Rejection Letters to Writers Mean Nothing, Expert Says
May 8th, 2007 by janetI’ve been tapping away on my keyboard, working on my young adult novel. Just finished chapter 12. Phew! I’m already up to about 22,000 words. I start to wonder how the finished and polished version will be met by the publishing world.
Then I read one of my children’s writers’ ezines that pop into my inbox on a regular basis. There’s a fascinating link to a blog by a children’s book editor. The blog is about how to read or interpret rejection letters. Well, I think, this will be telling. Straight from the horse’s mouth, it has to be illuminating.
And, yes, I suppose it is. In The 8 Rules of Rejections this anonymous editor tells us in no uncertain terms, that all rejection letters are meaningless!
Okay, that’s good news, I agree. Of course all these publishers who’ve turned down my manuscripts are wrong. Maybe they haven’t even read them. But what about the lovely rejection letter from Penguin that told me not to give up, that my manuscript showed real promise? Could this be classified as a personal note, a piece of constructive or specific advice? I think so, and I’ll believe it.
But as for the rest of my rejection letters - well, they were all wrong. And that’s my mantra for the day.
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May 20th, 2007 at 5:17 am
I think most of my past rejection letters for articles were right, when I think back now. I do wish some of them had got somewhere, though. I’ve never had a rejection letter for a book, though, and that’s got to hurt if you take it personally. I suspect most submitted books are never read and rejection slips are just pro-forma responses.