Trust me, I am well aware that the publishing world can feel brutal.
Like Little Red Riding Hood, we walk innocent and unsuspecting into the woods, expecting to arrive at the house of a kind agent who wants to represent us, unaware of all the talons and claws that might rip at us along the way.
When you start submitting your book, it's akin to passing around a piece of your heart; it's hard not to fear it coming back to you in shreds.
Yes, rejection stings, but my advice...try not to take it personally!
It's never about you. It's about your work, and an agent or publisher not feeling that they're right to represent it.
At the end of the day, you wouldn't want someone who doesn't wholeheartedly believe in your story to publish it. You want to hold out for the right match, as do agents. It works both ways.
It's comforting to remember that rejection is an occupational hazard for all writers, so we're in good company:
Herman Melville's Moby Dick was rejected by multiple publishers, one of whom even wrote to him asking, "Does it have to be a whale?"
When attempting to have Little Women published, Louisa May Alcott was told to "stick to teaching".
And F. Scott Fitzgerald was told he'd have a decent book if he "got rid of that Gatsby character."
Can you believe it?!
Like these great authors, I pride myself on being pretty good at dusting myself off and rallying.
Unlike these authors, I grew up as a performer, and so rejection has been part of my life for years. As a result I've developed a grotesquely thick skin.
How do I do this? I cling to the positives!
The first agent that rejected my book gave me some feedback, which doesn't happen very often, so I'll be forever grateful. She wrote: "I found much to admire in the care you have taken in crafting the world and characters, and you write well."
My heart swelled. I didn't even care that these words were followed by, "However..."
Since then, my feedback has been frustratingly contradictory, and so it's difficult to know how to act on that, or whether you should act on it at all.
For me, the best advice has come from The Writers & Artists Yearbook (2020 edition linked here).
Please don't submit your book without first having read this cover to cover! It's so helpful and encouraging.
When writing my book, I gave no thought to how I would brand my story, or what would make it marketable. I was simply putting the story trapped inside of my mind to paper. This book provides valuable insight and helps you answer those crucial questions that agents and publishers require.
1. What's your genre?
2. Who is your target audience?
To help me pinpoint this, I read only fantasy for a year, trying to understand where my book potentially fit on bookstore shelves. Before this, I'd have generically labelled my book "fantasy", without considering the clarification of sub-genres: contemporary, high or low grade, magical realism, fairy tale...
I considered who I was writing for: children, middle grade (MG), young adult (YA), adult; whether there was potential for cross over...
I let my book be read by different age groups, people that I trusted to be brutally honest with their feedback.
The conclusion of this: I've written a high grade fantasy fiction for YA/crossover readers. That is how I distinguish my book to agents.
My advice therefore, above all else, is know your book. Not that this will necessarily help discourage rejections, but it will give your story its best chance.
I wish I had more, or better advice to give, but since I'm still navigating this process myself, I can only abide by the mantra: If at first you don't succeed, submit, submit again!
Respect and congratulations to anyone who has already made it out alive!!
If you're reading this and you have any additional positives or advice to offer, please leave them in the comments below! I'd love to hear them, and I'm sure there are other aspiring authors out there who would too.
Share the knowledge everyone, for knowledge is powerful and we all deserve the chance to stand in our power.
~ Zuzu
Really love this blog about rejection ... you have such an inspirational and positive way of writing about it xx
ReplyDeleteJoanne Anderson, thank you. I think you've got to stay positive, otherwise it's very easy to feel depleted! Have to believe in your own story x
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