Tag: submitting to publishers

Encouragement

Well, I got the nicest rejection letter I believe ever written in the history of the world on Monday.

Very clear that they were not going to be able to publish, but also told me why: short- story collections are a hard sell in the best of environments, that this editor was unsure that Hurricane Baby (based on a reading of the first four stories) would be “something greater than the sum of its parts”; and that he didn’t feel he had enough time with each character in each individual story.

But in the letter, he also complimented me on my writing skills, my ability to portray these emotional moments in the characters’ lives, and my ambition in taking on such a topic of import and delivering exactly what I promised in my cover letter: the mental and physical toll Hurricane Katrina took on those experiencing it.

This letter is the kind of rejection you want–kind, respectful, and honest.

Thank you so much, sir. Hats off to you for keeping my dignity and self-worth intact. May your tribe increase.

Numbers Update

Total queries sent–48

Presses that sent explicit rejections–20

Presses that have ghosted me–9

Presses where it’s still being considered–19

Presses to still send to–10

Oof.

I’m not depressed. I’m not mad. But I’m sidling up next to being resigned to the book’s eventual fate.

It’s not been without its supporters. One press was kind enough to say that they enjoyed it–but they had a full slate of books already. One press noted they are waiting on a final decision from their executive director.

At least I know I tried. And I will keep trying until I run out of ideas.

By The Numbers

So today is going to be a numbers post about how trying to find a publisher is going. These numbers are after being on submission for about a month and a half–I sent the first queries out on September 7.

Total queries to publishing companies sent–33

Rejections–4

Number of queries through Submittable–14

Number of queries through QueryManager–1

Number of contests entered–10

Number of publishers I still plan to send to–14

Queries to agents–0

By the time I send out to everybody on my list, it will have been on submission for a year.

I am trying to give this book its best chance to get published I can. That’s why I’m sending it far and wide within the parameters I mentioned in an earlier post. No use in sending it to people who don’t publish what I’ve got. So we will see where things go from here.

Wish me well. Happy writing!