I had images of my pages being passed around from editor to editor, being discussed in publishing meetings, and eventually my editor (I was thinking of him as my editor in those fantasy moments) taking them to the publisher and arguing the case for printing my book. Thankfully, I know some saner heads who were able to bring me down to earth by telling stories of publishers asking for the whole manuscript and then never getting back to them. Or others discussing potential edits and revisions, and afterwards express amazement that the author had gone to all that trouble when they weren't interested in the work.
So what do I do now? Why, keep writing of course, and start sending out more letters and chapters. I still believe my work is far superior to a good chunk of what's on the shelves these days, and that I've got a good story to tell. A friend of mine is going to help me with getting my foot in a couple of doors he can open, but it's still up to me to wow them with my work.
I'll take another look at the early chapters and see if I can polish them up even more, I haven't looked at them since April so I might catch something that I missed the first time. Aside from that, I've got book two still to write, other projects I'm working on, and a blog to maintain. I'm not about to let a little thing like a rejection letter stop me now. I've only just started.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
Bad luck Richard, but by my standards that is a "good" rejection letter - doesn't look like the standard form letter. And remember, as we all like to remember, J.K. Rowling had six....
2 - Rohan Venkat
Congratulations, man, that's the first step in getting there.
3 - John Spivey
Sorry to hear that, Richard. I was rooting for you to pull off the miracle. I'm past 50, maybe moving toward 80 on the Rejection scale. I am beginning to think that editors and agents aren't actually looking for real talent, only knockoffs, or something decidedly formulaic.
Someone once made a manuscript of a published book (The Yearling, I think, winner of a Pulitzer Prize) and sent it around. Outright rejected everywhere except for one small press that recognized the manuscript.
A lot of the initial readers are college interns or underpaid assistants. The question is, would they know quality writing even if it came up and bitch-slapped them a bit?
4 - Elvira Black
Richard, I have to say that the rejection letter you received was very positive, and probably pretty rare for the tough fiction market. That's the kind of letter I used to get (in the mail, back in the day) that gave me enough hope to persevere and eventually get published. Of course, I wasn't writing a novel, but just articles--but I think the same principle applies. Virtually every writer goes through this, and there are many stories of writers whose work was rejected by numerous publishers, only to finally be picked up and become blockbusters. With your perserverance, drive, and talent, I feel confident that you will prevail!
5 - Snarkattack
That is one damn fine rejection letter - if I were you, I'd cling onto the last sentence and elope with it. I'm assuming a publisher wouldn't say such a thing unless they really meant it.
I got my first e-mail rejection the other week and it wasn't even polite; in fact, I was a bit embarrassed that it stung me for a split second.
Keep going for it, if you really want it. Like you said, you've just begun and given what that publisher wrote to you, I'd say that getting published is definitely worth pursuing. Good luck!
6 - Angeni Wyanet
Just keep pumping out the work. I am amused by your remark stating you think your work is better than most works found on book shelves today and I have two things to say about that. You haven't lost the confidence needed to put out that "great" novel yet, and two, the library is filled with books which are better that any of those found in book stores today. Unfortunately, many of those library sections gather cobwebs while the more prolific pulp producer is making money with his work. What you have to do is decide to write to make money or write to make people think. Sometimes authors are lucky enough to do both all between the front and back covers of one book. So keep at it. You may join that elite group.