I sent my first batch of queries ten days ago. Got 5 form rejections so far. I don't mind the "no"s, but wow, the waiting is tougher than I expected! Also, thank you for this video, it cleared some doubts!
This turned up in my Facebook memories today and made me smile. After literally dozens of rejection notes for 'Kingdom of Clockwork' - including a very polite one from BookEnds - I wrote this satirical article in 2013 and submitted it to a website for 'Literary Rejections'. It was rejected. 😃 ----- How to write a good rejection note I am a successful collector of rejection notes. In fact, I have accumulated more rejection notes than any other writer I know (1). With this wealth of experience, I feel qualified to give a couple of tips to agents and publishers on how to write a good rejection note: one that will get the point across without making you look unprofessional. First of all, write well. Every rejection of a manuscript purports to be on the grounds of inadequate writing (and not, for example, on the grounds that the book contains not a single jewel heist or S/M episode). So do yourself a favour and write properly. If you formulate yourself in ungrammatical sentences - or not in sentences at all - you may on the one hand make the rejected author feel better about being rejected by you. On the other hand, you may also make him or her feel a fool for having submitted the work to you in the first place. Remember that you have to grab your reader’s attention from the very first line. Yes, I know you get hundreds of submissions. Yes, I know you have to send out standardised rejection notes. But if you demand that a prospective author writes to a specific person at your agency or publishing house, have the good grace to remember that the writer has a name, too. It takes a second to write “Dear Billy” or “Dear Mr O’Shea”. “Hi” does not impress. I probably won’t even read the rest. Use references. If you have a list of famous writers you have rejected, mention them. “By the way, we also rejected JK Rowling,” is definitely a winner. That will bring a smile to the face of any rejected writer. Here is an example of a good, well-written rejection note: Dear Billy, Many thanks for sending us this proposal, which I read with interest. I considered it carefully but I'm afraid on balance it just doesn't quite grab my imagination in the way that it must for me to offer to represent you. So I must follow my instinct and pass on this occasion. I'm sorry to be so disappointing, but thanks for thinking of us. Of course this is a totally subjective judgement, so do try other agents and I wish you every success. The agent has remembered my name, and has thanked me for my submission - which was, after all, directed at a specific agency that I thought might be interested. Of course, he probably says the same thing in every rejection note. It doesn’t matter. It is courteous, and gives the impression that this person is a professional who cares about his work. (Now if he had also remembered the title of the work, it would have been perfect.) Here, on the other hand, here is an example of a poorly-written rejection note - which I have assembled from several examples. Hello, Thank you for your recent submission. I'm afraid that your project wouldn't be for me. Good luck with other agents. The WRITERS AND ARTIST'S YEARBOOK and THE WRITER'S HANDBOOK lists agents and gives advice on writing and getting published. This is the kind of guy who probably drops his girlfriends by text message. Not only can he not remember my name or the title of my work - he can’t even place an apostrophe properly. But he still has the gall to tell me where to get writing tips. (I have a book tip for him. It’s called How to Win Friends and Influence People.) Maybe he thought that this brusque, it’s-a-tough-world-out-there approach would make him come across as cool as the next Dan Brown hero. We’ll never know. Instead, he just succeeds in giving an amateurish impression of himself and his business. With the many rejection notes that aspiring authors constantly accumulate, it can be hard to get their attention. So please remember that you are competing against a great many others, all of whom think that their rejection note is the special one. A personal, well-formulated rejection note may make all the difference in whether you succeed in establishing a reputation as an agent or publisher with a professional, conscientious approach, or someone who really ought to be in a different business. Good luck! Billy O’Shea’s new novel, Kingdom of Clockwork, will not be appearing any time soon. (1) I know one other writer.
My first rejection said "but it is clear to me you will be published".... Is this agent talk or did she mean it? 🤔 Either way, it highly encouraged me! ❤
Most of my rejections for my first book were personalised with encouragement to keep querying other agents. Would they have been form rejections? I did have one full request and they gave me some very insightful notes which I have been working on. I love these videos by the way. I find them so useful when I know so little about the industry.
It's interesting that you're saying agents choose books based on personal reading preference. I never would have guessed that, I would have thought they'd choose whatever books they thought were "good" as in sellable.
