Blogger: Rachel Kent
Believe it or not, agents don’t actually enjoy rejecting people, but it’s part of the job. I think it’s my least favorite part of my job. It’s not fun to think about crushing the hopes of so many writers. The agents I know never set out to be insensitive when it comes to writing a rejection to an author, but sometimes we sound as if we don’t care just because of the number of rejections we have to send out. It’s humanly impossible for an agent to represent every good project that comes along; so we have to evaluate each project using these criteria:
1) Is the project something I’m excited about?
The best representation comes from an enthusiastic agent. I want to be excited about my clients’ projects, and my clients want me to be enthusiastic about their writing.
2) Could I show this project to my established network of publishers?
Every agent has a network of editors and publishers whom they’ve established relationships with. These editors and publishers are usually interested in the same type of material the agent is; so the relationship has been built on a mutual love for certain genres or topics. Agents want to represent books that could be shown to many different editors and publishing houses in their preexisting network because the possibility of selling the project is higher.
3) Could I work well with this author?
The author-agent relationship is very important. There needs to be mutual respect and trust between them for the relationship to last. I have a phone call and exchange several emails with potential clients before I offer representation. I try to get to know them as much as I can because I would much rather be very careful about whom I work with than having to end a relationship because it didn’t go well.
4) Can this author write well and revise if necessary?
I look for clean writing in submissions and often will suggest revisions not only to help to improve the project but also to see if the author is willing and able to make revisions. It’s understandable that authors don’t want to change their “babies,” but when I see changes that need to be made, I want clients who are going to trust my judgment and do a thorough and professional revision.
If the answer is “no” to any of these criteria, I’m going to choose not to represent that writer. When I send a rejection, I hope that author will find the right agent for his or her project; I want every author to succeed.
How do you handle rejection? Have you ever had to reject someone’s work? How did you feel about it?
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Sorry, dude, it’s not just me,
but your message doesn’t resonate,
and though I feel some sympathy,
your tribe, well, they’re not that great
from the bigger picture view,
I’m sure you can agree with that?
And your platform, is it true,
or just a chance to pass the hat?
And there is another thing;
you’ve offended quite a lot
of higher-ups who will bring
this house into a cooking pot.
Were my choice, you’d stay with us,
but the public would prefer Barabbas.
Annie Riess
Good thoughts Rachel! I can’t imagine anything more difficult than trying to work with someone who is not teachable or whose work I’m just not excited about.
There is nothing more difficult than telling someone all their hard work just doesn’t measure up. ( I have to do this all the time with piano students)
Kristen Joy Wilks
It is amazing to me that after all these years of rejections (2002 was my first article submission and 2003 my first ms. submission–to Janet Grant actually) that I am still capable of being swept up high on the wave of hope and dashed into the sand as it crashes down. Yet, the process has become very familiar. Hope, failure, let’s try it again, over and over and that’s alright. It is part of being a creative, an important part. And yeah, as you hang around in the writing world people begin to ask your opinion of their work and ask you to volunteer giving your opinion and having to tell someone to work on their dialogue, show instead of tell, or to Google how to punctuate dialogue is pretty terrifying. I try to pray for the person I’m critiquing, give examples of what I like about the piece, and temper my honesty with hope. But I see why editors and agents don’t have the time for this. It takes forever! Thank you for all that you guys do, I imagine it is exhausting at times. But don’t worry, blogs like this help writers to see the process and understand that you are not waiting to slash our words to pieces, but to help.
Kiki Stanton
I love this. I’m in the pitching process right now and it can get SO EASY for us to view agents as “men behind masks” or no more than words on a page. So when the rejection comes, it can sting.
That’s why it’s important to remember the PEOPLE behind the work, remember that NO doesn’t mean your work is bad, just that it’s not a good fit for them, and that God has an agent already selected for you.
Thank you, agents, for ALL you do <3
Janet Ann Collins
When I told my college roommate I wanted to be a writer she said, “Show me your rejection slips. You’re not a writer until you have some.” She kept nagging me until I sent something I knew couldn’t be accepted (I think it was a children’s story to The New Yorker) and got a rejection so she stopped nagging me. I didn’t actually try writing professionally until years later. When I got my first rejection I was thrilled because it meant I was really a writer.