What Is The First Impression of You

 

Why are you getting so many rejections? You think you have the best manuscript ever. You have spent your hard-earned money on courses, critiques, and edits. And still, the rejections keep flowing in. It may have absolutely nothing to do with your story, but the first impression you are making with those editors and agents in your query letters and submissions.

One of my favorite quotes out there is "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." In the digital world today, this is even more important. We apply for jobs online and we are certainly sending in those submissions online. If you think about it, hiring managers only look at a resume for 7-8 seconds. We also know that for in-person interviews, the hiring team has already made a decision about passing on you within 2-3 seconds of you walking in the room. 

The same is true for submissions. 

Although all editors and agents may ask for different things and "read" submissions differently, the initial first impression is probably all the same. 

I have my email set up with a "Preview Pane". It looks something like this. 

You will notice that we really don't see much of that entire letter you painstakingly typed. We see just the first part of that letter. That means that within seconds, we are already making first impressions of you. Seeing things such as "Dear Agent", misspelled names, or my favorite, "Dear Mr. Greyhaus..." Even though these might be typos on your end, these are errors on our end. 

So, let's say I read your whole query letter. Again, what you put in that letter, or leave out of that letter will say a lot. We still have not made it to your fantastic story but are already making decisions. Consider the following things I see on a regular basis that immediately triggers that rejection letter.

• I know you say you only accept romance and women's fiction, but I know you will change your mind after this.
• Oprah is currently considering my story for her reading list.
• After being rejected time and time again, I tried self-publishing. After 3 years of little sales, I have decided it is time to return to a traditional approach.
• I am submitting my women's fiction, memoir, sci-fi novel that would appeal to everyone from middle school age to retired people.

The point of this is simple. Would you hire yourself based on what you just typed in that query letter? My bet is no.

But what if we get to that story? That editor/agent requested a full so they are obviously going to read the whole thing, right? You want the truth? Nope!

I have said this over and over again here on this blog. When you start reading a book and don't like the start of it, do you continue? We generally give it three chapters and if it has not hooked us, we put it down and move on to the next project. Those first three chapters have to be golden. The writing needs to be incredible. The story needs to totally hook us. If it doesn't, we stop. 

Your first three chapters set a first impression for your entire novel.

So, think about your first impression. Slow down and review what you have in that submission package before you hit "SEND".