You've gotten a rejection letter, now what?

 

One of the difficulties in a writer’s life is rejections. Think of this, you write a book and want it published but you have no idea how to get that done, so you write to various publishing houses, or agents in the hopes of getting it accepted and picked up by them to publish, only to receive rejection after rejection letter in the mail. So, what do you do once you get a rejection letter? You carry on with your writing, never allowing a rejection letter to stop you from writing that next book or chapter. Not to worry you’re not the only writer to ever receive a rejection letter, geez every successful writer throughout the ages has received a rejection letter at some point in their career. Sometimes multiple rejection letters.

So if you have been rejected by a publishing house or agent, then you are in really good company. You’ve joined the rejected club. You know what that means right, it’s only a stones throw away from getting you published by the right publishing house, or picked up by the right agent. Just stay strong and be persistent.

Always remember that your work might not be up to par for one agent or publisher, but there is one out there that is right for your work. Just keep writing and keep sending our inquiry letters. However, if you’ve been rejected be sure to take note of why you were rejected. In any rejection letter you will gain critical feedback and constructive criticism of your work. Take stock in that feedback. Like I tell any aspiring writer that wants to hire me to read their work and give them critical feedback, first rule I give them. If you don’t like the color Red don’t hire me, because I will read your work and I will rip it apart not to degrade you, but to make you a better writer and to help make your work even better to read in the future. 

Never try to follow the trends within the market, you’re not going to make it. Never make your work or storyline to complicated, you’ll scare the reader half to death in trying to follow along. The beginning of your book could be weak, which turned off the reader for the publisher or even the agent. You must write unique stories, make your work strong and capture their attention and imagination in the first chapter. This includes making your characters unique and special. Make your characters worthy of following into other books. Take for example Stuart Woods mysteries with the characters of Stone Barrington and Dino Bacchetti Stone is a former NYPD cop and Dino was his partner and now the Commissioner of Police. Two loveable characters that make you want to read more of their antics in life and in the law. So, make your characters strong enough to capture the hearts of your readers enough to make them want to hear more of your stories should you write a series.  You also don’t want to have too many characters in your stories. A base of characters is one thing, but not 25 or 30. That is way too many to keep up with however with that said, you can add a character or two into a story to help make it a little more complex, but not so many that your reader is lost and confused. Always remember your story starts our strong and develops as the story progresses, don’t give it all away in the first few chapters, only to leave the rest of the book so boring that the reader doesn’t want to continue. You want a page turner that captures the imagination and attention of the reader, including the publisher and agent. Another problem that I’ve come across in helping authors is how they write their query letter. They can write 120,000-word novels but can’t come up with less than 1000 words for a catchy query letter.

One way I avoid a bad query letter is to always consider that I’m writing to a business associate and lay out the novel accordingly. If I chose the wrong person to send it to, that’s my fault because I didn’t do enough research on the industry or the person to whom I am writing to. Always do your homework and pick at least 5 publishers and agents each that work in your genre and has the right clients you want them to consider your work equal too. Best of Luck and please don’t get discouraged over rejection letters, use them as a stepping stone to a better publisher or agent.

 

Artist and Author Elizabeth Kilbride is a former political operative, author, scriptwriter, historian, and journalist. business professional, creative artist, and life coach consultant. Ms. Kilbride holds a Master's in Criminology and a BS in Business Management she stepped out of the loop for a while but is now back with a powerful opinion and voice in the direction of this country and our economy. As a life coach, she is available to counsel individuals to enjoy their dreams and a better life. Ms. Kilbride loves to travel, and photograph her surroundings and is also a gourmet cook who loves to garden and preserve food for the winter months.