Love the video! It is always nice to get the inside scoop from the side of an agent. Thanks for maintaining these weekly. They help a lot. Okay, so I'm at around the forty rejections mark with zero requests. (So nice for the ego.) I've quickly realized the issue for my book baby is the insane wordcount. At least I know that is the red light up front in my query letters. My novel is an epic fantasy with very dark themes. It is not grimdark, though. My page count on my Word file stands at 1204 and the wordcount is 370,000. I know, I know. Don't choke on your own tongues. Sheesh! haha My question is can (or should I) rework my letters to agents stating that if an agent works as both an agent and editor that I am more than willing to break it up into more than one novel? Do agents go for that or will that question just hurry my query letter along toward the slush pile faster? I mean, I've read and I think I've even heard you guys say not to query a trilogy. This beast isn't written that way anyhow. That doesn't mean I'm not willing to break it up with some professional suggestions and pointers if an agent/editor is willing to take a chance on it...on me. And of course meanwhile I'm working on another novel that I'll try and keep within the wordcount parameters for a new novelist. Thanks ahead of time. And thanks again for the channel. Take care and enjoy your weekend. Jeff Evans
Ummmm as a writer who's also in the query trenches, i'd say your best bet is to already break the novel into a manuscript that is above or near 100k, and then query, or else you're just hurting your chances pretty badly. Looking at the serious elimination agents go through, i'd guess they rejected your query letter solely on the basis of the word count. What is really stopping you from breaking the book into a trilogy? Word count matters a lot to an agent, and you may want to specifically look for an agent who disregards word count considerations. But still, best bet is cut those words down before crossing off more agents you can potentially query from your list! I mean 370k is a hefty book, and only a near miracle might land you an agent with that tome of a book.
One of my best rejection letters was sent by a private company. I was acquaintances with one of the authors and I got the standard form rejection and I asked him why I kept getting rejected because no one was telling me anything, just sending form rejection letters. And, their response was using the proper tense throughout my entire novel. I had to rewrite the whole thing. And I was frustrated because I noticed that tons of written works did not follow my editor's rules and got published but whatever, I swallowed my pride and did it anyways.
I spend most of my time waiting for rejections with feedback, but when I get them I wish they'd just say "this isn't right for me at this time." Often when there is feedback, it is either clearly prepackaged, and is often bizarre, condescending, or just doesn't make sense, almost as if the agent just had to give some reason to reject and chose one at random.
Am I correct in thinking you can reject queries just based on not liking what you read in the letter, without reading any of the material submitted with it (I.e. synopsis and 3 chapters)?
Question on agents. My stories are not all the same genre. For example, I have a couple books that are middle grade and YA but most are adult SFF. Some are thrillers. Is it best to try to look for individual agents for each book or one main agent who represents the bulk of my work then go from there with the individual agents? How would that even work? Thank you!
I would start by looking for an agent for your strongest project, or what you're querying at this time. Many agents work in many genres, or have colleagues that do. Those questions can all be asked on "the call." There might be different solutions to this, such as you being able to search for a new agent in certain genres, or working with another agent at the agency, etc.
What about positive rejections, several with personalized messages encouraging to keep going and ‘someone will pounce’, but not even yet a request for partial or full? 50 queries in with significant research. Conferences next strategy?
I'm rolling with the 'not for me' and 'doesn't fit my list' rejections but what always gives me anxiety is the 'didn't connect as much as I wanted to' rejections because it feels like they are saying there was something wrong/that needs to be improved with the writing. Is that the way to take that comment or is it simply supposed to mean the same as 'not for me'?
The author has to also get some perspective to see beyond the dreaded "R." If you're lucky enough to get feedback, the ego bruise can blind you (means "me") to it.
I sent my first batch of queries ten days ago. Got 5 form rejections so far. I don't mind the "no"s, but wow, the waiting is tougher than I expected!
Also, thank you for this video, it cleared some doubts!
Fingers crossed for you!
