Rejections

Rejected Again

LDSPub,

Let’s say you request a full. The author sends it to you and for whatever reason you reject it. How often (on a requested ms.) do you do a form rejection as opposed to stating the reasons for rejecting?

If you sent a standard form and an author asked for more information so they could improve on their next manuscript they sent you, would you respond?

Jeff Savage
(But then again. Who is Jeff really?)

It really depends on what else I’ve got on my plate at the time. Publishing is more than just a vehicle for putting food on my table. I am emotionally invested in helping authors succeed. (Why else would I do this blog, relatively faithfully, and for FREE?)

If it’s a great read, but not a good fit for me, I almost always say so. I try to put one or two personable sentence on the usual form letter to encourage the author to keep trying.

If it needs work and I’ve got the time and I can capture the problem in a sentence or two AND if it’s not LDSBA time or Christmas rush, I try to let them know

But if it really needs a lot of work, I assume that a few quick pointers wouldn’t help because if the author knew what I was talking about they would have done it already. And it’s not my job to teach an author how to write.

Sometimes when I’ve rejected someone and they’re particularly rude about it, I’ll just send form letters to everyone for awhile. Until the sting goes away.

What’s the number one reason why you reject manuscripts?

There is only one reason I reject manuscripts—I don’t think I can sell the book.

Only a publisher would make that distinction, but it’s an important one to understand. It’s the reason why great manuscripts are sometimes rejected, while lesser manuscripts are sometimes accepted. I will sometimes accept a good (but not great) book because it fills a hole in my product line, or it’s really timely and there’s nothing else out there like it.

I always reject bad writing—poor technique, grammar, boring, unrealistic, facts and/or citations wrong, etc. The majority of my rejections fall into this category. I haven’t done the math, but off the top of my head, I’d say about 90%.

I can’t, however, always accept great writing. I will sometimes get a wonderful book that I have to reject because it’s not right for my market (mainstream LDS) or I just published one that is too similar or I don’t publish in that genre or I don’t have the budget required to market it effectively. When this happens, I try to make it clear to the author that it is not the quality of the work I’m rejecting. These books nearly always find a home somewhere, and only rarely does an author feel the need to rub my nose in it. I forgive them because they clearly do not understand the distinction between accepting a book because it is good, and accepting a book because I know I can sell it.

Phone, E-mail or Snail Mail

If you decide to publish a manuscript, do you email, snail mail, or call with an acceptance?

If you decide to reject it, is it always with a form letter?

Does it depend on the manuscript? Does every publisher do it differently?

I always call with an acceptance. If I can’t reach the author by phone, I will e-mail or snail mail, in that order.

Rejections are always with a form letter, although sometimes I will add commentary if I have the time and the inclination. If an author gives me their e-mail, that’s how I send the rejection. If not, then snail mail.

I do all manuscripts the same. I suppose some publishers will differ, but most of the ones I know call with acceptance. I don’t know anyone who has the time to call with rejections.

Can I Just Rant?

Every once in awhile I get so frustrated I just have to blow off some steam!! And since I can’t take it out on the person causing the frustration, you guys get to hear about it.

This is for all authors, especially those writing non-fiction and using quotes:

It is NOT my job to teach you how to quote and do the citations correctly!

It is YOUR job to MAKE SURE you are doing it correctly BEFORE you send me your manuscript!

Here are just a few basics for quoting someone, especially from a published source:

1. You must have permission. I want hard copy, signed forms for my files. (Do not send the permission forms with the submission; I will ask for them upon acceptance.)

2. You must quote correctly–every word, every comma, every italics must be in the right place.

3. If you delete words from the quote, insert ellipses (…).

4. If you add your own words or commentary to the quote, put it in brackets [].

5. If you add italics to the quote, put “italics added” at the end of the citation.

6. Do some research and use one of the standard methods of citation for your quotes. Be consistent. Do every quote the same way.

7. Put citations within parentheses ().

8. Before you submit to me, have someone with experience in editing and in citations go through your mss and make sure your quotes are correct. Have them check each quotation against the original. (You should have photocopies of every quote from its original source and photocopies of the title page AND the copyright page of every book you quoted from. You should have them organized in a way that you can find that original within minutes of my asking to see it.)

9. If a book has been revised, make sure you quote the most current edition.

Everyone makes a mistake occasionally. That is fine. But when I find consistent mishandling of citations and when I spot check quote correctness I find missing or wrong words or punctuation, it’s three strikes and you’re out. My thought process is that if you can’t do the research to learn how to cite correctly and you’re not careful enough with the details to make sure your quotes are actually quoted correctly, then there are probably a lot more mistakes in the mss and it will take WAY TOO MUCH of my time to get it print ready.

Okay, I’m done ranting. We’ll go back to our regularly scheduled posting tomorrow.

Six of One…

If you had to choose between a manuscript that had a great story but was poorly written (needed a lot of editing) and a manuscript that was written beautifully but the story was mediocre, which would you choose?

