Rejection. Oh, how it stings. Most of us have been through it - plenty. Seeking jobs, college admissions, love, or publication for our books. It hurts. Destroys our self image. For a while, anyway. And it tears at the thin fabric in which we cocoon with our fragile writer's ego, protecting the inner belief that our work is valid.
A new writer recently emailed me after receiving a flurry of rejections from big agents. With a crushed spirit, she wrote:
"It makes no sense to me. If someone has written a book that is a good read, then why in the world would it not be recognized, published and read? The only answer that makes any sense is that it's not a particularly good read after all."
Alas, if it were only that simple. Let's step back and take a look at the situation.
You wrote a book. Your instincts tell you it's darned good. You envision an agent or publisher recognizing this and sweeping you up in their arms to share with the world. You dream of financial success, recognition, and that sweet validation that makes you feel you're a "real" writer.
That elusive dream haunts just about every new writer I've ever known. Then, after years of toiling, burning the midnight or early morning oil, sweating and suffering and bleeding onto the pages - most realize, in time, that they'd better not quit their day jobs.
If every "good" book were accepted and published, we'd need a great deal more space to store and sell them. I've read that bookstores today stock only 2-3% of the published books in the world. Imagine all the "real" books that don't end up on their shelves? Now imagine all the good books that never get published. It's mind-boggling.
There are enormous quantities of books submitted annually to publishers, and only a relative handful of agents and editors to scan through the 0.05% that are accepted for the slush pile. They often receive hundreds of submissions per day. Imagine reading 100 emails every single day from authors who want to be heard? It wouldn't be hard to feel jaded in short order.
Publishers and agents have cut down their staffs, because of the economy, and it's probably even harder for them to get through the slush piles now, with the fear of job loss if their next pick doesn't bring in some cash.
There are plenty of horrible books submitted each year, too. But there are also hundreds, if not thousands, of very good books out there. Yours may be one of them. (If it isn't, keep on working on your skills until it is!)
Are you in this boat? Have you had your books summarily dismissed by the powers that be, over and over again?
Have you hired or courted superb writers to help you perfect your story? Have you scoured your book dozens of times for typos or inconsistancies? Have you researched the heck out of every point that needs confirmation? Have you assured that your dialog is crisp and believable? Have you hacked away at unnecessary adverbs and adjectives? Have you just plain told the story in the same voice you use to speak? And your book has still been rejected?
If not, count your lucky stars, for you are among one of the very few who got picked up at the starting gate. If so, let me share something with you.
Rejections may have nothing to do with the quality or value of your book. Most often, they have to do with the market, and what's "hot" this season. It could be the mood of the agent or editor who's reading your stuff, or the fact that your book slides between genres. Maybe it features young adults, but doesn't follow someone's blueprint for what a YA book needs to contain. Maybe it's absolutely perfect for a publisher, but they've already filled the slot for your genre on their list this year. Maybe the first level editor falls in love with your book, but her boss doesn't. Or you get all the way to the top of this year's short list, only to be told you didn't make the cut.
Sound familiar?
If you don't get picked up in the first five years by high profile agents or publishers, I recommend seeking a high quality small press. It's not easy to get into their world, either. But you don't usually need an agent, and they can provide a nurturing home for you, as well as help you get your books out to the public.
And let me tell you friends, it's that public, those lovely readers, who will provide the validation you've sought for so long. When the first person (who isn't family or friends) comes up to you and gushes over your characters, or when you receive that unsolicited email from a stranger who NEEDS your next book or "they'll just die," or that lady who's been staring at you with stars in her eyes finally approaches you in the grocery store and says she wants to marry your lead character... that's when the validation just washes through your writer's soul. It's even better than the glowing reviews. Trust me.
So, the publishing game is tough. But it's not hopeless. There is still a place for us in this intensely competitive world. Acceptance by a high profile firm does not necessarily equate to a good book, just as rejection doesn't always equate to a bad book. Just look at the bestsellers out there. Some are quite odious, filled with plot holes, flat characters, and poor editing.
So, why bother?
Even with staggering odds in today's market, every year several "newcomers" are "discovered" and offered lucrative contracts. It does happen. We hear about it all the time. The next "hot" book will be discovered any day now. And it could be yours.
My final bit of advice is this:
If you are a passionate writer, you need to write independent of what agent represents you, how many times your work has been rejected, what publisher has thumbed their nose at you, how many readers you have or don't have, how many books you have published or not published.
Okay. Group hug.
Now just keep writing. And remember to write like the wind!