This turned up in my Facebook memories today and made me smile. After literally dozens of rejection notes for 'Kingdom of Clockwork' - including a very polite one from BookEnds - I wrote this satirical article in 2013 and submitted it to a website for 'Literary Rejections'. It was rejected. 😃
-----
How to write a good rejection note
I am a successful collector of rejection notes. In fact, I have accumulated more rejection notes than any other writer I know (1). With this wealth of experience, I feel qualified to give a couple of tips to agents and publishers on how to write a good rejection note: one that will get the point across without making you look unprofessional.
First of all, write well. Every rejection of a manuscript purports to be on the grounds of inadequate writing (and not, for example, on the grounds that the book contains not a single jewel heist or S/M episode). So do yourself a favour and write properly. If you formulate yourself in ungrammatical sentences - or not in sentences at all - you may on the one hand make the rejected author feel better about being rejected by you. On the other hand, you may also make him or her feel a fool for having submitted the work to you in the first place.
Remember that you have to grab your reader’s attention from the very first line. Yes, I know you get hundreds of submissions. Yes, I know you have to send out standardised rejection notes. But if you demand that a prospective author writes to a specific person at your agency or publishing house, have the good grace to remember that the writer has a name, too. It takes a second to write “Dear Billy” or “Dear Mr O’Shea”. “Hi” does not impress. I probably won’t even read the rest.
Use references. If you have a list of famous writers you have rejected, mention them. “By the way, we also rejected JK Rowling,” is definitely a winner. That will bring a smile to the face of any rejected writer.
Here is an example of a good, well-written rejection note:
Dear Billy,
Many thanks for sending us this proposal, which I read with interest. I considered it carefully but I'm afraid on balance it just doesn't quite grab my imagination in the way that it must for me to offer to represent you. So I must follow my instinct and pass on this occasion. I'm sorry to be so disappointing, but thanks for thinking of us. Of course this is a totally subjective judgement, so do try other agents and I wish you every success.
The agent has remembered my name, and has thanked me for my submission - which was, after all, directed at a specific agency that I thought might be interested. Of course, he probably says the same thing in every rejection note. It doesn’t matter. It is courteous, and gives the impression that this person is a professional who cares about his work. (Now if he had also remembered the title of the work, it would have been perfect.)
Here, on the other hand, here is an example of a poorly-written rejection note - which I have assembled from several examples.
Hello,
Thank you for your recent submission. I'm afraid that your project
wouldn't be for me. Good luck with other agents. The WRITERS AND ARTIST'S YEARBOOK and THE WRITER'S HANDBOOK lists agents and gives advice on writing and getting published.
This is the kind of guy who probably drops his girlfriends by text message. Not only can he not remember my name or the title of my work - he can’t even place an apostrophe properly. But he still has the gall to tell me where to get writing tips. (I have a book tip for him. It’s called How to Win Friends and Influence People.) Maybe he thought that this brusque, it’s-a-tough-world-out-there approach would make him come across as cool as the next Dan Brown hero. We’ll never know. Instead, he just succeeds in giving an amateurish impression of himself and his business.
With the many rejection notes that aspiring authors constantly accumulate, it can be hard to get their attention. So please remember that you are competing against a great many others, all of whom think that their rejection note is the special one. A personal, well-formulated rejection note may make all the difference in whether you succeed in establishing a reputation as an agent or publisher with a professional, conscientious approach, or someone who really ought to be in a different business.
Good luck!
Billy O’Shea’s new novel, Kingdom of Clockwork, will not be appearing any time soon.
(1) I know one other writer.
My first rejection said "but it is clear to me you will be published".... Is this agent talk or did she mean it? 🤔 Either way, it highly encouraged me! ❤
Most of my rejections for my first book were personalised with encouragement to keep querying other agents. Would they have been form rejections?
I did have one full request and they gave me some very insightful notes which I have been working on.
I love these videos by the way. I find them so useful when I know so little about the industry.
"Okay Dr. Seuss" 😂 super insightful, thank you!
It's interesting that you're saying agents choose books based on personal reading preference. I never would have guessed that, I would have thought they'd choose whatever books they thought were "good" as in sellable.
Love the video! It is always nice to get the inside scoop from the side of an agent. Thanks for maintaining these weekly. They help a lot.
