjective, one pass last week says 'too complicated a plot', and other said they were passing because there should be 'more happening'. Ugh.
I've had a bit of devastating news re a previously published adult romance book deal I thought was done and dusted. I worked on upping the word count, as requested; I designed a brand new series based on that first book, including producing mini-syns for each novel because the (European) publisher wanted to see all this before they signed me; I spent two months plotting, building the world, engineering the couples's backstories...everything to meet the deadline. Then last week, after an enthusiastic e-mail from the managing editor and a promise to send the offer to my agent, the publisher suddenly gave her the shaft. She's gone, and nobody knows what's happening to the imprint. Rumour has it the new management are shutting it down and all her projects are no-gos.
In my mind I was already paying bills with the advance... It's been a huge blow, as I am now totally out of contract with nothing in the pipeline coming out this year. No sales on my YA historical with the agent; no shiny new romance ready to pitch to romance editors; no prospects for the previously released novel and spin-off series, as it was tailor-made for that publisher. Previously released stuff is almost as impossible to get rid off as a clingy MIL. Basically, I wasted my time on the promise of a two, then four-book deal with a decent advance!
You win some, you lose some--I've written for publishers who've sold my novels in five figures, and for houses who've sold only a hand full of copies, later gone bust, taken my books into the quagmire of bankruptcy, not paid me royalties owed... a mix. I'll (probably) rally again, but I have to admit I'm rather droopy at the moment. I do have lots of ideas for writing another adult romance, but at the moment I'm too down to write anything coherent. The romance industry is in chaos, with Big Five publishers shutting down their romance imprints and many epubs I thought were stable, simply disappearing. Even big NYT authors are having their series cut, so mid-listers like me are feeling the pinch even more. Sales are down across the board in Romance and royalties (mine, anyway) are drying up.
My, that was doom and gloomy-sorry everybody! I will finish on a positive and say my agent likes my new YA idea-a contemporary suspense with a hint of romance set in London. Maybe I should throw in some glitter-free vampires? LOL