I submitted my first novel and it was rejected. Cue heartbreak. For anyone that has been through rejection you know how hard it is to pull yourself out of the black hole. I’m thankful that after a couple of days and a chat to myself, I was more or less back to normal.
The good news is that the publisher told me what was wrong with it. And I’m so glad they did because once it was pointed out to me, I was like ‘well duh, of course.’ So after about a month of rewrites and revisions and having passed the eye of a yet another beta reader, it’s almost ready to be submitted to a different publisher.
This is the scary part though. What if it gets rejected again? I’ve addressed the issues mentioned by the first publisher so another rejection will be even worse. And what then? If it gets rejected do I keep submitting to different houses? Can I put myself through that kind of pain if they reject? I don’t know. The first rejection was crushing and it shook my confidence so much that I now doubt everything I’ve written. Sometimes I think I’ve done a good job and it’s a great story, but, I thought that the first time too.
A friend said if it gets rejected I should self pub, but, if the publishers reject it then it’s for a good reason. Why would I then self pub just to have it ripped to shreds by the reviewers? We all know how pleasant some of them can be.
I now question my second story which is practically finished, just waiting for me to pull my finger out and do some edits before sending it to the beta’s. What if that’s crap too?
So this is my dilemma. It’s hard to put your work out there, it’s even harder to have all your hard work sent back with a ‘thanks, but no thanks’. Will I submit to another publisher? Yes, I will, I just have to work up the nerve to hit the send button.
If anyone has a rejection story they wish to share, please do. We could start a club.
❤ RJ
Even after getting an agent, I’ve been and continue to be rejected by publishers. Publishers reject for a wide variety of reasons. So you can’t assume that a rejection is always because the work isn’t quality work. They might have similar books or it might be about something they don’t care about or any other wide variety of things.
The fact you received a quality rejection (where they explained the issues) is a great sign. If it was truly terrible, they would not have bothered. You can always see if they will look at a revised version that fixed the issues they raised.
The point is, you can’t let one or even multiple rejections get you down. You just have to do your best to learn from them. The fact you’ve got a full 2nd story nearly ready is great! If you get a publishing deal, having other manuscripts (like your first one) ready is very helpful.
I don’t think a few rejections means you need to self publish. That is, unless you want to do that. If you do, make sure you hire an editor and get a good cover artist. However, as someone who is shopping one manuscript and writing another, I can tell you that I’ve not let the numerous rejections stop me from pursuing being published. I hope you have good news from publishers soon!
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Thanks for your comment kyoske. I’ve decided to self publish as I like the idea of holding all the rights and keeping control of what happens with my work. I also like the idea of finding the right editor for me, and not just some random editor that’s assigned. I’m in the process of finding the right one for my style and also my novel. Keep an eye out for the release
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