There Are Not Many Ways We Can Say No

I feel like I have written about this in the past, but it really hit me this last weekend as I was working my way through submissions. As the title suggests, there are just not many ways we can say no to a manuscript. I really wanted to bring this up because I know so many writers out there really had the form letter response.

In this last round of submissions I wrote, I found myself answering these submissions in really a limited number of ways. These came down to the following:

Not a genre represented
Not something I was interested in
Not developed enough

Now, here is the interesting part. There were over 80 submissions I read this weekend and out of all those, I passed on the majority of these projects for those reasons.

As agents and editors, we try our best to not send out form letters but as we write the letters, we find ourselves coming back to the same phrases and the same sentences over and over again.

As agents, we know exactly what we are looking for and stories will either fit that mold not the stories will not fit that mold. As I read stories I will see if the story has the potential of fitting the mold. If so, I request more. If not, the author gets the rejection letter. 

This is pretty simple but that is what it comes down to.

If you are someone who feels you are getting nothing but rejection letters, I encourage you to think through this idea. I would also encourage you to review those letters and see if there is a pattern. If so, that might just be the clue you have been looking for to advance your career.