What may be most frustrating are the generic word-processed letters that say something like: “not right for us.” Did the sender read any of your work? Did that person have any personal opinions about it? Could she not have spared a few moments to share her thoughts?
As an agent, it’s part of my job to reject the vast majority of the submissions I receive. And with each rejection, I know I’m not making someone happy. On the other hand, I don’t see spreading happiness as my exclusionary purpose. Like other agents and editors, I make liberal use of the generic rejection letter.
Here’s why: Too much to do, too little time. There just isn’t sufficient time to write customized, personal rejection letters. To be blunt about it, the rejection process isn’t a profit center; it does consume valuable time that otherwise could be used to make profits. The exceptions to this rule are the excessive-fee-charging operations that make a handsome profit with each rejection.
In most instances, the rejection process is “giveaway” time for agents and editors since it takes us away from our essential responsibilities. Even if no personal comments are provided with the rejections, it can require many hours a week to process an ongoing stream of rejections. An understaffed literary agency or publishing house may feel that it’s sufficiently generous simply to assign a paid employee the job of returning material as opposed to throwing it away. (And some publishers and literary agencies do in practice simply toss the greater portion of their unsolicited correspondence.) Agents and editors aren’t Dear Abby, though many of us wish we had the time to be.
Therefore, your generic rejection means no more and no less than that particular agent/editor doesn’t want to represent/publish you and (due to the volume of office correspondence and other pressing duties) is relaying this information to you in an automated, impersonal way. The contents of the letter alone will virtually never reveal any deeper meanings or secrets. To expect or demand more than this might be perceived as unfair by the agent/editor.
Click the link to Purchase a copy of Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents
No comments:
Post a Comment