- Aaron
(author reading advanced release excerpt of Healey's Cave, release date spring, 2009)
Aaron Paul Lazar writes to soothe his soul. The author of LeGarde Mysteries and Moore Mysteries savors the countryside in the Genesee Valley in upstate New York, where his characters embrace life, play with their dogs and grandkids, grow sumptuous gardens, and chase bad guys. Visit his websites at www.legardemysteries.com and www.mooremysteries.com and watch for the fourth book in the LeGarde series, MAZURKA, coming in January 2009 from Twilight Times Books.
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Comments: 49
There are some who get published that shouldn't, for sure.
For me, every rejection letter is a victory - it means I actually followed through and sent somethng out.
A lot of books fail to gain a publishing contract because any or all of these apply:
The manuscript is poorly written = mechanics are weak, or the writing is flat, pedestrian. This will NEVER be published anywhere, unless the writer improves.
The manuscript does not fit into the publisher's guidelines or into the category.
The author is not well known and has produced a mediocre manuscript, where a well-known author of mediocrity could be guaranteed sales.
The best advice is to write your heart out.
Back to writing.
I always liked that quote. It reminds me of runners. Most never win a race. Heck, most never finish close enough to the front of the pack to see the leaders drive away. Yet people love running and racing. They do it, for the joy of doing it.
The publishing wordd is monopolized [like just about everything else] and is very much arbitrary. It truly has nothing to do with talent/skills of writing but rather MARKETING.
I have seen horrendous books/titles on shelves that had no business being there let alone wasting the ink and paper to publish it.....and have read hard copies of "something I just jotted down years ago" and was moved beyond words by the power and awesome message in it's words.
TRUE writers---write because they CAN'T HELP IT, it's like something takes their hand and just starts typing/writing away--a hand with a mind of it's own. If they by chance get published it will not be by luck, but because of indifference to being published.
If your goal is MONEY through writing then get another hobby, because unless you write from the heart, or have a big, fancy, rich, and powerful NAME attached behind your first, [like Obama who had THREE "best sellers" before he even won the presidency. now his wife has one, and soon his daughters] then you will never get published and rejection slips/form letters are all you will get as a writer.
Write with heart, spirit and soul and make sacrificing those precious trees worth the paper companies cutting them down, and make money/fame the last thing you think about when you pick up that pen/pencil or start to type.
that five plus years of work would have never seen the light of day. And that was certainly a possible outcome. I have an unpublished novel that took five years to write and that work will remain unpublished. But this new book was different. I knew that it was good and that it would sell.
So I made the decision that this story deserved to be told. I'm only a few months away from selling out the first printing of 3,000 plus. Not best seller status, but when the average independently published book sells 200 copies or less I'm not complaining.
Thousands of good books never get beyond the author's hard drive. And that's a shame because those same authors will be reluctant to put the same effort into another book. So we end up with Joe the Plumber getting a book deal and Paris Hilton making the best seller list with a book about how to become a diva.
If you know deep down that your book has merit, don't let it just sit there. Literary agents have the attention span of two year olds. Publish the book and then market the hell out of it. If just one person finds the book and confirms your instincts then you will have succeeded.
Emilio Corsetti III
Author of 35 Miles From Shore: The Ditching and Rescue of ALM Flight 980
As a new up coming writer coming up to the starting line of the many others who are preparing to enter the race to get published, many will not finish, some will quit, and some will never show up. I showed up because of my spirit to write. It is my driving force and needs no acceptance to start or to end, just to begin. By accepting this and understanding why I'm in this race, I know it's not about winning, it's about finishing what I started, then start again, chapter after chapter.
Sure, who wouldn't want to be a Best Seller. To receive the accolades of world acceptance is almost overwhelming. But I believe, when I'm least expecting it, I will get the call to go to the front of the line. The flow of my spirit when I write is because I love the genre that I write in (Romance), I write to that and nothing else.
I'm not waiting to be judged, I'm not waiting to be accepted, I'm not standing with just a pile of papers in my hands, I'm a writer and I write from my spirit and from my heart first. I have readers from all over the world that read my work daily because my short stories are free and open to all that want to read them on the internet. Everyday when I get emails saying "that was beautiful, excellent ending, great love story", this becomes the fuel that I use to keep the lantern lit that I write by.
~Jonathan~
www.johnmarionfrancis.com
And, if this is the case, then my childhood should have shielded me from rejection rather well.
From the fourth grade on, I was rejected by my peers. I was sneered at, laughed at, and otherwise treated like dirt.
I thought for sure that, this experience, like the experts say would truly prepare me for the rejection letters from publishers/or contests.
But, I have to say, that it doesn't really help.
There's still that small voice that keeps saying, "You're just not good enough"
It's not something I like to say, I don't like to accept defeat. It's just something that can't be helped.
But, it is getting somewhat easier.
And, with time, I hope I can tolerate the rejection and move on, and keep going.
That's what growth is all about.
