This is one of my first rejection letters. ONE of MANY rejection letters. Notice that this editor was nice enough to provide critique. Most do not. You get a form letter--"Thanks for playing. We have some swell parting gifts for you back stage."
You can see also that, at the time, The Door Within was called The Door Without Hinges. Uh, not quite as catchy. LOL
Rejection is never easy to swallow. You tear open the envelope thinking this could be the one, and BLAM, shot down. But it's part of the path. Very few authors get snatched up first try. But don't get discouraged. I always tell writers you really only need to impress two people with your story: an agent and one editor at a publishing house. Turn on these two, and they will do the work to impress everyone else. You just need to write a good story and find the right two people to impress. ;-)
7 comments:
Ouch! That letter was pretty harsh...
Hi Wayne,
Thanks for posting by my writing blog. Glad you like the name. It's part of my tag line:
Straitjacket Chillers:
Get Strapped . . .
Can you tell I write suspense/thrillers? :-)
Todd
I got one rejection. Like you said, it hurts but you learn from it.
Enjoying the web site!
Hmmm, I didn't think it was harsh. Harsh is when you've been in the same writer's group(s) with an editor and he/she sends you a form rejection. Now THAT is harsh.
Besides, if I were you, I wouldn't have been particularly overjoyed to have my books published by this company—when the editor writes a letter like this. It really says "Baston" not "Batson"? Not to mention the other grammar bits and pieces. YIKES! God protected you, my friend.
Becky
I used to have a nail on my bookshelf where I impaled every rejection I received. Then I made a resolution not to submit for awhile.
I keep breaking my resolution though.
I thought the letter was incredibly kind. It's an adapted form, but the editor thought enough to personalize it. I'm curious to know how many revisions you went through between this version and the version that Nelson accepted.
I know, just one? Sheesh, I have loads. I've lost track over the years. ;)
That is a good rejection, though. Usually you can't even tell if they read it or not. And God has that perfect place for our work. We just have to leave it up to Him and be patient.
I was so excited to get my first rejection letter. I was delighted! I had been writing in the closet for years so just that fact that I sent something out was a big deal for me. Still is!
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