Okay, so I'm at around the forty rejections mark with zero requests. (So nice for the ego.) I've quickly realized the issue for my book baby is the insane wordcount. At least I know that is the red light up front in my query letters. My novel is an epic fantasy with very dark themes. It is not grimdark, though. My page count on my Word file stands at 1204 and the wordcount is 370,000.
I know, I know. Don't choke on your own tongues. Sheesh! haha
My question is can (or should I) rework my letters to agents stating that if an agent works as both an agent and editor that I am more than willing to break it up into more than one novel? Do agents go for that or will that question just hurry my query letter along toward the slush pile faster? I mean, I've read and I think I've even heard you guys say not to query a trilogy. This beast isn't written that way anyhow. That doesn't mean I'm not willing to break it up with some professional suggestions and pointers if an agent/editor is willing to take a chance on it...on me.
And of course meanwhile I'm working on another novel that I'll try and keep within the wordcount parameters for a new novelist.
Thanks ahead of time. And thanks again for the channel.
Take care and enjoy your weekend.
Jeff Evans
Ummmm as a writer who's also in the query trenches, i'd say your best bet is to already break the novel into a manuscript that is above or near 100k, and then query, or else you're just hurting your chances pretty badly. Looking at the serious elimination agents go through, i'd guess they rejected your query letter solely on the basis of the word count. What is really stopping you from breaking the book into a trilogy? Word count matters a lot to an agent, and you may want to specifically look for an agent who disregards word count considerations. But still, best bet is cut those words down before crossing off more agents you can potentially query from your list! I mean 370k is a hefty book, and only a near miracle might land you an agent with that tome of a book.
One of my best rejection letters was sent by a private company. I was acquaintances with one of the authors and I got the standard form rejection and I asked him why I kept getting rejected because no one was telling me anything, just sending form rejection letters. And, their response was using the proper tense throughout my entire novel. I had to rewrite the whole thing. And I was frustrated because I noticed that tons of written works did not follow my editor's rules and got published but whatever, I swallowed my pride and did it anyways.
I spend most of my time waiting for rejections with feedback, but when I get them I wish they'd just say "this isn't right for me at this time." Often when there is feedback, it is either clearly prepackaged, and is often bizarre, condescending, or just doesn't make sense, almost as if the agent just had to give some reason to reject and chose one at random.
Am I correct in thinking you can reject queries just based on not liking what you read in the letter, without reading any of the material submitted with it (I.e. synopsis and 3 chapters)?
I'm curious about that too!
Yes. Many do that. Most will read the first paragraph of the story.
Question on agents. My stories are not all the same genre. For example, I have a couple books that are middle grade and YA but most are adult SFF. Some are thrillers. Is it best to try to look for individual agents for each book or one main agent who represents the bulk of my work then go from there with the individual agents? How would that even work? Thank you!
I would start by looking for an agent for your strongest project, or what you're querying at this time. Many agents work in many genres, or have colleagues that do. Those questions can all be asked on "the call." There might be different solutions to this, such as you being able to search for a new agent in certain genres, or working with another agent at the agency, etc.
@@BookEndsLiterary thank you!
Thanks for the question, which I also had, and for the answer.
If you get rejected, just keep submitting and keep writing something new. If the book never has a taker, self-publish it.
What about positive rejections, several with personalized messages encouraging to keep going and ‘someone will pounce’, but not even yet a request for partial or full? 50 queries in with significant research. Conferences next strategy?
Eventually if you have no luck, you can self-publish a few books.
I'm rolling with the 'not for me' and 'doesn't fit my list' rejections but what always gives me anxiety is the 'didn't connect as much as I wanted to' rejections because it feels like they are saying there was something wrong/that needs to be improved with the writing.
Is that the way to take that comment or is it simply supposed to mean the same as 'not for me'?
It's just a 'not for me'. They are all form rejections.
Unfortunately, it's just another way to say "not for me." It could mean a number of things, so I wouldn't read too much into it.
@@BookEndsLiterary That's a GREAT comment, thank you! Good to know for the future. ^_^
Thanks!
Rats are awesome pets. You should give one a try.
I thought fantasy was supposes to be 10k to 15k words, is 2k really too high?
The author has to also get some perspective to see beyond the dreaded "R." If you're lucky enough to get feedback, the ego bruise can blind you (means "me") to it.