Friday, December 16, 2011

Question from a Writer - Rejections from publishers

What are the most common reasons you get rejections from publishers?

 I have to admit, this question caught be off guard. Normally writers want to know why agents reject, but not what publishers say to us. Good question though.

I have to say all of the publishers I have worked with have been very favorable to the manuscripts I submit. The common response I get is "loving the writing" but "no place right now."

In other words, because the slots are already full, there is no place for that new author.

In recent months, I have gotten a couple of responses that really show the signs of the time. The editors liked the writing, story and everything, but it wasn't a "blow me away" story. One editor told me that in the past, liking and loving stories would have been good enough. Now, with budget cuts, the story has to be "blow me away."

What I think you can see is that we get the same responses too. We're all in this together.

Scott

1 comment:

  1. Reading this blog after reading about decline of print publishing and rise of ebooks, I think it just gives more evidence. Those stories rejected because publishers just aren't able this time will likely do well as ebooks.

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