Rejection Drought

popmuze · Oct 4, 2006

This rejection drought is killing me.

It's been ten days since I got my last one, a quickie, scribbled across the top of my query: "No thanks." In the meantime I've got ten unanswered queries out, anywhere from 8 weeks to one week old, three fulls with agents, from ten weeks to two weeks old, and a partial sent out about two weeks ago.

Whenever it gets this long between rejections I usually pump out a few more queries, but this last batch is drawing a lower than usual response rate. I'm thinking: is everybody at Frankfort, or what?

DeadlyAccurate · Oct 4, 2006

Same here. I got one today that I emailed last night (just a quick "not for me--thanks") but it's been a while since I've heard anything, too. I'm still waiting on a few fulls. It's killing me, even though I'm working on two more books in the meantime (editing one, writing another).

MidnightMuse · Oct 4, 2006

Would you like me to reject you? (teasing!!)

It's probably just that ol' Watched Pot syndrome. Relax, busy yourself with your next story and those rejections will start rolling in before you know it!

*hang on, that didn't sound right*

I mean those ACCEPTANCES will happily surprise you. Yeah. See, you've thrown me off my usual by saying you're MISSING obtaining those rejections!

I suspect the agents are all just in a sugar daze, now that the Halloween candy has hit the store shelves. I know I am (and it shows, eh?)

piscesgirl80 · Oct 4, 2006

mmm, halloween candy. Wait, what was the thread about?

I'm sure your mailbox will be filling up soon, just keep plugging away in the meantime...although eight weeks isn't that bad...

Rolling Thunder · Oct 4, 2006

I'm still waiting on my very first rejection, Pop. Maybe they're making them into Halloween decorations to scare away the trick or treaters?

Cath · Oct 4, 2006

Sounds like you're getting addicted to those rejections!

Unique · Oct 4, 2006

The Black Hole of Complete Silence

I know it well.

Let me help you out for the time being:
1) Not for us
2-5) Repeat
6) We'll take it!

Oops. That was an acceptance. Do you mind?

popmuze · Oct 4, 2006

I think Cath has hit it right on the button. While I certainly enjoy writing, and especially enjoy rewriting, there's nothing like the thrill of a rejection to get my juices flowing. You know, the old "I'll show those jerks" response. It's kept me going since high school.

I love to open the envelopes or the emails and see just what kind of silly excuse will pop up next to keep another agent from trying to sell my book. One agent actually loved the whole manuscript, but his partners told him he wouldn't be able to sell it. One loved the voice but hated the characters. The next loved the characters but hated the voice. Like that.

So yes, at this point I'm not sure how I'd react to an acceptance. It's like when couples finally get together on sit-coms--always a let down, leading to a quick cancellation (and yet we keep on rooting for Jim and Pam from The Office).

I know if an acceptance should come my way, at first I'd probably think it was a rejection. Then I'd think it was a cruel hoax. Or that when I called I'd find out the agent just died or went back to the used car lot. Maybe, just for fun, I'd pass it up, figuring, if that agent was interested, I was certainly aiming too low. I mean, I haven't queried Blinky Urban yet (whoever that is) or Candida Donadio (Thomas Pynchon's original agent, who's deceased. Yes, I have queried Pynchon's current agent. No response).

Anyway, thanks for giving me the opportunity to rant. Not having a blog, or a new work in progress, it's all I've got right now.

triceretops · Oct 5, 2006

One of my earliest books has had a particulary rough time out there. I even went so far as laying a lamb over an altar and bringing the knife down to help with the progress and vibes. But, still, my agent told me that it "didn't rock my boat" and another previous agent said that my world-building was substandard. These were on partials. Just recently I sent the same partial to a small pub, and they replied "Wow, you really have something here! Send the full!"

Huh?

Well, I felt like tellling that editor that she was dilusional, I didn't deserve it, the manuscript is really a smoke and mirrors trick, and the truth will set you free, Chucky, once you see the light.

When you get to the "I'm nooot...wooooooorthy" stage, you know you're in trouble.

Tri

Pisarz · Oct 5, 2006

Popmuze, I have the same feeling lately. I almost NEED the rejections as a motivation to send out more queries (in the same "I'll show you" vein).

Similar to what Tri posted, you know it's bad when you think to yourself, "What's a girl gotta do to get rejected around here?!"

. . .Oh, that's right. Use SASEs instead of e-queries. I remember now!

