How Many Rejections Does It Take?

I recently saw a post on social media by an author talking about his rejections. Essentially, he had stated that he had been trying for years to sell a particular story to editors and agents but, time and time again, he had received nothing but rejections. This got me wondering, at what point was this author going to catch a clue. The story is simply not going to sell and just sending it out, again and again is not going to fix the problem.

Now, before I go any further, those of you getting ready to start commenting that a particular author received over 200 rejections before selling a book, stop right there. Those authors often sent out a lot of different projects and not just one story. Secondly, most of those authors were sending stories in the age of the "slush pile". And finally, many of those authors were claiming no answer as a rejection. OK, enough of that, and let's get back to the issue at hand.

When you send out a story and get a rejection, take the time to identify what the issue was. There can be numerous reasons for that rejection:

• Sent it to someone not acquiring the genre
• Sent it to someone no acquiring at that time.

These are issues of you not doing your research. So, what about these?

• Felt the writing was not where it needed to be
• Felt the writing was not the appropriate length
• Felt the voice was not right for that genre

These are issues YOU can and should fix.

I can pretty much say that every month, I will get one or two authors who respond back after I reject their stories with saying, "You know, I have had several other editors/agents say the same thing?" Really? Then why aren't you fixing the issue. This is not an issue of just a subjective decision and maybe it will be right for someone else. The problem is your story and you need to fix it.

When I send out projects to different editors for my clients, we always take the time to assess the answers. If we see two responses that say the same thing, we stop submitting and fix the problem. We do not just keep sending things out.

You will get rejections, but please, take the time to always review what you did and why that rejection showed up. With that information, go forth and fix the problem.