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Topic: Rejection...
| Author | Message |
| mad fingers | Posted – 4/10/2008 5:31:32 PM | show profile I'm sure there is an old thread on this, but I can't find it. Just finished writing a book and am starting the rounds with editors and agents. Already got my first "no." I think maybe I was an editor for so many years because I hate rejection. Oh, the irony. When you love something you've created and believe in it, but no one else seems to, it stings. I know the "Harry Potter" scenario: countless rejections until someone "got it," but it takes every ounce of strength I have to want to send the book back out again. (I am trying to target the appropriate parties, not just sending blind.) How do you all deal with the big "R"? |
| GGG | Posted – 4/10/2008 5:45:29 PM | show profile Chocolate |
| mad fingers | Posted – 4/10/2008 5:56:13 PM | show profile Aw, shucks... I don't have a sweet tooth. Vodka? |
| PatriciaJ11 | Posted – 4/10/2008 6:01:34 PM | show profile | email poster I say this only because it may help: I listened to many who did not believe in my books or my theories or my whatever, and they proved wrong, and later they changed. Just remember, if you do not send it out, you will not find the person who sees in it what you see in it. As for the rest, I would just think of them as children. Helps me. Patricia J Miller ------ PatriciaJ11 |
| Nikongirl | Posted – 4/10/2008 6:06:17 PM | show profile First of all, CONGRATULATIONS on finishing your book. Second, what kind of book? I have a friend or two in the publishing business who are approachable. Never. Ever, give up. |
| GGG | Posted – 4/10/2008 6:13:22 PM | show profile Chocolate (fine, or vodka)...then send it out again. And again. And again. Believe in yourself and others will, too. It is a HUGE accomplishment, having finished a book. But rejection is part of the process, unfortunately. So go ahead and "aw shucks" for a little while, but like the others said, never give up. |
| FeaturesGal | Posted – 4/10/2008 6:16:10 PM | show profile I feel for you. I pitched a NF book a couple years ago, I think the final tally for agents was in the triple digits...didn't pan out. This time around, another NF book, I sent to 50 agents. Agent #37 signed me. (I keep very detailed Excel sheets.) Good luck...I find that rejections are easier the more I get, oddly. |
| Rulebook2 | Posted – 4/10/2008 6:20:03 PM | show profile the sticky icky |
| Nikongirl | Posted – 4/10/2008 6:23:24 PM | show profile Stephen King was rejected many times. |
| joyeuxnoelle | Posted – 4/10/2008 6:29:17 PM | show profile Thank you for posting this and all the people who replied. I have a long narrative article I'm trying to sell and I'm getting no where. This post gave me a bit more strength to keep pushing forward. |
| mad fingers | Posted – 4/10/2008 6:35:06 PM | show profile | email poster Thanks, everyone.... I think I'm in for the long haul on this one. It's an odd child. Nikon, maybe you could e-mail me off the board? |
| JackieRo | Posted – 4/10/2008 6:54:16 PM | show profile I think you're hardest part is over. The writing is the killer. Congrats on finishing! I'm sure that you will never give up and will send it out until someone else recognizes the talent you hold. I know it sounds naive, but that's how I see it. I wish you all the luck in the world! |
| seeattleme | Posted – 4/10/2008 7:30:58 PM | show profile the best artists and works of art have been rejected. It's a cliche. It also happens to be fact. Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's book was a story for RS magazine that was killed. She turned it into an award-winning book that was also rejected by several publishers. One essay of mine was rejected by Glamour and ran in The New York Times. (That was fun.) Look at poor Sylvia Plath! So these initial rejections may be an indication of a great work. (Yeah, it doesn't always work for me either. But you gotta have faith. It's all you got for now.) |
| PatriciaJ11 | Posted – 4/10/2008 7:40:31 PM | show profile | email poster Yes, CONGRATULATIONS on finishing your book, and congratualtions on getting it in order to be sent out also. I am sure you will find a publisher and if not, do the web thing... If you wish to know why I think of rejection really as rejection by children, I can email you a couple of stories that will make you laugh, and perhaps also cry. Don't give up. Is it fiction or non fiction? I should go, since I said I would go. My email is enabled. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 4/10/2008 7:54:52 PM | show profile All you can do is hunker down and accept it that this is a very slow, frustrating process. If you are like me, and most writers I know, you'll get lots of rejections. And they a few agents will ask to see the stuff, and then reject it. And this will go on for quite a while, until an agent takes it on, but wants a lot of changes. Which you do, and then it gets sent out to editors, who take months and months and months to get back to you. From the time I sent out my first query letter to agents for my first novels, I think it took an entire year before the book actually went out to publishers. |
| JerzyGirl | Posted – 4/24/2008 8:53:38 PM | show profile Chocolate (or whatever does it for you). Send it out again and again and again. Start next book or other interesting writing project. Accept that the submission game is part of the gig and try to something, anything, to make it fun, or at least not so onerous -- set aside a specific day of week/time of day to tackle subs, play great music, have something in mind to attend to after, get it done, stopping exactly when you said you woud, then move on. Compare notes w/similarly submitting writing buddies, have a good laugh, a good cry, and repeat from above. Good luck! |
