No Answer Means No - Professionally, I Disagree

NOTE and/or WARNING: This is a bit or a rant/editorial/opinion piece. These are simply my thoughts. 

This last weekend, I was at a conference, and stumbled across a post by Jane Friedman, titled, "Silence: The New Rejection That's Expanding in Insidious Ways." This was originally posted June 26, 2025 by Jacqueline Salmon. It once again brought up the new trend editors and agents have been using of the "No answer means no approach."

In this article, it talks briefly about some potential reasons for people doing this and I have certainly heard reasons other editors and agents have used. Heck, I have seen this in responses I get when I sent out a question to someone and get the infamous message "Due to the amount of emails we get, we will only respond to those we feel we want to advance..." message. 

And like you, I hate that message. But I will say, as a side note, at least with that message, I know my email made it to the company I was trying to reach. That email response is so important in a digital age considering how many times we have sent an email out and it disappeared into cyberspace. We know we sent it, it is in our "sent" file, but it did not make it to the person we wanted, or maybe that company no longer exists? This is why those responses are important. 

The article does note that it doesn't take that long to at least respond with a simple message of, "Sorry, this no longer meets our needs."

And yet, this is becoming even worse. It seems that many are getting to the point that they are "walking on eggshells" around editors and agents so as to not "trigger" their personal feelings. As Salmon noted, "Responding, even after expressing initial interest, could open that floodgate to follow up-emails..."

Oh give me a break!

If you are an author, and you want to be a PROFESSIONAL author in this BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING then learn to accept the answer no, and learn to be professional and business like. You do not need to see this as an opportunity to "try one more time" with something we said no on, or try to tell us that we did something wrong or any other message. Just deal with it. 

And honestly, here at Greyhaus, answering emails is something that is a professional standard. OK, I will admit I do not answer those who just send me their promotional material for their self-published book or send me unsolicited offers to provide a service to my agency. But I will respond.

If we in the publishing industry want to see authors improve in their writing, we have to give them something to work with when they send us those query letters. If the story is not something we acquire, then maybe getting a few of those messages over and over again will get them to pay attention and read before sending the material. If we request at least a partial and, in the end, it doesn't work for us, give them something of why it doesn't work. Let me explain.

There are times when I just don't connect with the story. I tell them this is a subjective business. All of yo know that there are times when someone likes a book, gives it to you and you totally hate it. The same thing can happen here. If you think the plot is disjointed, then simply tell them that. If you personally don't like the character, then tell them. 

Again, it doesn't take much.

And as I said earlier, if you are a writer and cannot handle someone telling you your story may not be good, this is not a business for you!