Rejection by Nancy Kelly Allen

SDU: Author Nancy K. Allen offers insight on how to make those pesky rejection slips work for you:

When I think of my early writing days--seven years to land the first contract; five years to get the second one--I realize that being a librarian and working with kids and books on a daily basis is what kept me inspired, along with the driving desire to write and get published. In twelve years I accumulated two contracts and a mountain of rejection letters. My career momentum has shifted to a higher speed since then, but each time I get a contract, a troublesome little question pops up like a jack-in-the-box and squeezes the life out my confidence: Will I ever get another contract? The doubts are there, but I don't dwell on them; instead I start writing a brand new something or other, either a picture or chapter book.

Rejection letters are never easy to read, but can offer some insight into what works in a manuscript and what does not. Ask yourself these questions: Did I target publishers that accept the genre of my manuscript? Did I research each publisher to determine that they did not already have a book on the same subject or presented in a similar format? Publishers don’t want two of their own books to compete in the marketplace. Was my cover/query letter error free? Did I capture the editor’s attention in the first sentence?

Let’s move on to informative rejection slips, those in which a personal note or letter states why the manuscript was not right for the publisher. The reason stated may be so vague you don’t have a clue as to why the story was rejected; however, if the editor took time from a busy schedule to write a personal note, you have made a positive impression. You’re doing something right. Some rejection slips are in the form of a checklist. What area was marked? That information may give a clue as to why your story didn’t work for that publisher.

Some rejection notes state that a similar story was recently accepted. From that information, you can infer that you’re on the right track with the subject matter or type of manuscript. Some may state the story was too slight. That often means the plot was not strong enough. Others may state that they felt no empathy for the main character. Reread the manuscript to determine how the editor came to such conclusions. If you can recognize the problem, you can find a way to fix it.
Part III of my article, From Rejection to Reflection to Selection, will follow next weeks.