Recently, I received a rejection from an agent that said my writing was fantastic and invited me to query another project; however, the reason she rejected my submission was because she thought the story concept might be too commercial.
Good question.
When we talk about writing that is too commercial, what we are really talking about is the longevity of the story. In other words, is this a project that will stand the test of time or is it something that would have limited appeal.
Publishers are looking for things that don't come across as jumping on a current social trend and something that will really last for the long run.
Again, I do have to say, that this statement also sounds like something that could have more to the rejection than we see. There may have been more to this one.
Scott
Interesting. I hadn't thought about it in that way. The story certainly was not written to the trend - it was written because I wanted to write a tomb raider-type story. However, given your thoughts, I can see why it would have come across that way. Good points. Thanks so much for the insights.
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Another take could be something I've seen where there is a lot of "product placement" in the text. Like referencing a brand of shoe or clothing.
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