Rejections: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Rejection Letters:
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Elizabeth Rose

Rejection letters are a part of every writer's life, and to be expected. While the word "rejection" carries a negative overtone, it really isn't always as bad as it seems. Believe it or not, there are such things as "good" rejections.

I'm going to take you through the different levels of rejection. Yes, I said different levels. Like not wanting to stereotype a character, neither do we want to stereotype a rejection. I want to point out that rejection letters come in all shapes and sizes. Well, maybe not all shapes, but they do come with some very valuable information which can help you as a writer on your journey to getting published. All you need to do is understand the letter, and read between the lines.

The Generic Form Letter

Here I use the word "generic" because this kind of rejection letter is so cookie-cutter, that it is the lowest of the lowest where rejection letters are concerned.

This is normally a letter that reads "Dear Author" or maybe doesn't even have a salutation. Your name will be seen nowhere on this letter, nor will the title of your book. The editor was probably clearing off her desk and everything on it got sent back with one of these to save her time. (I don't know if they really do this, but it will seem like it to you if you receive one of these.) This letter will not be signed, but rather typed right into the letter, "The Editors," or "The Editorial Department."

It'll say something alone the line that your work is not right for their publishing house, and you'll end up wondering how they know this, since they've obviously never read it.

The Personalized Form Letter

This letter will come to you with your name either typed in or most likely hand written in the typed letter. This is because it is a preprinted letter with a "fill in the blanks" kind of thing. The title of your book may be there, but that too will be most likely handwritten, and if they were rushed, it'll be wrong.

I've had one of these where they used the first word of my title and dropped the rest. I know of a writer who had her letter come to her with their husband's name at the top (maybe from the return label?) A few authors I know have had the wrong letter come to them, with someone else's name and book title on it.

Yes, I know mistakes happen and editors are very busy, but this is very unprofessional. If this ever happens, get on the phone at once and straighten out the matter. Your book may still be under consideration, and you won't know it.

This letter is actually signed by the editor, or photocopied off with the actual signature. A lot of submissions are read by outside readers, and in a case like this, the editor has never even seen your work.

The No Excuse Letter

In these letters, not only is your name mentioned, and the title of your book, but they've actually said something besides, "This is not right for us at this time."

Usually in these letters, it'll say something like, "I just didn't fall in love with it," or "It just didn't grab me," or the all-time insult in my opinion, "I just didn't like the voice."

These letters give you nothing to go on when trying to revise your work. We, as authors, are not magicians and do not know the magic words to say to make an editor fall in love with it. There's nothing you can do in this case to try to fix your work. This rejection is kind of like, luck of the draw.

I know authors who have gotten these kind of rejection letters, saying "I don't know why I don't want to buy it, but I just don't." Please. Save us the trouble and send us that form letter, right?

One of my fellow writers once said "it's a crap shoot" and I know she's right. It's a hit or miss sort of situation. Did you get them on a bad hair day? Did you happen to name your hero after the man the editor has just fought in a bad divorce? We have no way of knowing this. Nor should we even worry about it.

The Morsel Letter

In this letter, the editor sounds as if she's actually glanced at your work and remembered some of it. You will be thrown a morsel of information that may or may not help you in revising your work and hopefully getting it published.

The editor will tell you a reason why she rejected you. It'll be brief and to the point, but may help you in the long run. For example, it might say, "I felt the romantic conflict was lacking," or "your characters were not developed," or the one that I never believe, "heroes in the entertainment/arts profession do not sell." Maybe that last one is true for new authors, but I see books like this out all the time, so I wouldn't consider that morsel very valuable, in my opinion.

The Appetizer Letter

In this letter the editor has given you a little more to go on. She may tell you a thing or two of what she liked. For example, "I found the story very spirited and compelling." But then you'll always get the big "U" word. By that, I mean the dreaded word all writer's hate to hear - UNFORTUNEATELY. Just the sound of it makes me flinch.

After a nice comment of what you did right, they'll tell you something you did wrong. They'll give you an appetizer - something small to whet your appetite and make you feel like you've gotten just a tad closer to getting published.

For example, an editor might say: "While I found much to like about your hero, some of his actions were very unheroic." Or, "While the characters were well-drawn, I found the pace of the story to be slow." Or in other words, it's boring.

These are not much to go on, but enough to get you started in knowing what you can change before you send the story out to another editor.

The Meaty Letter

This letter is one of those "good" letters. In this letter, the editor has taken the time to mention things specifically in your story. She may mention characters' names, settings, certain traits or the plot. Here we see she's actually looked at the work personally, and that she's liked it well enough, or liked your style well enough to comment on it personally.

She'll usually start with a few things you did well, and then tell you what didn't work for her. She'll point out specifics, like, "By having your heroine hate him, and then enjoy his advances in the pantry, she seems flighty." Or maybe, "I like the premise, but I found the fact that Gertrude is trying to blackmail George a little forceful and unbelievable for this early in the story, or this time period."

The editor will always end with wishing you luck submitting this somewhere else, and you'll be wondering why she would even care, although it's a nice gesture.

The Nine Course Meal Letter

This is one of those "really close" or "really good" types of rejection letters. As in the Meaty letter, the editor will speak of your story as if she's read the whole thing. Usually this letter comes AFTER the editor has requested the full manuscript. She will use an outline form, and touch on important points such as Characters, Motivation and Conflict.

She'll always start out with praising you, and you'll feel good and begin to wonder if it's not a rejection. But then she'll say the U word or the H word (however) and go into paragraphs and maybe even a few pages of things she'd like to see changed. I've even had one where she mentioned page numbers - now you know she's read it.

This is really a revision letter in disguise, but unless you read between the lines, you won't know it. At first you'll throw it down and say you never want to write again, and then if you're lucky enough to have someone like my husband to point out to you that it didn't sound that bad, you'll pick up the letter again and reread it.

Near the end of the letter you'll most likely find something along the lines of, "I would be happy to look at it again should you decide to rewrite the story." Or maybe, "Please think of me if you should decide to revise."

This is an open invitation to revise or rewrite the work and send it back to that editor since you now have her attention. She does not ask you to do it, and probably can't - but she plants the seed and it's up to you to know she's interested enough to look at it again. She has said between the lines, "Please, rewrite and send this back because I really like it."

The Death By Chocolate Letter

This letter comes AFTER you've revised and rewritten the whole dang book according to the editor's suggestions. After waiting forever, and being so close to selling your book that the hunk of chocolate is just beyond your reach, though you can see it, smell it and already taste it, they take it away and leave you drooling from want.

In this letter, you may have more suggestions from the editor, and of course the "P" word - potential, which is a good thing. But she does not ask you to do more revisions, and does not offer to look at it again. Instead, she politely thanks you for all your hard work and declines the offer to buy it.

In one way this is a good letter, because you know how close you've come. On the other hand, it's bad because you did come so close and then got turned down. No matter how you look at it, it's ugly. This is the mother of all rejections, and has got to be the hardest pill to swallow.

So, you ask me. What do you do about all these rejections? How are you supposed to react and what course of action should you take?

Come back next month and read my article on Rejection: Action or Reaction?

Elizabeth Rose

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