When an agent sends a rejection letter, different types of rejections mean different things. Here’s the inside scoop, as I see it, on four main forms of rejection:
The Plain Old Rejection (usually sent for rejecting query letters):
This letter will say something like, Thanks, but no thanks. It means that the project isn’t right for that agent for one reason or another. If you continue to receive these rejections from every agent you’re submitting to, consider revising your query, or maybe it’s time to move on to a new idea.
The ‘Revise and Send Again’ Rejection (usually sent for rejecting proposals or manuscripts):
This rejection letter will have some revision notes in it. This usually means that your proposal or manuscript sparked the agent’s interest, but the agent knows that it needs to be revised in some way to have a chance in the current market. These rejections usually ask for the project to be sent again, if the suggested revisions are made. If you receive one of these rejections, be sure to follow through and send that revised project back to the agent. (Agents hate to make suggestions, only to have the potential client never resubmit but instead shows the new and improved version to another agent–who, of course, thought it was genius!)
The ‘Any Other Ideas?’ Rejection (usually sent for rejecting proposals or manuscripts):
If you receive a rejection asking if you have any other ideas for projects, this typically means that the agent enjoyed your writing, but didn’t think that your idea would work well in the marketplace. You’ll want to write back to the agent with a list of project ideas and an estimated date of when he or she could see a proposal, if you aren’t finished with the writing yet.
The ‘This Project Isn’t Right for Me’ Rejection (usually sent for rejecting proposals or manuscripts):
This type of rejection is used as a thanks, but no thanks rejection for proposals and manuscripts. It means that something in your query letter sparked the agent’s interest, but when he or she looked at the writing sample and examined the idea more closely, it wasn’t a good fit. If you continue to receive this type of rejection, stop submitting your project and consider revising.
I hope this is helpful to you as you work your way down the road to publication!
Breathing Room
Interesting serendipity, or in the night I lived something parallel.
“Your project’s now not right for Me,”
said God in dark of night.
There’ll be no Earthly victory;
let go, and end this fight.
Come home and see what I have made,
especially for you;
you need not hold to cancer’s blade,
I’ve more for you to do!”
Hi earnest plea was moving,
and came from His great heart,
but there’s something yet for proving,
and for this I must stand apart.
“Lord,” I said, “I know I’ll lose,
but surrender’s what I cannot choose.”
Dear brother Andrew, The world (especially all those who are blessed to read your words and quips) will have lost a unique voice when that day comes when God really does call you home. I feel confident you will go on putting your virtual voice out into the cosmos and pointing to God until you literally take your final breath. But when you step through death’s door and breathe freely for the first time in a looooong time, the angels will be the ones who will be rejoicing. Until then, keep sharing, dear one, keep sharing.
This is a really interesting, good view of rejections. It gives me insight into what the agent who recently rejected my manuscript may have been thinking. The bottom line is the same: revise not give up. Thank you for sharing these thoughts today. They are helpful.
Thanks for this handy list, Rachel! I have been steadily accumulating a nice variety of all four of these, ha! Although, it is encouraging to see that more and more I’m getting the “revise it please” and the “what else do you have” kind. Since I keep all of my rejections in a file, I can look back and see my progress over time which can help keep a writer going. I’m presuming that most of your rejections are of the, “not right for me” variety. But of the two more encouraging versions, which do you send out more often? Do you find yourself asking for more revisions or for more completely different projects?
I usually ask for revisions. I don’t request projects that I don’t feel are a good fit very frequently, so I will ask for a revised manuscript if what I did request isn’t quite right.
You are right that most of my rejections are “this isn’t right for me” rejections. We get so many query letters that there’s no way I could take on every project–even if they were interesting to me.
And then there’s the most common rejection of all, the “no-answer rejection”. How do we interpret that? You writing is below the minimum standard of the industry? Your query letter shows you didn’t do your homework for this agency or agent?
Generally, I’d interpret that as the agent is overwhelmed and can’t send answers to every query he or she gets. We get hundreds a month and it is very hard to keep up. Books & Such has a standard rejection letter so we can make the most of our time. We read all of our queries, but only respond to those we are interested in. Since we only get paid commission on the projects we sell, we need to maximize the time we can and use it to send projects out for the clients we have. Getting new clients is also important, but we don’t have a lot of extra time to spend sending out rejection letters to every submission.
Years ago, I received a couple of “Any other ideas?” when I first started submitting to magazines and didn’t pursue them because I thought they were just a kind rejection letter! It was perhaps a decade before an author friend told me I needed to respond to these with, well, more ideas.
Then again, there’s the rejection letter sent by FedEx–because they want to be sure you get it. (Apocryphal story from another agent).
Wow! I’ve never sent one of those. 🙂 That could get expensive.