Maybe, but there are those of us here (including me) who admire the hell out of you and the others who submit regularly for your self-confidence and perseverance.
@deadrats —our paths don't cross often, except for a few ill-advised posts I made in the Publishing forum (where I have no business posting), but you make some of the most heartfelt and in-depth posts on the entire board. I'm often just left in awe at how much effort and care you put into them.
This is just heartbreaking at times. I thought I had sold a piece, but the place changed its mind. I can't go into details. It's happened to me before. Not often, but it does happen, and it really sucks.
Thanks. That's really nice of you to say. I think you're quickly become a significant voice in the community. And I say post away. We've got to keep things interesting.
Yeah, those things happen in life too, the rug from under, that sort of thing. Life is a tough beat but worth it I think. Perhaps someone else will publish your story, it must have been good to get that far, someone else will pick it up I'm sure.
Ouch. Just to add to others... you are a marvellous writer and you're focussed. Rejection doesn't mean you'll give up, because you'll just try again and you'll make it
After the excitement of learning my query was in an agent's "maybe" pile, I got the official "no" yesterday. Bummer. I guess my query is passable to have made it to maybe. Back to my research list to get more out...
“Many thanks for submitting your work, and for your patience while we considered it. You've written an engaging opening with a promising set-up, though I found myself distracted by the large number of characters introduced in a short space of time. It's close, but not quite right for us“ Grrrr
Grrr is right. But close is promising? My rejection was similar, without the "close": "while I liked the premise and the characters you've drawn, I wasn't quite as pulled in by the opening pages as I'd hoped." I got another rejection today, this one kindly suggesting improvements to my query. I have a "short" query and a "long" query and had sent the short one. And then [literally] immediately was handwringing that I should have sent the long one -- LESSON: trust your gut. Fortunately, this agent invited me to requery, which I did with the long one. But all of this has me rethinking the query and I plan to take another shot at revamping it. It's a saga-esque MS and there is a lot going on. My pesky gut is telling me I need to play up some of the subthemes, but I'm having a hard time doing that while keeping the query from getting unweildy. And then you have some agents saying "DO NOT SEND ME ANY MORE THAN A PARAGRAPH." It's a complex dance. And, I could be totally wrong, but I don't think the opening pages are the problem. I just don't think I'm doing a good enough job of pitching the whole story. Away I go to tinker with the query...
2 agents have now commented on too many characters too soon. A swift reordering of the early chapters could easily resolve this but the book as is presently is with the agents I want. Just got to keep hoping
A 499-day never-responded-rejection from The Idaho Review. I had sent this submission by post, but something either didn't reach them or didn't reach me.
A lot of the publications you mention I’ve never heard of but then I am UK based. What sort of publications are they? Print or just e pubs or what?
Most of them are print. There are some online ones that I like and submit to, and nowadays a lot of places have more of an online presence of some sort. I've been a reader of literary journals for many, many years. It's not a snobby thing, but my focus is to get into the publications that people in the industry are familiar with, heard of or have a good-standing reputation. I also must admit that I do care about the money. So, I tend to send my stuff places that pay a decent amount. That's not always the case, but it does factor into my submission process.
Seriously @deadrats, you're one of my favorite people on this site; your posts are excellent, and it's really inspiring to have someone on this forum who's out there really doing the writer thing. Many kudos and extensive props.
Thanks, my friend. You know, I sort of shopped around writing forums and lurked for a bit before joining one. I can admit I was lonely and feeling like a failure. Although, I think my original intention was to correct everyone's grammar in their posts. LOL. People don't seem to like that so I refrain most of the time. But I think I was really feeling like something like that was basically at the top of my skill set. I have strong thoughts on education and being well read. There was just no shot at this without those things for me. And then this crazy-ever-growing thread, an archive of failure, friendships and some success thrown in there. I think a lot of writers publishing in similar places to where I do make it seem easier than it is. Or maybe it's easier for them, for other people. I'm already an exception, having somehow clawed my way out of shush piles. But I believe anyone who really wants it can be an exception. It just takes being a bit relentless, not just with submitting but also pushing yourself as a writer. I recently took an online course with one of my favorite authors. I was lucky and got a scholarship. But there are so many great opportunities to help writers evolve, grow, tell better stories in better ways. I believe the course I took had an impact on me. I embrace learning. I think even when I've paid for classes it was an investment in myself. I could have been okay or even pretty good forever, and I was for a really long time. I think you have to really push yourself to get better even when you think you're at your best because chances are you're not. I always say there's room at the top for everyone and I think there's something great about writers helping writers. Maybe it's a good thing no one really tells you how many times you will probably fail. I'm not sure I would have gone down this road had I known that or maybe just had anything better to do. It really doesn't get easier with slight success. But this little community is like group therapy or something like a support group. My lover gets sick of my literary talk. And no one actually fails this much, do they? Well, I'm in more than one of the magazines we keep on the coffee table. I know it's easy to feel discouraged. I think we've got a pretty good group here. Sorry for the long post. I got some good pot tonight. I usually just get high and read poetry naked in my living room. Not sure how much sense I'm making. But thank you for your kind words.
Two day rejection from an agent. This is the same one that sent the "query needs more, you can resubmit." I resubmitted and got this "fell just outisde of what I feel is my area of expertise, and for that reason, I'm not the right agent for your book."