As long as I have known you, you always find the silver lining. That is part of why you succeed- you refuse to consider failure as an option.
Publishing is for sure a fickle business, and I understand why people get discouraged. It's impossible to say when is the appropriate time (if ever) to give up on a particular piece of writing and move on to something else.
Writing is so personal- to have it rejected by someone who doesn't even know you (and may not have even read it) is a tough reality to face. I think it's helpful to have a writing buddy who can give an honest opinion and contribute ideas to help the writer put forth their best effort. That's something to be proud of- regardless of the outcome.
Finally, after about a year I received a reply from a very excited agent who wanted to represent me. In only a few months, she found a publisher in New York who wanted to publish the book. In March 2008, my book, "Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia," was published by AMACOM Books, New York.
If you (and a few other people) believe in your work, don't let the rejections stop you. After all, the agents are as subjective as everybody else. Try to find that one agent who will love your story. It may take time, years, but if you work hard, it may happen.
thanks for a thoughful perspective
Is it good or bad to achieve notoriety?
This takes you in the front door, and this takes you in the back door. If you’ve been, don’t click again.
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Haven’t had a chance to read your stories as yet. I’ll have to look around for them.
Thanks.
But the biggest problem is summed up by one of your stats -- that .05% for the slush pile: getting an agent past your cover letter to the actual book!
I appreciate all of your thoughtful responses. Wow. You've shared some wonderful insight. And for those of you who were discouraged, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to paint the picture that way, I wanted you to know there WAS a solution, that small presses are a wonderful venue, and that once you get there it's all worth it. Don't give up. Just keep writing. I had hoped that would be the gist of the piece. But I had to tell the truth, too. This end of the business is hard to talk about, just hard in general. I was never happier than when I simply wrote, and didn't worry about promotion or publication in any form. For several glorious years the books simply poured out of me. Talk about pure joy!!
Thank you Gretchen, Michael, Paolo, Marilyn, Kimberly, Flit, Angela B, Frugal Mom, Cheryl, Kathryn, Greg, Layla, Kitty, AF, Emilio, Lisa, Shirley, Ellen, John, Natalie, Angela, Nancy L, Savo, Hedianna, Kerry, Carl, Just Me, Sia, Andrea, John, Sharon B, Kimber, and Tracy!
I long to answer each of you individually, but have a day's work of engineering to tend to.
I wanted to leave you with one parting thought - I once heard that if you don't receive a rejection in the mail every day, you're not submitting often enough. Wow! What a project, huh? Thanks again for all of your thoughtful comments.
I think the emotional component is the hardest part. Next comes finding the time. How do you find the time? I need a rather large block of time ... it takes a while to get back into the story, picture where it's going, and get it written. How do you, Aaron, fit writing into that busy schedule? How do you avoid being derailed by phone calls, people demanding things of you, and being distracted by other things that need to be done?
Good article, Aaron.
to help mediocre overcome rejection and improve and
enjoy the process learing and unlearning sincerely !!!
Just like the publishing world, college admissions can be highly personal....whose reading the material. What "slot" do they need to fill?
I just wanted to say I am finally going through what is now under 7,600 pieces of gather new mail that is in my inbox on here. So with that in mind I have finally come to a piece of mail that was addressed to me in regards this article submission you have created to share with the gather community. Thank you for taking the time and sharing your piece with us here at gather. :o)
And as well Merry Christmas... and Happy Holidays... :o)
We all feel resentment at the cavalier way the publishers seem to treat us, but we shouldn't. As you point out, they are faced with far more material than they can possibly assess, they are subject to the whims of the (not always rational) buying public and the reality is that they lose money on the majority of the work they do publish. It's a very tough business.
But that is the way it is, and we must accept that. We write, we submit and we keep going.
Personally, as soon as I had an understanding of how it worked I made a conscious decision as to how I would tackle it. Being in my sixties when I first started writing, time was of the essence, so I write and I submit and I also self-publish.
Print on demand services mean that it is now possible to do this very cheaply. I do my own PDF layouts and covers, and get my publisher to get the ISBN, Bar Code, register the book and submit it to the appropriate lists (you can do all this yourself). It costs me US$50.00 per title. As POD there is no minimum quantity.
I still await that acceptance letter, but in the meantime my books are out there on the Internet and in shops and I can feel the satisfaction that this brings. There is a perception that publishers won't consider self-published books, I have it on god authority that this is nonsense (Penguin, Random House and others).
Of course, you have to do all your own marketing if you want sales, but it is a decision that I'm glad I took.
Everyone wants to be published and recognized, but if you have the passion for telling stories, keep writing and enjoy the experience. Write for your own pleasure, and to hell with the publishers. It's like a piece of music you enjoy, without waiting for the applause.
The applause should come from within.