Why agents reject queries

A month or so later I submitted another story and go the exact same rejection. I felt a bit ridiculous for all the wasted time spent focused on the first one. You personalized note rejuvenated my long dormant feelings of self-loathing and inadequacy, sparking a catastrophic need to invite my innately hostile mother-in-law for an extended visit.

I only hope her snarky comments regarding my weight and housekeeping skills can match the wisdom and insight your seven word correspondence offered. I will, however, in my Pulitzer acceptance speech give you credit for proving that there is a bottom to the swamp above which good writers float. Thank you for responding to my query. My mother is an animal lover and she has been using my manuscript to teach her dog to read. An interesting fact is that dogs are very slow readers, so she is only giving him a few sheets at a time.

They also have an unusual method of reading. Sometimes, he will mark the pages with a yellow spot to show that he is finished with it. I want to make sure that everyone knows that you saw value in this book. Once again, thank you so very much. Come to think of it, I really feel like I should put your name on the from cover. What about cases in which the publisher commends your work but thinks it will be a better fit for another publisher and recommends that you shop it around?

Thank you Soooooo much! Do you mind if I resend? I like dissecting query letters. After a quick edit, I examine other possible places and re-send. If there were suggestions, I reply with a question if I can re-submit if I make changes, following their sometimes vague suggestions.

Thanks, Rachelle, for help in decoding query rejections. Then comes the rejection! Thanks again, Rochelle. An agent liked my writing style, idea, plot, flow, etc. When I read your responses, it seems to me you are at the perfect stage to hire a pro editor to take your work to the final level. Randy Ingermanson talks about how the most important thing a novel delivers to a reader is a Powerful Emotional Experience. You will have left the land of bland.

Each to her own taste, and kudos to all writers who do the hard work to publish in any form. A pro editor is often the only one who can teach you the higher-level skills you will need to create a Powerful Emotional Experience. Rachelle has a good list of them elsewhere on her site. I have not had many rejections. For a pre-published author that tells you something. Like I have a hard time letting go of my work. But with my first wip, I thought it was ready to go. And I went to a local writers conference where I paid for a critique.

I almost always benefit from a paid critique at any conference I attend. Even if my work needs help I have been blessed with encouraging critiquers. This time it was a team. That was a first for me. Even David King liked my writing enough to give me pages of ideas for revision. What does style mean, I asked. He said he meant my word choices.

Okay, I can understand that. We all write for a different audience. The other one said, no, nothing wrong with the style. They have nothing in common. I think this was a bit of bad cop good cop dialog because I learned later that these men each had their own business for coaching writers. I wonder if they took turns. Even multi-published authors cannot be satisfied but must keep honing their craft. And even multi-published authors have a proposal rejected at times with a request for something else.

At least that is what they tell me. Funny, I was just revising a blog post of my own about the numerous rejections I received leading up to the yes. I used to be quite prickly about them, despite my efforts to keep a detached and clinical mindset on what is effectively a numbers game. I think my rejections are on the basis of no platform, which I have since improved drastically. I write NF self help Unfortunately,it is too late for those agents since I cannot resubmit.

Lesson learned the hard way. Since I write about hope, I need to keep it up! Love Jodi Aman. For my day job, I publish trade magazines. Have you ever read the publication? Did you think you are exempt from following the submission guidelines?

And, by the way, do you know what a spellchecker is? Thank you, Peter, for the rant. I felt that exact same way when people would submit articles for the newspaper. Since I live in a small town, my publisher made me rewrite the articles and put them in the paper. It would have been simpler if they had just invited me to the event and I could have written my own article. I sent out a query letter one night at about At approximately I received a one word response. I would have preferred no response at all in that case.

The following week I had someone request the first fifty pages. Otin, That is so harsh. But I laughed anyway. Best of luck, Jodi Aman.

Wow—that agent sounds like kind of a jerk. I hope this comment makes some people smile. Thank you for responding, even in a form rejection. I cannot tell you how delighted I am to include you in the count of rejections that will one day astound my readers, since at the end of the day it is all about the numbers. Best wishes with the slush pile, and making the moment described above possible for another writer, even if it will not be me.

How could anyone not love my beautiful baby?! Oh well, just keep trekking on, right? While I am sorry to hear of your rejections, it is nice to know I am not alone. I am unable to accept your rejection at this time. I receive many worthy rejections and can only take on a very few.

Although well-crafted, your rejection did not resonate with me and does not meet my present needs. Nice to hear that The Help got rejected that many times…. However, we do wish you well in your journey towards poetry. Thanks for the link to the QueryShark blog Rachelle!

I always see a bump in traffic when you mention me! These are not queries to me as an agent. They are queries sent specifically to Query Shark. QueryShark is pretty profane. Decoding Query Rejections. Rachelle Gardner October 27, 80 Comments. Specific pop culture references TV shows, current famous celebrities, brand names, etc. Avoid too much emotional distress without the reader knowing WHY. Too much sensory detail instead of character does not engage a reader.

No prologues. Avoid date-stamping. Remove dialogue tags! Reduce gerunds and participles. Edit and revise ruthlessly. Make dialogue sound authentic. How much work do you put into the first page of your manuscript? Leave a comment below. Like this: Like Loading Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public. Name required. Loading Comments Email Required Name Required Website.

Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Her response took the wind out of my sails, but a third of her advice is on your list of don'ts. I like what you have to say Tell us what you think.

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