Long ago, in a galaxy unfortunately identical in time and place to this one, I sent an immature manuscript to the One Publisher whose list, I was convinced, its plot, setting, and characters might fit with nary a whisker in need of sleeking. Wisely and without undue harshness, the publisher sent back a rejection letter. Here endeth the first lesson.
Lo these many years later, while my writerly learning grew through dedicated study and contemplation of the Word and the Novel, the manuscript is now mature and ready to once more attempt implantation in the world of published books. It is even more ideal for the One Publisher, to whom I would much love to return it. But my name is tainted in One's sight by that premature submission, and my soul is trapped in a maze of self-doubt.
I pray You shed the light of Your benevolence on my Gordian dilemma. Is it worth sending to One again and, if so, what are the proper and correct words to express the sentiment, "I know I was a doofus last time and you were right to reject my unworthy manuscript but please, please, trust me when I say I learned my lesson and have made it good."?
Knocking my forehead three times in the direction of Your mighty keyboard,
1. Ah, if you could only get a look at the utter puke authors like King and Grisham and Roberts were submitting before they hired EE to teach them the ropes.
2. By "long ago," do you mean three months ago, or seven years? Because if it's been a long while, they've since seen a few dozen manuscripts identical to your unique one, and forgotten those as well.
3. If what you sent was that bad, they probably read only a few paragraphs, if that, and you've changed those paragraphs. You've also changed the title and are using a pen name, so they aren't going to know it's you until you're signing the contract, at which point you can all have a good laugh.
4. By publisher, I assume you mean editor, because if you're sending to a publisher your work is unlikely to be read by the same person who read it several years ago.
5. You're sending a query letter and some sample pages, right? It's not like you're forcing them to reread your novel. They aren't going to say, This sounds fantastic, but I seem to recall rejecting a novel with this title five years ago.
6. Have you sent the opening to EE?
7. If this publisher has stayed in business with a list that fits your work perfectly, by now other publishers have seen their success and are publishing similar lists, and are also perfect for your book.
8. If it's been 18 months or more, just send it. What's the worst that can happen?
Lo these many years later, while my writerly learning grew through dedicated study and contemplation of the Word and the Novel, the manuscript is now mature and ready to once more attempt implantation in the world of published books. It is even more ideal for the One Publisher, to whom I would much love to return it. But my name is tainted in One's sight by that premature submission, and my soul is trapped in a maze of self-doubt.
I pray You shed the light of Your benevolence on my Gordian dilemma. Is it worth sending to One again and, if so, what are the proper and correct words to express the sentiment, "I know I was a doofus last time and you were right to reject my unworthy manuscript but please, please, trust me when I say I learned my lesson and have made it good."?
Knocking my forehead three times in the direction of Your mighty keyboard,
1. Ah, if you could only get a look at the utter puke authors like King and Grisham and Roberts were submitting before they hired EE to teach them the ropes.
2. By "long ago," do you mean three months ago, or seven years? Because if it's been a long while, they've since seen a few dozen manuscripts identical to your unique one, and forgotten those as well.
3. If what you sent was that bad, they probably read only a few paragraphs, if that, and you've changed those paragraphs. You've also changed the title and are using a pen name, so they aren't going to know it's you until you're signing the contract, at which point you can all have a good laugh.
4. By publisher, I assume you mean editor, because if you're sending to a publisher your work is unlikely to be read by the same person who read it several years ago.
5. You're sending a query letter and some sample pages, right? It's not like you're forcing them to reread your novel. They aren't going to say, This sounds fantastic, but I seem to recall rejecting a novel with this title five years ago.
6. Have you sent the opening to EE?
7. If this publisher has stayed in business with a list that fits your work perfectly, by now other publishers have seen their success and are publishing similar lists, and are also perfect for your book.
8. If it's been 18 months or more, just send it. What's the worst that can happen?
28 comments:
Is trying to sell this manuscript really what you want to do?
My first novel will never be published. My second was merely an abomination. If I went back and revisted them, I have no doubt I could write better prose. I could create better characters and a much more gripping plot. However, if I'm going to do that, why don't I just write a new story?
I know we fall in love with these things. They're like drunken, abusive spouses that we keep thinking we can save if we just try a bit harder. The fact is, sometimes it's not you, it's them.
Write another novel. Then go back and take a good, objective look at your first manuscript. If it looks to be worth salvaging, do so. Usually, though, you'll realize that you need to throw the bum out and move on.
