Hey, I thought it would be interesting and helpful to know: How many rejections did your now-published work receive from agents and/or publishers before one took the bait? M.
For my short stories, some got accepted first shot out. Others it took up to 5 or so tries. My novel, Flank Hawk, it took over five, with several times it getting out of the slush pile only to be rejected, before it found a publisher. I'm not quite sure I would refer to an acceptance as a publisher "taking the bait." Terry
Fair point Terry, you're quite right, "taking the bait" isn't the best phrase! But thanks for sharing your experience. On a side note, how did your reactions to finding a publisher for your novel differ to your reaction on publishing your short stories? Given the (presumably) lengthier time frame it took to write the novel, was the sense of achievement greater? Just to be clear - I'm not trying to suggest for a moment that short stories are in any way inferior to novels. It's just interesting to get a perspective from someone successful enough to be published in both! M x
Maroon, My reaction for the short stories being published and the acceptance of my novel being published were about the same. I felt it was pretty cool, but I didn't jump up and down or high-five anybody. But I may not be the best example as I don't get overly excited about most things. Beyond that, realize that the sales of my novel and short stories have been to decent markets but certainly not 'big time' markets. My wife laughs because it takes so long sometimes from submission to rejection (or acceptance) and I don't get overly impatient. And the longer I'm in the game, the easier it gets to go with the flow (which happens in publishing to usually be slow). It is also something to note that sometimes a piece gets rejected because it isn't up to a market's standards. Other times it just isn't what the market is looking for, sometimes just at that moment. Or what a writer has submitted is good enough for publication but not something they think they can market well/fits their audience. I'm sure there's a little luck in the mix as well. I think the important thing for a writer to do is to: Write Finish a first draft Polish Submit and then start another piece...all the time learning and trying to improve one's writing knowledge and skill, increasing one's chance for success. Terry
I'm not sure how knowing how many rejections a writer gets will help you, because it's so varried. Someone may latch onto the right thing very quickly. Others won't. Although it's been a little more than five years between completing by book (save for a few minor revisions) and the acceptance I just got, I doubt I was submitting nearly as much as Terry was. With other writers, it takes even longer. With others, you might get lucky and submit to the right publisher at just the right time.
I agree with Rei, the number of rejections a writer gets doesn't really help much, because it is really varied. I myself have only ever tried for poetry publication, as I don't write stories and received no rejections for my first publication and no rejections for my second, yet I have received countless rejections for other pieces I have submitted. (The only time I get annoyed with my rejections is when I submit to dark fiction places and they say they accept horror, but then mail me and say "While we found your piece an interesting read, it was simply too dark for our magazine. Best of luck, blah blah blah" So I get extremely excited when I get acceptances.)
I think that's exactly what is helpful and encouraging - to know that it's all 'normal' (or as normal as this stuff gets). Anyhow, thanks for humouring my curiosity.
Thirteen agents declined to represent my first romance novel. Some did it with form letters, some with personal feedback, and some by ignoring me. Once I had the agent, though, and made the changes he suggested, the first publisher he shopped it to bought it.
