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Friday, August 05, 2005

Rejection Letters

A sampling of rejection letters I've received so far for my novel
"Like I've Never Been Born"

"Dear Donald Capone:
"Thank you very much for your query letter.
"We're very sorry to report that we don't believe that this described book would be saleable in today's tough marketplace.
"Please keep in mind that ours is a subjective response. Another agent may have a totally different response. We've been proven wrong before.
"Good luck in your quest for publication."
Standard rejection. At least they used my name.

"Dear Writer:
"Thank you very much for your recent submission. I regret that I cannot offer to represent your project. As an agent, I never take on a project unless I have a strong personal response to the material and feel I can successfully place it with a publisher. I am sorry I could not be more supportive, and send you the best wishes for good luck."
Impersonal. Didn't even use my name.

"Dear Mr. Capone:
"Thank you for sending me a query letter and synopsis of your novel. After careful evaluation, I have decided that I am not the right agent to represent your work. Please do not take this rejection as a comment on your writing ability. I can only properly represent material that greatly excites or interests me. I am sure another agent will feel quite differently about your work.
"Due to the volume of material sent to the agency (close to 800 unsolicited letters a month), I am unable to provide a personal evaluation or further explanation.
"Thank you for considering our agency. I wish you the best of luck finding representation and good fortune with your writing career."
This was a nice one.

"Thanks, Donald, but this wouldn't be right for us."
Short but sweet.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your first rejection is the kind that always irks me a little bit--the ones that editorialize about "how tough" today's marketplace is in one way or another. If these agents think the market is so miserably tough, why are THEY trying to make a living in it?

Donald Capone said...

Hi Tony,
Your account of finding an agent and publisher was inspiring! Good luck with everything.

Justin said...

I think there's some not so mystical hidden site website out there for when someone decides to become an agent, they go and visit said site and download the standard rejection letter.

'We're sorry (insert name here) but your writing just does not interest us at this time. Due to the (insert at least one of the following here) a)climate of the marketplace b)direction of our company c)overabundance of unsolicated queries we get each month we do not see your idea as something that interests us at this time. However, there could be someone else out there who would see your project as something they'd like to do so don't give up, and don't take this as a rejection.

More or less, the tone always sounds like they are forcing themselves to be the bigger man and kiss the ugly girl at the end of the night just to make her feel better about herself and the fact that she's ugly. But they are taking someone else's word on whether or not the girl is ugly without checking out for themselves.

Donald Capone said...

I hear you, Justin. Just once I'd like to get one that says, "Frankly I'm swamped with queries and I already rep enough writers. I didn't even read your query, just had my lackey send a rejection."

Hey I like your book cover. Did you design it?

Justin said...

Actually a friend of mine, who I met through an online forum that I created, did the cover. And he did it from initial thought to actual design in less than a day. Amazed me...