So I received my first proper rejection this week. I say 'proper' rejection, because I've obviously been turned-down / passed over for things before but this was my first full-length novel submission to a publishing editor so it feels a bit different.
It was off the back of a pitch contest, so I knew they already liked my idea and that I was guaranteed feedback in a certain time frame. Then twenty four hours after the feedback deadline, when I was just beginning to hope that no news might be good news, the email landed.
To be honest, I'm not as glum about it as I'd imagined. I think partly because I was telling myself 'what are the chances of getting a 'yes' on your very first try?!' and also because the feedback was actually pretty positive, as far as rejections go. They liked my voice, but didn't feel the story stood out enough and wasn't what they were looking for, but they'd like to see future manuscripts from me as they enjoyed my style. So I'm chalking it up as a partial success.
I'm not sure where to go from here with this particular ms though
Ironically, I think the story is brilliant and was worried it would be my writing that would let it down 
which just shows how much of a clue I have and/or how subjective it all is!
It was off the back of a pitch contest, so I knew they already liked my idea and that I was guaranteed feedback in a certain time frame. Then twenty four hours after the feedback deadline, when I was just beginning to hope that no news might be good news, the email landed.
To be honest, I'm not as glum about it as I'd imagined. I think partly because I was telling myself 'what are the chances of getting a 'yes' on your very first try?!' and also because the feedback was actually pretty positive, as far as rejections go. They liked my voice, but didn't feel the story stood out enough and wasn't what they were looking for, but they'd like to see future manuscripts from me as they enjoyed my style. So I'm chalking it up as a partial success.
I'm not sure where to go from here with this particular ms though
Ironically, I think the story is brilliant and was worried it would be my writing that would let it down which just shows how much of a clue I have and/or how subjective it all is!
