Sometimes It's Just Not Right - 2nd post for today as promised

There isn't a day when I send out rejection letters (unfortunately) that I get an email back with an author wanting me to go into depth on all of the things they can do to improve the story. In far too many of these cases, the reason for rejection should have said it all. 

As an agent, and I know editors feel the same way, there are times when we pass on a story simply because we didn't connect with it. This is not a case of plot or character issues, or for that matter, the way the author wrote the story. It is just that subjective lack of connection. 

I explained this to one of my current authors this way. Have you ever picked up a book, started to read it, and then realized that it wasn't for you. The writing was fine, the characters were fine, but it just didn't fit with your personal taste. That is what we are talking about here.

Writers have to remember that we need to really love a project to want to push to have it published. Shauna Summers at Bantam Dell once said that she had to love it so much because she would have to read it so many times during the editing process. This is certainly part of it, but it is also an issue being so excited about it, that we can't stop talking about it. This is marketing.

Hope that helps!