rejection, rejection

[Pam]

I just recieved my eleventh rejection.(Not all in one day)
This one is a little bothersome. The aqency said my work
"contains an interesting premise, it does not seem right for us at this time" and goes on to say with the volume of manuscripts they can accept fewer than one percent. FEWER THAN ONE PERCENT? This is a very scary percentage. As rejection letters go, it is still a rejection.
I know I will eventually find the right agent, but for now I'm going to wallow in self-pity.

Pam

[Ed Poe]

Don't get bogged down in the numbers or you'll go nuts.

You are not competing with the full 100% of the people that contact an agent/editor. You are up against the 10% who actually have a complete manuscript and have written a literate query letter in something other than crayon.

--Ed (who got rejection # 81 this weekend. But who's counting?)

[Shane]

Wallow, wallow, self pity adrift
But for the sharpness the rejection is swift.
Basque in it's dull, musked wuthered stench,
'Til the morrow comes and you get out the wrench.

Okay, okay, but it was on the fly!


Keep churnin'

[Marie Lu]

Fear not, Pam. We are all in, have been, and will be in the same boat with you. Keep your chin up and keep knocking those queries out there!

~Marie (who is on rejection #76)

[Brady Boyd]

Basque? That's a race in the mountains of Spain. P'raps you mean "bask"?

Or were just "Frenchicizing" the word?

Brady Boyd

[kotrix]

If you look at Jeff Herman's book, most agents have a 95-99% rejection rate. But, as Ed pointed out, such numbers ARE misleading, because they reflect no quality-stratification.

I would divide submissions into three groups: CRAP, MAYBE, and PUBLISHABLE. Does the last group contain 10% of the applicant pool? I hope not. However, from what I read off agents' websites, they do seem to be receiving a lot of CRAP.

Are there any agents out there (EE?) that can share with us some insights about the percentile quality break-down of the query crowd?

[Brady Boyd]

From the Jim Butcher website: http://www.jim-butcher.com

[/b]
Breaking into print is an arduous and discouraging process for darn near everyone who makes it in. Sure, there's always someone out there who writes a novel and has it go ballistic their first time out, but there are people who win the lottery too.

Here's the secret of how to get published: keep going.

There is an enormous weedout factor for wannabe writers. The good news is that you aren't competing with every published schmoe out there. You're only up against the rest of the wannabes, and it's like the old axiom about being chased by a grizzly bear. You don't have to run faster than the bear to get away. You just have to run faster than the guy next to you.

Keep trying when the guy next to you quits in disgust. Keep writing when the girl next to you sobs and throws her manuscripts into the fire. Keep conducting yourself like a professional, and you'll get someone to believe that you are one.

If you're lucky, maybe even yourself.

[Tiger Mountain]

I was once associate editor for a small-press f/sf zine. I did it for a year and averaged about a ms. a day. Of those 365, or so, about 3-4 absolutely blew me away. Another 25-30 I deemed enjoyable enough to send on to the senior editors. The other 330 odd manuscripts went from flawed mss. to outright dreck.

Another example. I compete at karate tournaments, and in one weapons division that I was watching and not competing in, they had over 30 competitors. Of those 30, 7 or 8 I deemed worthy of winning a trophy. But they only had four trophies to give out, and they don't give out the rest of the stats. And so much depends on whether a judge prefers crane style or tiger style, dynamic or elegant, or little bitty things like they wobbled during a landing or didn't leap as high or didn't hold the staff in exactly the right place. A competitor could be ranked 5th, but he gets as much recognition for his effort as the person ranked 35th.

So if you're idea is good and you've written an intriguing, literate query letter, you're only competing with the upper couple percent, not the entire mass of dreck that lands in an agent's in box.

[Pam]

Shane,
Okay, poetry isn't so bad. You brought a smile to my face with your wit and charm.
Pam

[Pam]

You guys are great! Thank you for all your encouraging words. I know this is a long and sometimes discouraging process, but I will stick it out. I also have a lot of support from my family which helps me stay focused on the goal.

Pam