Glen and Karen Bledsoe --> articles --> Submissions --> Dealing with waiting, acceptance, and rejection
Articles Index: Site Index: So you did it. You carried your manuscript all the way
to the post office, you paid for the postage, you got
your SASE stamped, you sealed the envelope, and you
handed your precious creation to the postal worker, who
tossed it in a bin. It's on its way to the publisher. Now what? Waiting It's easy to go neurotic while you're waiting,
hovering over the mailbox, hoping that today will be the
day that the reply comes. Instead of obsessing, get to
work directly on your next project and let the ones that
are out in the world go. If you keep several projects out
at once, you won't fret so much over any one of them. If you've read the submission guidelines, you should
know how long of a wait to expect before you should look
for a reply. If you haven't heard from the publisher in
that time, you can write a polite note requesting to know
the status of your manuscript. Don't call; neither the
editor nor the secretary will have the information that
you need at his or her fingertips. A note will do. Rejection About 98% of all manuscripts that are submitted to a
publisher are rejected. Of those, a huge proportion are
simply wrong for that publisher: wrong genre, poorly
written, badly submitted, or any of a number of other
submission sins. Nevertheless, of the 10% or so of
remaining viable submissions, only a small number can be
accepted into a publisher's list. Even a very good piece
of work may be rejected if it simply doesn't fit the
publisher's current needs. That said, it should be plain to the writer that
rejection is simply a part of the writing life. It's not
personal rejection: the editors aren't rejecting you.
They're only saying that they can't use one of your works
right now. That still may not take the sting out of the
rejection, but it may help cast rejection letters in a
more philosophical light. There are different levels of rejection as well. The least informative is the standard, boilerplate,
pre-printed rejection letter with the cryptic phrase,
"Not right for our list." Writers for years have
struggled to understand the meaning of the phrase. You've
researched the publisher, you sent in a manuscript that
you felt was appropriate, yet they return it with a curt,
"Not right for our list." What does it mean? It means that for one reason or another, the reader
decided that the material isn't something that they want.
"Not right" could mean anything from, "There are too many
books like this already," to, "This is badly in need of
an editor," to, "This isn't even close to what we
publish." There's really very little you can glean from
these letters except that your manuscript was rejected.
It's useless to call or write and try to explain why you
think that your manuscript is right for their
list. Accept the rejection and move on. Pull your
manuscript out of the envelope if it's still in pristine
shape (or reprint it), prepare a cover letter for the
next editor on your list, and send back out. If you acquire several "Not right for our list"
rejections, then go back and have a hard look at the work
itself. Get it critiqued and edit accordingly. Then get
it back out into circulation. If you get a rejection that has a personal note on it,
even if it's just a constructive or positive comment or
two, you're moving up in the world. This usually means
that your work actually got past the first reader (if the
publisher has readers screen the submissions first) and
was seen by a real editor. That editor may have liked
your work, but couldn't fit it into the current
publishing schedule. Get your manuscript back out to
another editor immediately. Again, if it gets several
rejections like this, consider doing some editing. Best of all is a rejection with some substantial
editorial comments on it, comments that you can use to
improve your work. While the editor may not specifically
ask to see the manuscript once again, once you've
finished editing, write to the editor to thank him for
the comments, to say that you've edited the manuscript
according to his suggestions, and to ask if he'd like to
see the revised version. If not, send it on to someone
else. But assume that if an editor goes to the trouble of
giving useful comments that he might want to see it after
revision. Acceptance With enough patience, persistence, and practice, there
will finally come the day when you find a letter in your
mailbox or a call on your phone telling you that
Marvelous Publishers wants to publish your work! After
you come down from the clouds, be sure to get all of the
details. What advance are they offering? What are their
usual royalties, if any? When will they be sending a
contract? Once the contract arrives, read it carefully. Unless
you know that you are doing work-for-hire, or that you've
written for a magazine that buys all rights, be sure that
you don't unknowingly sign away the rights to your work.
Notice any clauses about revisions, submitting further
works, how royalties are calculated, and other legal
points that could affect the immediate future of the book
and any that follow. If you're not sure what you're
reading, you can ask for time to find an agent to help
you negotiate the deal. An agent probably won't intervene
for a magazine article, but may be able to help you with
a book deal. Choose your agent as carefully as you choose
a publisher (see our articles, Do
I need an agent? and How
not to get burned
for more information). Then congratulate yourself, treat the family to a
dinner out -- and get straight to work on your next
book! Recommended Books: A
Whack on the Side of the
Head Creative
Whack Pack The
Writer's Block: 786 Ideas to Jump-Start Your Imagination
Roger von Oech
Warner Business Books, 1998
Creativity expert (hey, how can I get to be one of those?)
Roger von Oech takes the reader through fun and productive
exercises to inspire creativity.
Roger von Oech
U.S. Games Systems, 1989
A companion to von Oech's creativity books, the Creative
Whack Pack can be used to jump-start just about any
project.
Jason Rekulak
Running Press Books, 2001
If your creativity needs more whacking, try this marvelous
book.
Glen and Karen Bledsoe --> articles --> Submissions --> Dealing with waiting, acceptance, and rejection
