Last week on Twitter, an aspiring author friend threw out this question:
How many rejections is enough? When is it time to hang the manuscript up?
She got quite a few answers, and they ran the gamut from now to never.
But the one the answer that stopped me was:
when you’ve queried the pubs/agents you’re interested in working with/respect & the answer is always no, it’s time
Yeah . . . no. Here’s why that doesn’t work for me.
1) Think of the stories told over the years by authors who suffered dozens of rejections before selling their work. They believed in that work. They continued to submit until they found an editor who believed, too. In genre romance, we often forget the multitude of opportunities presented by small presses who might not be on our initial radar. A bit of research and voila! We’ve found an editor we never knew about who’s highly respected and who we would love to write for.
2) Agents sell and editors buy, but authors don’t write for either. We write for readers. Agents and editors facilitate getting our stories into readers’ hands, but there are other options. A number of authors give away freebie ebooks on their blogs, building a readership, and getting ahead in the promo game. Some of these authors have snagged the attention of agents and editors by making their writing available online. This wouldn’t have happened if they’d put the project away.
3) Giving up on a project before WE are ready is giving up on ourselves. I wrote a post at GenReality last year about a project I love. It’s made the rounds and there seems to be one element most editors don’t like. I can now take that information and rework the idea into something with more marketability. But as much as I love this project? I know there will be readers who share my love of this sort of story and will want to read it. I’m not going to put it away just because it hasn’t yet hit with any of the editors who’ve read and rejected. Somewhere out there is one who’ll read and buy.
4) Limiting ourselves to agents we know and respect leaves out the ones we’re unaware of. A friend of mine recently went on an agent hunt, and she found highly respected agents I’d never heard of. Agencies who rep huge names. Who have made huge deals. Others who aren’t as “out there” because they’re busy behind the scenes of some illustrious careers. There’s no need to short change our projects because we haven’t yet come in contact with “the one” who’ll be the perfect publishing partner.
5) Continuing to submit can result in contacts we can then parlay into something else. The project mentioned above? One of the editors who rejected it asked if I might be interested in writing an offshoot, taking it in a different direction. If I’d given up after submitting to my dream editors, this other opportunity would never have come along.
Bottom line. Don’t make the project about agents and editors. Make it about yourself as the author creator. I’ve let things go after one or two rejections because I knew it was time. Other things will make the rounds until there are no more rounds to make because I believe in them – and in my ability to tell those stories – that strongly.
* photo courtesy of vramak under a Flickr Creative Commons License
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Awesome advice.
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Thanks, Charli. I think it’s stuff every author needs to consider. Shelving projects happens, but shelving them too soon is a crime.
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Wonderful advice.
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Thanks, N.J., though I guess I should’ve put a disclaimer that this is solely MY opinion after being in the biz for 17 years.
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Very awesome advice.
My first book with EC-I’d originally submitted it to HQN. They said no. I’d submitted it to like 5 agents. They said no. I’d submitted it to two or three other places before sending it to HQN, and yes, they’d said no. When I got the NO from HQN, I’d already decided to try with EC-rewriting, of course, because it wasn’t quite EC-esque.
After I’d rewritten, revised, I sent it to EC and within about 3 weeks, got an acceptance letter.
It wasn’t until MONTHS later that I’d heard that pretty much every editor in the house had passed on the book-it was NOT typical EC material. But the one editor, the last editor left, who read it? She loved it. She wanted it. It started me off with them, and it’s still one of my most popular books with them. Hell, maybe the fact that it isn’t typical EC material is why it’s popular.
You never know what’s going to happen… unless you quit. If you quit? Nothing happens.
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And look where you are now! And you’re so right. If you quit, nothing happens.
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I love this. LOVE IT.
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Thanks, ma’am.
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Great post, Alison! If my computer were hooked up to a printer I’d print it off and stick it on the wall I look at when writing.
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Glad to inspire, Kimberly. We’ve got to be true to ourselves, even when it means going against commonly held beliefs. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done things that are supposedly taboo. Emailing an agent, for example, who does NOT accept emails.
Guess what? He responded. In less than three hours. And not to tell me not to email him either, LOL!
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Wonderful advice Allison! And very inspirational, too. I love it and thanks for posting it. :)
Denise A. Agnew
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You’re welcome, Denise!
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This is GREAT advice. I’d love to use it in my Thursday’s writing tidbits at The Blackraven’s Erotic Cafe.
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Sure. Just give credit and a link back!
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Hmm…I think I disagree. Here’s why.
Every author should choose why they are in this business. Are you in it to have a viable career or to get your book to the public? And how public is public?
