The
Magic Bullet: Q&A for Writers
Posted: November 30, 2006
© Jane Friedman
Decoding a Rejection Letter
When I talk with working writers, they always ask about rejection.
How many times should you be rejected before you give up? (A million.)
What does such-and-such mean in a rejection letter? (Hard to say.)
What's a typical rejection rate at a publisher or agency? (99 percent
nearly everywhere.) Why do editors reject my work when my family
and friends love it so much? (Your family and friends love you;
an editor is objective.)
First, let me say that receiving a rejection in response to a query
letter is not worth talking about. For whatever reason, your query
just didn't fit the editor's/agent's needs; or it was directed to
the wrong person/place; or it somehow didn't reflect professionalism
and confidence. The rejections worth analyzing are the ones that
come in response to a full-length proposal or manuscript.
Here are a few phrases that you might find in a rejection letter,
plus my view on what editors or agents might mean when using them.
"Doesn't fit our needs (at this time)"
If read literally, this means you've targeted the wrong agent or
editor; your work has the wrong tone, style, approach (etc.) for
whatever this person typically enjoys or acquires. Sometimes it's
strictly a matter of personal taste. But this phrase is also commonly
used to mean "Doesn't fit our needs ... because the work is
bad ... and we only take high quality work."
"Doesn't have sufficient market appeal"
Your work may lack a certain commercial quality needed for it to
sell; it may be too eccentric, too esoteric, or too literary. It
may be about mother-daughter incest or some other topic that agents
and editors don't consider marketable. Or, possibly, your work lacks
punch--it's not different enough, unique enough, or special enough
for people to take notice.
"Just couldn't get excited about it"
This means exactly what it sounds like. If someone makes this comment
about your fiction, it usually reflects the lack of a compelling
story or hook or character. Your writing or storytelling may be
flat.
"The writing doesn't stand out"
In addition to concerns immediately above, your work may lack a
voice, and the story might be boring, unoriginal, or uninspired.
"Not fresh enough or original"
For fiction writers, perhaps your plot is too cliché, your
characters are too common, or your story is not special enough or
compelling enough for publication. In a competitive market, your
story has to stand out and have unique qualities.
If you have a question about a rejection letter you received, please
e-mail
me and it will be discussed in a future column.
___
Jane Friedman is an editorial director at F+W
Publications, where she oversees several imprints, including Writer's
Digest Books and Writer's Market Books. She is the author of The
Beginning Writer's Answer Book (Writer's Digest Books, 2006). |
