The kind of rejection that makes you laugh
Guess what I just got from Fed Ex?
A package from a publisher not my own.
And inside was a partial manuscript and synopsis for the novel I’d written before the one that’s coming out this summer. I had submitted those to this particular editor in JANUARY, 2005.
And the cover letter said, “Sorry for the delay,” which can only make you laugh.
And she rejected it, which I don’t care about at all. And which also cracked me up.
Because so much has happened since January, 2005. I’ve gotten an agent, sold two books, just got back from my first tour–yeah, I think I feel okay now. Your rejection can’t hurt me.
But don’t you think that’s bizarre? I mean, you’d think that after a year or so, those manuscripts just get trash canned. For all you writers out there, I don’t know if it’s good news or bad news to tell you that your manuscript might still be sitting on some editor’s To Be Read pile after two years.
So anyway, I guess I’m thankful for the closure, although the truth is I’d forgotten I sent that manuscript to that editor. I met her at the same conference where I met my agent, and I remember having high hopes that she’d want my book, but now I’m grateul she didn’t take it. I’m so happy where I am with Knopf and Random House. Everything has worked out so much better than I dreamed.
Just a little writer’s tale for the day.
Technorati Tags: Writing, Publishing, Authors, Rejection Letters
What’s REALLY funny (after speaking to you about this) is the fact that the SAME EDITOR still has a manuscript of mine from MAY 2004!
Sadly (for her), it’s already been purchased… And published…
Wow. And I thought I had issues with getting my packages in the mail on time.
Wow, Robin. Yours is the second story I’ve heard like that this week. Another friend recently got a rejection from a publisher she submitted to in early 2005. Since then, she got an agent, had that book go to the acquisitions committee of the SAME publisher and been passed, have the editor who took it to committee move to a different publisher, ask for the manuscript again, take it up to THAT publisher’s committee and have it passed…
She almost felt like writing back and saying, “Yeah, you passed like a year ago, too.”
Sometimes I hear editors and agents saying they auto-reject their slushes when they finally get around to them because they figure if the manuscript was any good, it would have been agented/bought by then. usually, when they say this, there’s a massive outcry from the writers who are like… noooooo!
But this is why stories of being “plucked from the slush pile” are famous and stories of an author getting an agent and a book deal are not. Because the former is really really rare.
I don’t know ANYONE who is slow about sending books or manuscripts. Do you Diana?
Oh wow! That’s my chuckle for the day…. and not AT you Robin, with you – and AT the lady who didn’t “get” you….
Serves her right, too!
Yes. I am. Because I lost the book in question. Seriously, I have no idea where it is.
But never fear. Spring cleaning is here this week!
LOL! Lost it?
Awesome! I’m just teasing. No worries.
Maybe that is why it came to you now: so you could appreciate how far you’ve come since then, and have a good smile/laugh today. Go you.
INHERIT THE WIND is starting on TCM now, a movie I have wanted to see for a long while, but I’m asleep…
Thanks, Little Willow. I like your interpretation of that.
I love Inherit the Wind! But there are some slow, quiet parts, so if you’re already tired now, you’ll probably pass out soon enough.
But please try to see it some time when you’re awake. It’s quality.
Oh, how funny.
My favorite rejections (they were all timely, thanks to my agent, but maybe I’ll get one from the editor who swore he would read it 20 months ago) were “she obviously has a vivid imagination” and “thanks for sending me this snappy manuscript!”
I’m snappy and have a vivid imagination. Go me!
Katie, people who aren’t writers probably can’t understand why we get so excited over “good rejections” like the ones you got. But anything beyond a form letter is such progress! And it’s especially great when they say something personal, like they did to you.
That really is an accomplishment. Seriously.
(Of course, a “yes” is even better, but we take what we can get!)