Types of Rejection

October 30, 2009 in Advice, Agent, Revision | 22 comments

Rejection is rejection but, if you stick to writing for any length of time, you’ll soon begin to see that there are some nuances to getting turned down by an agent or editor. There are entire gradients of rejection and, the better your work, the higher you climb up the ladder toward that “yes” that you’ve been chasing.

Here are the basic kinds of rejection I give:

Form Rejection: I reject the project but don’t give any feedback or thoughts. I will always personalize with your name and the name of your project but I don’t say anything specific about it. This is usually what I send when the writing isn’t solid enough, the voice doesn’t grab me, the idea doesn’t resonate, etc. You get one of these if your work is obviously not a fit for me, which I can tell almost immediately.

Personal Rejection: I still pass on the submission but provide general feedback. I will use this one either for a query that I thought had promise or an easily articulated flaw or sometimes for a full manuscript that falls short of what I was hoping for. Maybe the project shows potential but isn’t right for my list — which isn’t something the writer can help — or maybe I have thoughts on how it could be improved before I’d consider representing it — which the writer can take into account if they wish. I don’t give detailed editorial notes, however, because I think the project shows promise but might be a little too much work to get into.

Revision Rejection: This is only for cases where I’ve read the full manuscript. In this situation, I’ve spent some time with the project and give the writer specific notes for revision. If they were to revise, I say, I’d love to see it again.

As you can see, there are several types of rejection. The rule of thumb is, the more personal the rejection, the more time the agent or editor spent with your work and the more potential and talent they see. A Personal Rejection and a Revision Rejection are like doors that are half-open to you. You can turn these into opportunities. An agent who sends you a Personal Rejection would probably be up for seeing your next project. An agent who sends you a Revision Rejection would probably be enthusiastic to see another version of your current one.

So keep querying and keep racking up those rejections. If you find yourself getting mostly Personal or Revision Rejections, that hard-won “yes” might not be too far behind.

Related posts:

  1. Rejection Follow-Up

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  1. Ashley Cooper’s avatar

    Ashley Cooper on October 30, 2009 at 9:51 am

    I thought agents usually did the the same type of rejection for everyone. This is really helpful – and a bit of a relief. Thank you.

  2. Debbie Duncan’s avatar

    Debbie Duncan on October 30, 2009 at 10:20 am

    The last paragraph is JUST what I needed to hear today. Thanks, Mary!

  3. Jennifer’s avatar

    Jennifer on October 30, 2009 at 10:28 am

    Mary, What about a rejection that the agent liked the writing, thought it was polished, but didn’t think the manuscript was saleable in an already glutted marketplace.
    Any suggestions for how to continue? Do you revise and send somewhere else? Can you resubmit? (the agent did say they would be open to seeing more of my work).

    Thanks for your thoughts!

  5. Alicia’s avatar

    Alicia on October 30, 2009 at 11:26 am

    This came in at just the right time! I was psycho-analyzing rejections today. Thank you.

  6. Shawna’s avatar

    Shawna on October 30, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    Thanks for this. It’s always good to keep things in perspective. I second Jennifer’s question, though. What do you do when an agent likes your submission, but doesn’t think it’s viable for the market?

  7. Mary’s avatar

    Mary on October 30, 2009 at 1:22 pm

    Jennifer and Shawna — GREAT question. I will have to do a post on this. Stay tuned.

  8. jtuttle’s avatar

    jtuttle on October 30, 2009 at 4:08 pm

    This was a really helpful post, thank you.

  9. Siski Green’s avatar

    Siski Green on October 30, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    Is it worth providing an agent with a synopsis of several manuscripts so they can assess you as an author, rather than assess you in terms of one manuscript? Would that make rejection less likely? Or will an agent be able to see what you’re capable of from just one MS and therefore wouldn’t want to know of others?

  10. Mary’s avatar

    Mary on October 30, 2009 at 6:58 pm

    Siski — Good question. I’ll turn this into a post because I’ve been meaning to touch on this. Stay tuned.

  11. beth’s avatar

    beth on October 31, 2009 at 3:30 pm

    Very apropos timing for me on this post…I just hope that last sentence holds true!

  12. Jessica Capelle’s avatar

    Jessica Capelle on October 31, 2009 at 11:57 pm

    Great information. I appreciate all your insight into the process. We just have to remember that’s it’s not reflection on us :-)

  13. Haylee’s avatar

    Haylee on November 7, 2009 at 1:05 am

    siksi– I’ve read an agent post saying that if you have multiple completed manuscripts, she’s going to wonder why you haven’t been querying the one you finished first. It was something like “if you have a whole nother book, why haven’t you been trying to sell it?” I am interested to see if Mary agrees with her! I’ve wondered if most feel this way, myself.

  14. Mary’s avatar

    Mary on November 7, 2009 at 7:40 am

    Haylee and Siski — I was planning on answering this in a post, and I will still, but lots and lots of writers have multiple projects in their desks. Query only with your absolute strongest one. I read thousands and thousands and thousands of queries and manuscripts. I can tell where an author is from looking at their work. Not every project — especially not the ones you wrote when you were still beginning and figuring things out — will sell in your career. Show me only your strongest work. If I’m considering taking you on, I’ll be asking about your FUTURE projects and what else you have in mind, since those will more likely be even better. Agents really dislike it, actually, when people send a stable of their work. Pick the strongest. If I want to see more, I’ll ask. (This is especially pertinent to picturebook authors. If I like the project they query with, I always want to make sure they have at least one more I love before I take them on…)

  16. Charisse Drain’s avatar

    Charisse Drain on November 11, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    This is wonderful information! Thanks for sharing!

  17. Cassandra’s avatar

    Cassandra on November 15, 2009 at 10:15 am

    Lately I’ve been considering sending my manuscript to an agent. This advice gave me an idea of what to expect from a rejection letter, and I’m sure I will get plenty of ‘em. But now I’m getting nervous.

    Thanks for the great information! And the last paragraph gave me a little bit of reassurance. Thanks again! :) LOVE the site, by the way.

  18. Mindy’s avatar

    Mindy on January 9, 2010 at 11:09 am

    This is helpful, thanks! I used to assume that anything with a touch of personal (my name, my ms name) was actually written to me. Therefore if it said, “I think your project ___ sounds really original and interesting, but unfortunately it’s not for me.” I would feel special simply because the agent said it seemed original and interesting. Then I discovered 99% of the time those were form rejections, and I was deluding myself. That’s ok though – rejection just makes the Winston Churchill in me keep going.

  21. Martha Ramirez’s avatar

    Martha Ramirez on April 5, 2011 at 6:05 pm

    LOVED this:
    So keep querying and keep racking up those rejections. If you find yourself getting mostly Personal or Revision Rejections, that hard-won “yes” might not be too far behind.

  22. Tuvan Uner’s avatar

    Tuvan Uner on April 19, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    Loved this article.