Fellow mimions, you are fortunate. Blogger ate my entirely too long post on rejection. Here is the short version.
I'm in sales, and the primary factor that keeps people out of sales is fear of rejection. Here are some ways to deal with it, and this is not an exhaustive list by any means.
1. Who cares? Are you ever going to meet the agent/editor who rejects your MS? Are they going to tell your family and friends?
2. Sales (that's what we're in) is a numbers game. Not every one is going to buy. Submit your materials knowing only X percent are likely to buy, and a greater number (1-X%) won't.
3. The agent/editor is not rejecting you, but your MS. You are in all probability a fine person.
4. Try to learn from the rejections. Keep fixing your product.
5. Condition yourself. Submit materials to EE and others and join a critique group. Take the shots, lick your wounds, and go on.
I'm going to disagree with Ulysses here (although Ulysses is a very bright guy and gives excellent advice).
First novels:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - JK Rowling
Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
Housekeeping - Marilynn Robinson
The Outsiders - SE Hinton
Eragon - (Okay, this book really is crap, but it's crap that made a LOT of money)
Just off the top of my head. If you have put in the time and the work, don't doubt yourself. You might as well try. If, after you've pursued it, nothing happens, *then* move on.
And keep writing in the meantime.
Were those ones all really first novels? Because if I ever get published it will be my "first novel" sent for publication (I hope) and not one of the three I've written so far or the one I'm working on now. Those novels will be quietly forgotten.
People don't always tell the truth, especially to the newspapers.
Kiersten!!!
You said "crap"!
Kiersten: I agree with you completely. I merely meant to point out that there comes a time when you are merely assaulting a post-vital equine.
It's important to recognize when that is, and then go write something else.
It's one of my indulgences, Wes; I don't say it in front of my kids though. And I apologize to the Australians, as apparently that is considered swearing down there.
I also drink caffienated soda. What can I say, I'm a wild one.
Fairyhedgehog, (first of all, what kinds of wishes does a fair hedgehog grant? That sounds like an awesome children's book...maybe if they wish for the wrong thing she pokes them) I know that Twilight was Meyer's first finished novel. Hinton wrote The Outsiders when she was seventeen, so it was probably hers as well. Everyone and their dog knows the story of Eragon, Robinson is a professor and writes nonfiction, but Housekeeping was her first foray into fiction (had a phone interview with her in college, just when she was working on Gilead), and Rowling has never mentioned previously finished stories.
That's why those were the only examples I used; they were the only ones I didn't need to verify with further research.
I have to say I'm amazed. I would really not have thought it was possible to write a first novel good enough to get published.
Incidentally, my name is stolen shamelessly from Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad so I can't claim any credit for it.
A valid point, Ulysses.
Also, I like the urn.
We are never as visible as we think we are.
The One Whatever won't remember or care, and even if they do and they are as unforgiving as you say, let this be in response to your actual submission rather than an imagined obstacle nailed to your starting block.
Also, I must sheepishly point out that perhaps the reason I am defending this point so much is that I am currently trying to sell my first novel. However, I spent two years creating the story and writing it, and the last two years editing. I also leave it alone for months at a time, then re-read it to make certain that I still think it is good enough to sell. I still do.
But I'm writing short stories and have started my next novel in the meantime. And I'm giving myself a time limit--if I can't get an agent for Tut within the next six months to a year, I'll shelve it and start querying for my next book, which should be done by then.
Kirsten:
What you're doing strikes me as a good way to go about things. However, should you find yourself querying the same agent twice for the same manuscript, THEN I would question your judgment (but not your dedication).
And I apologize to the Australians, as apparently that is considered swearing down there.
It is? I wish people would tell me these things :| (OK I wouldn't use it in polite company, but it's pretty mild, esp if you're dealing with computers.)
On novels, I usually consider whatever I'm working on the Most Wonderful Thing I've Ever Written and everything that has gone before is, well, crap. Then I finish the WIP, start a new one and now this is Most Wonderful Thing I've Ever Written.
If I'm improving as a writer, this is the way is should be but, oh, it makes it hard submitting earlier work.
Diana Gabaldon wrote her first novel as "practice." Who knew?
Of course, anyone who has read her work can see why it sold.
I wrote Dancing Horses, a suspense about rich people killing champion cutting horses for the insurance money. First version was crap. Second version wasn't too bad and got an agency. Third version was pretty darned good. Fourth version is seventeen chapters rewritten after computer crash, causing death of said complete third version. I finally decided it was a sign and shelved it, but it was good practice.
