"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."
by guest-blogger Lori Rader-Day
Catriona writes: I'm at the beach and Lori is on a launch-week blogstravaganza for her splendid new novel UNDER A DARK SKY, so she's popped into Criminal Acres to answer this week's question. Lori, take it away!
I love that this question includes
reviewers. I talk with not-yet-published writers all the time who are meeting
the solid wall of rejection that comes (almost universally) when they’re just
starting out, and they seem (almost universally) to understand that if they
could just get an agent, all their troubles would be over.
Alas
and alack, that is a total lie. You get rejected by agents, and then by
editors, and then by reviewers and then? You forgot one, 7 Criminal Minds. Readers.
Writing
is a never-ending fun fest of rejection. There’s only one proven way to avoid
rejection entirely, and that’s to keep all your writing to yourself. Or I
suppose you could never write at all. That’s an option.
But
if not writing isn’t an option for you, then buckle up, buttercup. Rejection is
a part of the job. Part of the failure you’ll experience, and part of the
success. "Success?" you’re wondering. Yes. Because getting rejected by total
strangers and written about on Goodreads means that you are writing,
publishing, and getting your work read. Sometimes by people who will not like
you.
I’ve
had plenty of rejection since I started getting serious about writing and
publishing. When I first started submitting short stories, you had to send
paper copies and include self-stamped, self-addressed envelopes to get your
rejection sent to you. (Acceptances you usually got through a lovely email, and
you forfeited that stamp, happily.) So if you got a very slim envelope in the
mail, that was probably bad news, and even better? The bad news came addressed
to you in YOUR OWN HANDWRITING. “Message from Lori! Oh, Lori says Lori sucks.”
My
most public rejection was my lukewarm review for my first book, The Black Hour, in the New York Times. I had no business in the
New York Times: debut novel,
Midwestern setting, new small independent press. I was the first NYT review for
my publisher, in fact, so when I opened the review on the day it went live and
read, with a sinking stomach, some rather meh observations about my book, I
felt as though I had let down my editor, my publisher, and all the other
authors there. That rejection hurt mostly because it was so public.
The
good news is that even in this failure, I can see (now) the good news: I was in
the New York Times, and that mediocre
review sold a lot of copies of that book. A lot of copies. That’s a rejection I
wouldn’t mind getting again. Flog me, New
York Times. I’ll have tougher skin this time around. And that’s what
rejection is good for: making sure you can ride the inevitable ups and downs of
this business. What we all want is the chance to be rejected (and accepted)
again and again—a lifetime of readers taking a chance on us.
Catriona again: I know what you mean. I calibrate my film choices using Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian. If he says a film is startlingly original and though-provoking, I know I'll be bored stiff. if he says it's hokum, I know I'll love it. So, readers of this blog, have you ever bought a book because of a bad review?
Lori Rader-Day is a three-time Mary Higgins
Clark Award nominee, winning the award in 2016 for her second novel, Little Pretty Things. She is the author
of Under a Dark Sky, and of The Black Hour, winner of the Anthony
Award for Best First Novel, The Day I
Died, a finalist for the Mary Higgins Clark, Thriller, Anthony, and Barry
Awards. She lives in Chicago, where she is active in Sisters in Crime and
Mystery Writers of America and co-chairs the mystery conference Murder and
Mayhem in Chicago.
www.loriraderday.com
I really am at the beach, but the wifi is great. Welcome, Lori and a pox on meh reviews.
ReplyDeleteI don't hold much stock in reviews, good or bad, because I rarely find them aligned with my own opinion. However I do like reading them, particularly when written by another writer I like. It doesn't increase their validity, but it's usually entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI know I've bought way more books in the past ten or twelve years since I've been able to download a sample. Nothing beats the taste test for me.
I hope you sell billions of copies and the movie/TV rights asap. Keep up the good work Lori!
Good point, Lori. Rejection and bad reviews make for thicker skin and more book sales.
ReplyDeleteHahaha “Lori says Lori sucks” made me laugh harder than it should have! Loved this!
ReplyDeleteLori, Thank you for stopping by this morning. I'm Looking forward to reading your latest "Under a Dark Sky." So to the question, as a reader, do I read reviews? Yes, I do read some of the reviews however I'm in the Ann Mason camp. I agree with her assessment. As to rejection from agents and publishers, those are what I consider business rejections, not creative rejections. They are telling the writer the submission isn't going to make them enough money. If making money is the goal of your writing...yikes.
ReplyDeleteI recently got a 3/4 for the 5th book in my historical fantasy series because it wasn't "stand alone" enough. I disagree, but this review would not make me not buy the book -- it might just make me buy it! I look at what the reviewer didn't like. Sometimes those things don't matter to me and sometimes I point blank disagree. Sometimes any publicity is good publicity!
ReplyDeleteI was shocked to get a decent if not rave review in the NYT. But that whetted my appetite to get a rave review, so the cycle just goes on. Thanks for dropping by Lori, and good luck with the new book, which IS getting rave reviews.
ReplyDelete