Q: Rejection is part of the publishing process. Tell us your most memorable rejections—whether it be from queries, agents, editors, or reviewers. Anything from your funniest to your most devastating (and how you recovered), and anything in between.
-from Susan
Whoops. Posting late today with apologies. Maybe it’s because rejection isn’t my favorite topic. No one likes being turned down for anything. It makes us feel vulnerable, not good enough, inadequate. And our manuscripts are our children or alter egos in a way, so even though they’re nothing but words, having them rejected is like 80,000 or 100,000 small cuts. I think that’s why so many fine writers never feel their manuscript is ready to submit – the feat of rejection is almost worse than the actual rejections that come with the business of being a writer.
But, if we can back up enough to look at manuscript rejection more objectively, we can or should be able to realize it’s not about us personally, or even, in many cases, about our specific manuscripts. My anecdote proves this. I did find an agent (by gulping and asking an agent at a conference to read my 20 pages) and she took me on. The manuscript was duly sent out to a handful of acquiring editors at top houses. So far so good. We even got word that an editor at a major house was very interested and was going to bring the manuscript into the committee that makes the decisions. I was flying high. Then – boom – it turned out that the USA banks and investment companies that were too big to fail were about to throw us all into a recession that could become a 1930s-style depression. The editor emailed my agent to say the word from the top of the publishing house was no buying anything for three months. Sound of Susan’s balloon popping.
But that rejection, as big as it was for me, had nothing, or at least very little, to do with me or my precious manuscript. Had the editor said, “but don’t sell it to anyone else because we want it whenever the freeze ends,” it would indicated how much they loved it. Instead, radio silence and we mooched around and it eventually sold to a smaller publisher for less advance money and less serious attention.
So be it. The business of being a writer is made up of passion, excitement, camaraderie, inspiration, hard work, success, and rejection. I don’t think you get one without the others, frankly. But in the end, would you give up all the pleasure of writing a book that you know in your bones is the best you can do, and the anticipation of seeing it in print, just to avoid a few – or even many – rejections from agents or publishers who have to weigh how a story fits into their mix of clients, their imprint’s upcoming plans, or their analysis of how much money they can make off it? They have their calculus, you have your story!
6 comments:
Hey Susan. Thanks for sharing your experiences and your thoughts on rejection. I know that my first rejection taught me things about myself as a writer. I found out that I don't do well when I try shape my story to someone else's theme. It ended up reading like a serving of souffle that had been served up using a cookie cutter. The next think I learned is that I need to work on writing to a deadline. Finally, I learned that I needed to get stronger in the short story format. All of these things are foundational lessons that, once I got past the initial sting of having my writing rejected, I could use to become a better writer. I have a small charm that has pride of place on my desk. It reads. "Don't give up. CREATIVITY takes COURAGE."
Susan, I think it depends on what reasons our material is rejected. In your case with recession and all of course it's not personal. But it's hard not to take it personally sometimes. And I think you're right on when you say, "And our manuscripts are our children or alter egos in a way, so even though they’re nothing but words, having them rejected is like 80,000 or 100,000 small cuts." And each of those 100,000 cuts hurts like a mother...
Lyda, clearly, you know how to stay motivated!
Paul, I know not all rejections have such impersonal and defined outlines. I initially queried an agent in NYC, who shall remain nameless, by dropping an envelope off at her agency's office right before lunchtime. I received a crookedly xeroxed, unsigned one line response that was postmarked 1 p.m. that day and said only "We're not interested." Cruel. and she friended me on FB last year!
Lovely post, Susan. I actually think that rejection is an important part of acceptance. It's a way of "making our bones." In other words, without the negative we wouldn't know how important the positive is when it happens.
Susan, I got the crookedly xeroxed rejection too. It's going to be in my post on Friday. Though I'm sure it's from a different person.
Terry - I agree. Rejection's part of the arc!
Paul, let's not bet against it, though....
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