Then I wrote three children's books.
Now I am working on a fantasy novel.
It was pretty hard to put Dancing Horses aside. So hard to put away Cajun cowboys. I love the characters and the story, but sometimes we have to be prepared to do that if it doesn't sell.
Would I submit DH to agents again if I finish it? Yep. It is nothing like the original version and it's been 15 years since I shelved it.
If it wasn't a major rewrite, I wouldn't, however. Sell something else and then surprise your agent with something that might also work.
Questioner: to once more attempt is a split infinitive. Sorry, pet peeve.
xenith: Is there polite company in Australia? If so, I've been misinformed.
EE: that was such a cratic answer. I mean, it was so cratic. I'm not sure I've ever seen you be so cratic before. But even in my giddy, semiconscious state with the Jack Daniels polished off, I have to say you've been funnier. Sorry, I just tell it like I see it. Then I get blacklisted. Story of my life.
Now, see, pjd, I hate the split infinitive rule. I much prefer to not say and to not do and to randomly think of verbs to haphazardly split. I know the opposite is the official rule, but it always sounds better to viciously split the things. I've never done an actual study of English usage on this, but I would guess that people actually speak with split infinitives and only are told to write without them, which is why it sound more natural to split away. Basically, grammar people are trying to enforce a different style on writing than exists in speech.
Author, why are you so fixated on this agency? If the story is so good, send it to a few other places. NO offense but it sounds like you're being pretty hard-headed.
And I'd lose the tone/style of your note to EE -- somewhat annoying.
Good luck!
Is there polite company in Australia? If so, I've been misinformed.
It would be seem so, or you wouldn't be getting this response :)
We Brits did away with the split infinitive rule. We are now free to wantonly split away.
Wasn't it Star Trek that set us free to boldly split infinitives?
I was brought up not to split infinitives and it always felt counter-intuitive. I wouldn't split them in formal writing even now, though.
I never said it was a reasonable, justifiable, or defensible pet peeve. I personally prefer not to split my infinitives, though I'm certain there are several other purist rules I regularly break due to, well, ignorance. But I prefer to call it "voice."
The split infinitives rule was invented in the seventeeth century by grammarians who were trying to make English more like Latin. In Latin, infinitives are one word so it's not possible to split them. These grammarians wisely concluded that English shouldn't be the way it is and decreed we should as much as possible pretend to be Latin.
So, yeah, split those infinitives. Even if they don't burn as well as firewood.
Pete: You respectably prefaced your statement regarding split infinitives with it being a pet peeve of yours and not that you are evangelizing. I have great respect for individual likes and dis-likes, so the following is not intended to change how you feel about splits.
The American Heritage usage groups are actually as enlightened as the Oxford guys on the issue:
http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/059.html
So go boldly forth and split with impunity.
I choose...#8.
I really doubt the One Publisher is going to remember your name. I mean, do you know what those slush piles look like at the publishers who still have 'em?
http://tinyurl.com/42bx3s
(I think there are 3 pics on that page that show various slushpiles at Tor, which publishes SF and fantasy.)
Send it in. But my guess is - be prepared to wait a loooong time.
Good luck.
I will give this case in support of pjd, however: "To be or to not be" sounds ridiculous.
Wow. This was a good comment trail.
Wish I'd been home last night, dammit.
And NOW I see the origin of paca's blog post. Oh. Got it.
I agree, paca. "to not be" just doesn't have do the job.
About first novels:
I just sold my first novel to a major house. Yes, really my first novel. I did write a lousy novella once.
If this were a second go-round because all other options have been exhausted, then yes I would agree with Ulysses that it's time to move on. But it read to me that there had been a single premature submission in the past, and the questioner wants to resubmit to that first-choice option (presumably along with submitting elsewhere for the first time) now that the book has been substantially revised.
(Forgive me if I've misunderstood--now that I'm in comments I don't have the original post against which to check my impressions.)
I see nothing in that scenario to indicate that this novel has run its course. I wish the questioner the best of luck with querying widely.
(Though I would say make sure the first pages are strikingly different from what was sent before. And possibly the title--I've heard that some publishers log submissions. Anyone know if that's so?)
Same anonymous here:
Also, if you're going to submit again, I would suggest only doing so if the changes are substantial. If you've only, for example, "tidied up and tightened" the manuscript, that wouldn't seem to me to be enough of a diff to warrant resubmission...
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