| | Reasons for getting turned down - rejected | |
| | Author | Message |
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Abe F. March Five Star Member
Number of posts : 10768 Registration date : 2008-01-26 Age : 85 Location : Germany
| Subject: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:43 am | |
| Getting turned down by an agent or publisher often makes us wonder why and/or the reason they give us makes little sense. I just discovered a reason that I had not even considered. I am living outside the USA. It never occurred to me that a publisher or agent may wonder if I could be available for promotion, book signings, etc. Fortunately, my Agent for my children’s book, expressed this concern and I have worked it out. In the future, when I send off an query on my ms, I will be sure to mention my availability in the query letter. I am convinced that I was turned down for that specific reason a short time ago.
This may be of interest to others living outside the USA or those in the USA sending an query to a foreign publisher. |
| | | Pam Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1790 Registration date : 2008-02-01 Age : 58 Location : Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| Subject: Re: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:44 am | |
| That's a really good point Abe, and something I never would have considered either. I remember reading about a children's author who got a bunch of rejections for a book, and he knew the book was good. He thought that no one was reading it, because the rejection letters were form letters and hugely impersonal. As a test he included an advertisement for a washing machine in the first page or so, and darned if it wasn't rejected some more, and no one ever mentioned the ad! I think he eventually self published and it became a best seller - still with the washing machine in the front! I cannot remember his name, but it sure helps to see what a wall we can hit sometimes. Thanks for your tip! |
| | | Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:02 pm | |
| Thanks for posting this Abe! It certainly is worth keeping in mind. I agree; it would be useful adding it to the list of things to include in a query letter. |
| | | Malcolm Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1504 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : Georgia
| Subject: Re: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:00 am | |
| Okay, Abe, there goes my dream of approach a U. K. publisher with the idea of turning the character in my novel into the next Harry Potter even though I live in the States. :-)
Malcolm |
| | | E. Don Harpe Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1979 Registration date : 2008-01-17 Age : 82 Location : Florida
| Subject: Re: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:43 am | |
| When I first started pitching my songs in Nashville, I too wondered if some of the producers were even listening to the music. I knew some of them were good enough to be recorded, but I just wasn't getting any of them accepted.
In those days, the standard criteria for pitching songs said to put no more than four songs on a tape, because that was all anyone had time to listen to. I wrote a very short song that I called "Peaches" and began placing it between the second and third songs on every tape I pitched. The song was quite funny but more than a little bit dirty, and I could perform it live, but back then there was no chance of it ever being recorded. I got a lot of laughs and a lot of good reaction from the song, and when I did my follow up on the tapes I had pitched, I knew immediately if the songs had actually been heard. Everyone, with no exceptions at all, mentioned the Peaches song when they heard it. They might not accept the other songs, and that was all right, but if they told me how much they laughed at Peaches, I knew at least that they had listened.
BTW, I finally managed to get most of those early songs placed with a publisher and recorded, and of course I later opened my own publishing company. I made it a point to tell people that I usually did not accept unsolicited tapes, but I also was very honest in that I listened to every tape that I did accept. If I told someone I didn't like a certain song, I could tell them why, and they knew I was telling the truth.
PEACHES (YOU'LL HAVE TO IMAGINE THE TUNE, BUT IT'S BLUESY)
Well the boll weevil got the cotton, And the cutworms got the corn. A I got left is peaches, and I've been selling them door to door. There she stands in all her glory Wearing nothing but a smile... ... I'm gonna get screwed out of my peaches After while. |
| | | Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:20 am | |
| You've reminded me of a friend of mine Don. She applied for a job and wrote at the bottom of the letter: I am thirty-six. When she attended the interview, the interviewer (a man) said that he had to see her to find out which part of her was thirty-six! She got the job! Years later, her daughter applied for her first job after graduating. Her mother suggested that she should say that she was a former beauty queen to make sure they called her for interview. Her daughter said, "Aw mom, I'm not like you!" She got the job too! It's all down to personalities. |
| | | lin Five Star Member
Number of posts : 2753 Registration date : 2008-03-20 Location : Mexico
| Subject: Re: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:25 pm | |
| I got to remember that. Next time I write a female agent I'll slip in the fact that I'm fifteen and a half. |
| | | zadaconnaway Five Star Member
Number of posts : 4017 Registration date : 2008-01-16 Age : 76 Location : Washington, USA
| Subject: Re: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:27 pm | |
| Don- Now whenever I buy peaches at the store, I will think of you!! |
| | | Pam Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1790 Registration date : 2008-02-01 Age : 58 Location : Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| Subject: Re: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:25 pm | |
| - lin wrote:
- I got to remember that. Next time I write a female agent I'll slip in the fact that I'm fifteen and a half.
Um...Lin, let us know how that works. I think that however outrageous you decide to be, it has to be the truth...but you never know if you don't try! |
| | | zadaconnaway Five Star Member
Number of posts : 4017 Registration date : 2008-01-16 Age : 76 Location : Washington, USA
| Subject: Re: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:01 am | |
| Aw shucks Pam. You mean I can't tell them I'm a 102 year old man? |
| | | Pam Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1790 Registration date : 2008-02-01 Age : 58 Location : Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| Subject: Re: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:13 am | |
| Not if you are also sending them a picture Zada--unless you undertake some very serious photoshopping! |
| | | zadaconnaway Five Star Member
Number of posts : 4017 Registration date : 2008-01-16 Age : 76 Location : Washington, USA
| Subject: Re: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:38 am | |
| Shucks! I thought it might carve me out a niche that wasn't too well populated!! |
| | | Pam Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1790 Registration date : 2008-02-01 Age : 58 Location : Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| Subject: Re: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:56 am | |
| Just had look again at the top of this thread...my first novel was turned down by publishers because it had a underlying military theme (Anne is part of a military reserve unit, and so the military is threaded through the story, but it is really a romance). With all the energy and support that we try to provide our military, whether we support the actions they are in or not, this kind of thinking still surprises me. I am going for a related underlying theme in my second novel. I wonder if things will have changed at all in the interim. Hmm. |
| | | zadaconnaway Five Star Member
Number of posts : 4017 Registration date : 2008-01-16 Age : 76 Location : Washington, USA
| Subject: Re: Reasons for getting turned down - rejected Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:59 am | |
| Let's hope so, Pam. I should think it would be timely, considering all the current military actions. |
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