Julie Worth · Oct 5, 2006

popmuze said:
This rejection drought is killing me...I'm thinking: is everybody at Frankfort, or what?

It is weird. I hadn't gotten anything in a while either, so I sent out a new batch. Nothing, no response. I checked the news to see if New York had been evacuated for some reason, or vaporized, but if it was, they're not saying. I began checking my inbox incessantly, running to the door when the mailman shoved letters through the slot. I even chased after him to ask if he'd forgotten anything. He said no ma'am, didn’t forget nothing. I went back to the pile of letters on the floor and sat there. My hands trembled as I tore open a bill. What did I hope to find? A rejection from my power company?

Robin Bayne · Oct 5, 2006

Wait until December. The holidays typically see nothing coming or going from agents and pubs.

Oh, and next summer, for you new writers-- it seems all the editors go to the beach for the season *without* their laptops. :rant:

Julie Worth · Oct 5, 2006

Well dang. I just got a request for chapters, so not everyone who is anyone is in Frankfurt. Or at least not out carousing and getting stinking drunk.

triceretops · Oct 5, 2006

Oh, good one, Julie. See, there's life out there, I think. I haven't received about eight answers from small pubs. Last month was unusually quiet as far as responses.

Tri

MidnightMuse · Oct 5, 2006

Good luck to you, Julie. You probably got a response from a diabetic agent - the only ones not enjoying that early Halloween candy sugar-stupor the rest of them are in

popmuze · Oct 5, 2006

Julie,
See the whole thing was a trick. I figured if I complained about not getting any rejections, sure enough, I'd get a few.

Who knew you would steal my jinx.

Branwyn · Oct 5, 2006

I received one this morning. The form--this does not fit into our list right now, yeah right! I would love to start getting--'Oh, of course we'd love to represent you...please, can we?'
I can dream.

PS--just got another--unfortunately I have recently signed on a few new clients and am not taking on any more.

popmuze · Oct 5, 2006

I guess my reverse psychology is working. I sent out a query this morning and just got a request for a full.

On the other hand, that's another potential rejection, anywhere from two weeks to six months away.

icerose · Oct 5, 2006

I know how you are feeling popmuze, I am currently waiting for an answer, I've been told the fifteenth.

I'm really nervous because it will for sure be a yes or a no. Most likely a no, but I've been told they are choosing between the final ones.

Here, shivering in my boots.

Why is it that the close ones are the hardest ones?? :e2poke:

Dollywagon · Oct 5, 2006

I had to laugh the other day.
I'd submitted a picture book on line to a publisher who "didn't respond unless they were interested."
To be honest I'd forgotten about it.

Then I get an email from them, skim it, see the words, "unfortunately" and "decline," and so took the dog for a walk.

It was only a couple of hours later that I started to wonder why, considering their original statement, they had responded in the first place.

Re-read the email, and the 'unfortunately' and 'decline' were mixed in with words like "editorial team, meeting, and discussion."

Apparently I had at least got as far as an editorial discussion. I had to come on these boards and ask what it was because it threw me that much!

Duh :Shrug:

RainbowDragon · Oct 6, 2006

Julie - you don't want the power company to reject you - but I'll take a rejection from bulk mailers any day of the week.

I'd gotten nothing for a while too - start wondering if agents wire to each other which writers to ignore. . .!

Freckles · Oct 7, 2006

I've found it's either a good sign if you haven't heard back yet or a really, really bad sign, like they just threw your query away and won't answer it. Here's hoping yours falls into the former.

Julie Worth · Oct 9, 2006

RainbowDragon said:
...wondering if agents wire to each other which writers to ignore. . .!

I once had that idea, and then discovered that my Internet host was not forwarding all my emails. They couldn't fix it, so I switched to a new host, only to find they were even worse. So I switched again. And now I send myself twenty numbered test messages every once in a while, just to make sure my email isn't being vaporized.

Soccer Mom · Oct 11, 2006

Oh, I'm in submission limbo myself (I am working on new projects, but I have so many submissions out, I'm in danger of losing track). I haven't had a good rejection in, like, two weeks.

Hmmmm.

I'll bet they all come flooding in around Christmas so I can be really merry for the holidays.

DeadlyAccurate · Oct 11, 2006

I've gotten two rejections and a partial request since I posted, so I guess things are picking back up. It did make me wonder if the world had ended and I just hadn't gotten the news yet.

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