Small presses, by their very nature, do not give an author’s work a lot of exposure compared to a mainstream press–which is why they are small. Some authors don’t care about that. Good for them. They know what choices they are making when they make it.
What if an author doesn’t really WANT that kind of incremental or niche exposure and is looking to break into the mainstream? Telling them to keep trying when they’ve exhausted the mainstream editors/agents they are interested in is a lesson in futility. They could be better spending their time taking what they learned from the rejected book and applying it to something that might be more marketable.
I got a whole lot of rejections on my first three books, but when I finally did sell, it was to the market I wanted to build my career in. I’ve been criticized in the past for not selling those books to small presses instead–yes, I’ve been seriously taken to task by a few small press authors for this–and they don’t understand. I didn’t WANT to sell to a small press…and quite frankly, I’m quite glad those first two books never saw the light of day. And the third–well, I rewrote it years later and sold it for very nice money to a mainstream publisher.
So I think the question needs to be asked–what kind of career do you want?–before you decide what to do with a manuscript that has made the rounds.
I’m also not talking about agents, but honestly, if you’ve done your research sufficiently and none of the agents you like and respect and want to work with like your work…well, that might be a sign that the work isn’t good enough.
Why are we always so afraid to tell people that sometimes, their work just isn’t up to snuff? I know my first three books weren’t. There’s no shame in that. I was still learning. Heck, I’m still learning now. :-)
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Oh, I agree that it depends on the type of career you want. I was primarily responding to the advice that one should stop after exhausting the agents and editors they respected and wanted to work with. To me, that’s terribly short sighted as I explained.
That said, it’s not the same publishing world now that it was when you and I started. I have a sales record and still get rejections on work I know is marketable. I won’t say it’s not good enough because I know it is. I’ve been around long enough to be able to make that assessment.
Plus, I know everything. ;)
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Julie said:
“Why are we always so afraid to tell people that sometimes, their work just isn’t up to snuff?”
I think because what is good enough really is subjective in the end. :)
But I think you’re totally right saying that everyone has to decide what makes THEM happy in their career, and not what everyone else says should make them happy. :)
Denise A. Agnew
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It is subjective, yes, though on the other hand, I know what I write is NOT good enough for what some agents want to sell and what some editors want to buy. There’s not enough depth, not enough subtext, not enough plot or drama or surprises or twists and turns. But I’m okay with that because I’m not writing those types of stories!
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Alison,
And that’s the whole thing…you aren’t spending your entire life writing what everyone says you should. You’re writing what blows your skirt up and making the decision what feels right to you. I applaud that.
Denise A. Agnew
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I think the bottom line has to be WHY are you giving up. Are the rejections about the state of the market? In that case, you shelve the project as Lynn did, pull it out six years later and hit the NYT repeatedly.
But if the rejections are about the writing itself, there’s only so much that’s subjective. Grammar, ability to plot, etc., those things have to be there no matter if an author is going mainstream or small press.
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Very true. :)
Denise
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Bravo :-)
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Thanks, Chelsea.
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Alison, great blog, you made excellent points.
Julie, with all due respect, I disagree with parts of your post, especially this comment….
well, that might be a sign that the work isn’t good enough.
Imagine if J.K. Rowling would have followed this logic? I could name quite a few other authors, but I name her because in a few of her articles she has written about “The Five Career Reminders.” One of them being – NEVER accept rejection. She goes on to say that to believe in yourself.
Elmer Leonard also experienced a lot of rejection, in his bio, he states it took him 30 years to be an overnight success. He talks about how he started with an extremely small press (magazine actually) and just never stopped writing and wouldn’t let anyone tell him (agents or editors) that he didn’t have “it.”
I don’t think editors and agents have no problem in telling people that their writing is just not for them. That’s where rejection comes in.
I have heard NY Times Best Selling authors state that it takes a mixture of things to hit the NY Times List and bigger publishers, two of them being “good timing,” and a dollop of “great luck.”
To each his own. Small press isn’t for everybody and larger publishers aren’t for everybody.
I think there are enough book lovers all over the world so that whatever venue a writer decides to take his/her career, someone will want to read their work.
Great discussion. :)
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I can – and have – accepted rejection on some projects, knowing the way I’ve written them isn’t good enough. The idea may be viable, but not the execution. And when a dozen editors all point at the same thing, well, yeah. In that case it’s time to put it away or revise.
On the other hand, I have a project where every rejection has been for a different reason, some of them contradicting each other. Great world building. Not enough world building. In that case, it’s all about the individual editors’ tastes, and that’s when I DON’T give up!
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Yes, Selena, but it’s really hard to be realistic with aspiring writers when people all bring up EXCEPTIONS in order to support an argument. RULES happen much more often and apply to more people.
