(Mis)Handling Rejection

Did you know that one of the most popular book series ever created was initially rejected by publishers? Yep, the first book in the Harry Potter series received a whopping 12 rejections from publishers before finally being accepted by number 13. You can bet the first 12 publishers have been kicking themselves ever since.

Rejection is hard. You put months and months of effort into writing and editing a novel. You pour your heart and soul in to a story you believe needs to be told. Then there's the whole blood, sweat, and tears aspect. Ok, so maybe the blood and sweat part isn't applicable (thank you air conditioning) but the tears part is definitely accurate, and I'm pretty sure I've developed carpal tunnel syndrome in my right wrist. So there are certainly physical and emotional sacrifices.

And after all this effort, your manuscript gets rejected.

At first, there's numbness. You read and reread, making sure you understood everything in the letter. And after you come to accept that they have utterly and completely rejected your baby, all the feelings come.

Anger, sadness, defensiveness, frustration, discouragement, and finally, resignation.

Yeah, it's like getting dumped. It sucks.

The first rejection I received was just a form email- no specifics, just a pass. The rejection I got today? Not so much. Everyone should appreciate constructive criticism, and it's something I try to take in stride. Total fail today. This particular editor was very kind, and said my writing had "potential". She encouraged me to continue working at it, but she basically called the beginning of my manuscript boring, formulaic, and unpolished.

Ouch. Go ahead and wince with me.

So after you feel all the feelings and maybe have a good cry, you asked yourself an overwhelming question-

What now?

As an author, you pretty much have four options when this happens to you:

1) Give up. Throw in the towel. Keep your day job and learn the guitar instead.

2) Ignore their comments and keep submitting to other publishers and agents. Hope and pray someone likes your work.

3) Toss the idea and start on a new story. Every novel you write will be better than the last, and you never know when a brilliant idea will strike.

4) Go back to the editing stage and do a massive rewrite of your book.

I stared at this list of options for a long time today. As a human, my initial instinct was to go with option number 1. Curling up under a blanket with a cookie and trying to forget the last year of work seemed like a fantastic idea. I can sad-eat cookies with the best of them, and pretending everything is fine certainly is enticing.

But then I remembered how badly I want to be an author. That image flashed in my mind, the one where I walk down an aisle at Costco and see a display of my novels stacked up tall. Then one where I read my books to my kids and someday they'll be old enough to understand what that means. Then one where someone asks me what I do for a living and I say, "I write books."

Yeah, all those images popped up, and I wasn't ready to stop trying. Option 1 really is the only bad option on the list. Giving up is never a good habit to have, especially just because something require work and effort.

Next, I thought about abandoning my book and finishing something new. I've been working on several projects the last few months, but nothing is in my soul the way my first book is.

I could ignore the publisher's comments and keep submitting my book as-is. That was definitely my plan when I received the form letter rejection, but now that I have specific feedback I don't feel like it's the right thing to do. Sure, a different publisher may have a different opinion, but I've already had some of the same thoughts about my book.

So back to editing it is. I love this story too much to let it go, at least for right now. I believe in the book and I know I can make it better, so that's what I'm going to try to do.

I think one of the toughest calls we can make as an author is what path to choose, what project to put our efforts in to. Maybe someday down the road I'll change my mind and go a different direction, but for now I'm determined to get my story out there some day.

For anyone that needs a little encouragement, click HERE to read a list of incredibly popular books that were initially rejected.

Happy Writing Everyone!

Jen