Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Best Rejection

This is my "I just got rejected' face
I've gotten a lot of rejection letters in my day. I've given myself the 15 Minute Window (which has now become more like the 5 minute window because they no longer hurt) and carried on. Yesterday, I didn't even need the window. I was completely excited over a rejection letter...over THIS rejection letter:

Dear Ms. Schmidt:

Thank you so much for querying me and giving me the opportunity to consider both CONFESSIONS OF AN IMMORTAL HEART and IGNITING A FIRESTARTER.  At this point, I'm primarily looking for books geared toward an adult market and I wouldn't be a good match for YA projects such as yours, even though they may have crossover appeal.  

I wish you the best of luck and much success with your writing career.

Sincerely,
An Awesome Agent

Now, you may be asking...why was I so excited about this? Because most rejection letters look like this:

Dear Writer (notice in the rejection above, she addressed ME):


Thank you for your inquiry. We are sorry that we cannot invite you to submit your work (The agent above actually said what my works were that I had submitted) or offer to represent you (She also gave me a very valid reason as to why my work wasn't appropriate for her). Moreover, we apologize that we cannot respond in a more personal manner. (Exactly).

We wish you the best of luck elsewhere.

Sincerely,
An Agent

However, while those things completely ROCK that the first agent did....here's why it was the best rejection I've gotten--Because the agent went through and even said, "...even though they may have crossover appeal..." Why is this awesome? Because my query letter suggested that my novel might crossover. She reiterated my words back to me, letting me know that she had fully read my query letter.

So to recap:
Agent 1 addressed me as me; not author, writer, sir, ma'am, anything else. They used the titles of my novels.They gave me a reason as to why she was passing (she doesn't represent YA. Which I knew, but I figured I'd try :) ). The agent used something from my query letter. 
This personalization completely made my evening yesterday, even though it was a rejection. 

Status: Still Submitting. 

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the motivating rejection. I think that knowing someone took the time to actually judge your work, and even though they rejected it, is far more encouraging than boiler plate "Sorry not interested" letters.

    Keep on submitting.

    ReplyDelete

Please know that if you comment and I don't respond, it's not because I don't love you. It's because I don't have wifi, but I do have a bad memory.

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