JK Rowling did not exhaust her list of agents or she wouldn’t have ended up getting one. But when writers start sending out work to agents they don’t know a thing about or that aren’t right for them simply because they’ve exhausted the list of agents they DO want, then I think they are doing themselves a disservice.
Stop. Write something new. Maybe the new work will be the project that gets them the agent/editor/book deal. Then they can revisit that first project.
I’m not advocating quitting. Like Alison said, some projects just aren’t right at a certain time. The market is cyclical and ever-changing.
Trust me, I’ve collected my fair share of rejections and I still do. But it’s important for a writer to know when to say when…and when to hang tough. But if hanging tough means being untrue to the goals you’ve set forth for your career, I don’t think that’s right.
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Good points, Julie and the reason I brought up exceptions, because they are there and was citing them as examples.
In summary, I believe that the only person who can tell a writer to give up, is the writer herself.
We can discuss tips, advice, pros and cons of small press, mid-size publishers and large publishing houses for aspiring writers, but in the end, it is their decision as to whether they shelve that project and move on, continue writing, quit writing or submit where they want to submit.
I’ve had writers ask me to recommend them to my agent. I read their work and knew that it wasn’t agent ready. I gave suggestions, they declined and insisted it was “perfect.” That’s fine, it’s their work, I just didn’t recommend it and wished them luck. Some people just don’t want the advice and that’s fine. Whatever they are comfortable with, is what they have to live with.
As for small press, mid size and big publishers, I’ve read awesome work from each of these venues and I’ve read mediocre to poor work from each of these venues.
I don’t paint everything with one brush, because nothing in this industry or in our craft is cut and dry or black and white. I say, go with the flow, read and write what you are passionate about. :)
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I honestly wish there were more small presses for romance like Nightshade and those other genres have. I know e-presses fill that void to some extent, but the write and THEN get paid model doesn’t work for me. And, no, I’m not starting a discussion about print vs electronic. This is just about me. I don’t write fast enough to go that route.
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My concern over small presses has nothing to do with the quality of the work and everything to do with financial concerns.
I agree that only a writer can decide. BUT the problem is, they keep asking other writers for advice. :-)
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Just to be clear, in my original post, I wasn’t talking specifically to aspiring writers, but was addressing the projects themselves, as published authors face this business of retiring projects as well!
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Everyone has made good points, and I agree in part with 99% of them. And I’ll toss in one more, just to make things a little more confusing: One series proposal I wrote sat on a shelf for six years gathering dust after being resoundingly rejected. Then the market changed, and because I believed it was a great concept I thought, what the heck, and pitched it one more time. And suddenly had three editors fighting over who would get to publish it. And today it’s the bestselling series of my career. So my philosophy is: don’t let rejections decide the fate of a story. If you believe in it but you can’t sell it, put it away for a while.
What frustrates me are the writers who write one book, stop right there, and submit it ad infinitum until they convince themselves they weren’t meant to be pros. Write something else, for Pete’s sake. You can always write another book, and it keeps you from beating yourself up every time a rejection comes in.
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I’m hoping that’s what happens with the project I talked about at GenReality. I think it just needs to wait for its time.
But I totally agree that authors MUST move on and write new things and NEVER rely on just one manuscript.
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All very valuable points. I appreciate the tenacity it took for so many of you to maintain and ultimately succeed in getting your work published. Sometimes you just have to believe in your work enough to stay the course. Time will tell, but in the end, belief in yourself and steadfast determination can make all the difference between a manuscript that collects dust on the shelves, and a bestselling publication!
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And I’ll add to that reading. LOTS of reading. Read in different genres. Read many authors. Read from multiple publishers.
Quoting Stephen King: “Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that. Reading is the creative center of a writer’s life.”
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Great post and excellent follow-up comments, Alison! I think it’s a good reminder for all of us who are pursuing a dream to think about what the dream is and what we’re pursuing it for. Clarifying it can help us decide whether we want/need to keep going, or whether we need to take a break or a detour.
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Excellent observations!
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Wow. . .very thought provoking discussion. I like the points brought up for different cases. Shiloh’s statement: You never know what’s going to happen… unless you quit. If you quit? Nothing happens. I think this applies to almost anything in life. You have to believe in yourself and have the tenacity (as Diana said) to want to well to succeed and when you do withdraw (I don’t want to say ‘give up’) it better be because you no longer have the passion for it or it no longer adds to your life or whatever your original intention was.
This is a really good discussion. I like this!
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Passion’s definitely a big part of it. I was talking to someone on Friday about the fire in the belly, and sometimes mine feels like a tiny birthday candle burning out, LOL!