The Archived Journal of William H. Johnston, an aspiring writer, world traveler and introspective philosopher searching for his muse.
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Wednesday, January 20, 2016
A Rejection is better than Nothing!
Things have been busy around here lately, hardly the first month has passed and this is only my first blog of the year. What a year so far though!
I had queried an agent for my latest book after some major revisions and just received a reply by email today. The agent didn't feel the work gripped him enough to publish, and although the form was auto-mail, the rejection was more than I have received from the past 10 agents I attempted to contact.
Many writers who are on the internet can attest to displeasure with a lack of communication at all with agents and publishers. I think it's easy to blame a group or individual when we forget that the market is so saturated with those of us trying to publish.
Getting something, even a form letter like I got is better than nothing. It shows that our work saw the light of day, and didn't just go to a spam email box with no regard. Getting this email made me strangely happy, not because I was rejected, but because someone actually acknowledged that I wrote them.
I recall two queries where I contacted a small agency and a large one in the space of six months. While the boutique agency never replied the huge corporate one did, and with a personalized email no less! One would think it was the smaller agent that did this, but I appreciated the effort all the same.
So I am not giving up. I hope to rework my book and re-resubmit whenever I can. I just wanted to share this story with my fellow writers and maybe with any agents who are out there. Please, don't forget us. You are busy, I know, but something simple is worth its weight in gold to a writer. Writers pour blood sweat and tears into our work. We scrutinize and wonder if work has been read. A simple reply means volumes even if we've been rejected.