No means No

I just finished up a round of submissions and I am still amazed at how many authors commit the same mistakes. I get submissions for things I just don't read and I get people who want to argue with me about my decision or resubmit the material.

Look, this idea is very simple. No means no.

I know a lot of agents do the same thing I do. I try to be very specific as to what I want and what I don't want. So, if a writer sends me something that is clearly not what I am looking for, he or she will receive a rejection. End of story.

Apparently there is this belief that the writing is so good that I will reconsider and change my beliefs about what I like and don't like in a story. Not likely. I pick and choose those genres and ideas for a reason. Either (A) I know the ideas will sell: or (B) I am just not that well versed in that genre to want to represent the story.

Now, along the same lines, I have a lot of writers that will send me a story after I have rejected it. Their idea is that they had the chance to revise the story and wanted me to have a second read of it. I know that there is this belief that if you show the editor/agent that you can do the revisions, they may like the story. Sorry but this idea is not accurate.

The rule is simple: Unless the agent or editor says to re-submit. You simply do not do that. Also, if you are submitting to an agency that has mulitple agents at it, you do not send it to the other agent in the agency to get a second opinion. The bottom line is that you were rejected, learn from it and make sure on future projects you don't commit those same errors.

Scott