Neither. Because I wouldn’t be able to sell either one (as is) and it would be stupid for me to invest the time, energy and thousands of dollars into something that would not be profitable for me.

However, if it was a really good story, I might give them notes and ask them to work on it–but that isn’t usually enough to bring it to publishable standards. (See yesterday’s post about rewriting.)

Publishers Directories

Is there a directory available that lists publishers and editors with their home phone numbers? I’d really like to call a few and ask them why they rejected my manuscript.

Thank you so much.

Yes. It’s 1-800-I’ll never publish your book in a million years!

Although the person who sent this question intended it to be humorous, it’s really not that funny when I get the call. (Yes, I get those calls. Usually when I’ve just dozed off for my Saturday afternoon nap.)

With all the resources available these days, it’s not too hard to track down a publisher’s personal info. Don’t do it! I guarantee, they will not admire your tenacity and gumption. Anything else you send them in the future will be an automatic pass. And they’ll probably gossip about you to their publisher friends.

[And it’s not just writers who do this. A million years ago, in a city far, far away, I was a drama critic for the local paper. I gave a show a moderate review, but pointed out several things that were sub-par in the performance. The director called me up and chewed me out–several times. From then on, I always wrote with a pen name. It’s also one of the reasons why this blog is anonymous. I can’t handle conflict. I buckle under criticism. I…well, fine. I just don’t want the aggravation.]

Reader Comments

I have heard that you can request readers’ comments from publishers after you have submitted a manuscript to them. What is the best way to do this? In the query letter? A note after you have been rejected?

You can request them. You may or may not get them. Depends on the company policy. Some companies don’t mind sharing the comments; others won’t.

I would make the request in the query letter. Some publishers file readers’ comments and keep them for a long time. Others simply note them in their log and toss the originals, in which case, by the time you get your rejection and request to see them, they may be long gone.

FYI–Readers’ comments refer to the practice of editors/publishers sending pages out to trusted readers with a comment form. If all the comments are favorable, chances are you’ll be accepted. If they’re not, you’ll be rejected.

However, many submissions are rejected before they go out to readers. Readers are only involved after the editor and a few in-house employees give the manuscript a thumbs up.

Tangent question: What if the editors like it but the readers don’t, or vice versa? Who decides? The marketing department.

We Love You, But No Thanks

Hi LDSPublisher,

I recently received a rejection for a novel that a publisher held for over 2 years. In my rejection letter, it stated that my manuscript had received excellent reviews and feedback. Some of the comments included with my letter said my manuscript, “portrayed the conflict at the beginning and stayed true to it through the entire book,” and “the reader is never lost or confused with unnecessary information.” Further comments: “The conflict is unique,” “reaches a vast audience,” and “balances details of character’s life throughout story very well.” Other favorable comments were also included. Yet, the publisher rejected it.

I was not given a list of its weaknesses, what was negative, or why it was ultimately rejected which, in the long run, would’ve helped me to better understand why it was rejected and work to improve in those areas.

I realize this business is very subjective and I, as the author, do not see the whole picture, and that you cannot directly comment on my specific manuscript, but I wondered if you might be able to shed some light on what else a publisher looks for in a manuscript. What captivates or intrigues you? What makes you pass? What bores you? What makes you happy to be in publishing?

Sincerely,

Dazed and confused

If you received positive feedback on your manuscript, then my guess is it was not rejected based on the quality of your writing. Good manuscripts are rejected for lots of reasons. They may have filled their publishing schedule for the year; they may have already accepted too many manuscripts in that genre; the marketing department may feel like it won’t sell well; an established author may have submitted something similar; and the list goes on.

This type of positive feedback is a good thing. Submit to someone else.

Professionalism in the Face of Rejection

I recently had to reject a couple of very good projects for reasons other than quality of the writing. I hate it when I have to do that. I wish I had a budget that would allow me to publish every good manuscript that came across my desk. Sigh.

Most of the time, I do not receive a response when I reject a manuscript. I really do not expect, or even want, a response. But these were unique cases where I talked to them on the phone because I wanted to make sure they knew that they had a top-rate submission and it was my lack of resources and not their writing that was causing me to reject.

Both of these authors were very, very professional in their interaction with me—polite, friendly, understanding. They didn’t fawn or suck up, but spoke to me intelligently and confidently. One of them mentioned some selling points for their book, that perhaps I had overlooked. I hadn’t, but that was fine. The tone was very professional and it was obvious they understood the industry.

Both authors made a big impression. Will I remember them? You bet! Will I recognize their names on future submissions? Certainly! Will I grab their submission off my slush pile and read it ahead of everything else? Absolutely!

As opposed to a few others who have sent me nasty letters and e-mails because I rejected them. Or those who have made it clear that I’ve just made the biggest mistake of my professional career and now they’re moving on to make some other publisher rich beyond their wildest dreams. I’ll remember them too—as people who are mean and unprofessional and have no clue what they’re talking about. These are authors I probably do not want to work with even if they sent me the next DaVinci Code.