Why Would Anyone Choose Rejection?
Is rejection your goal? No, of course not. You and I both want to succeed, to have a manuscript accepted and to sell thousands of books.
When you apply for jobs, though, especially in today’s economy, you may need to send out 20, 30, 50 resumes before you find the right job.
It’s the same for submissions. You must have the right manuscript with the right editor at the right time. So many things could go wrong: you may have the right editor and right time, but you haven’t finished the right manuscript or you just sold it elsewhere.
You may have the right manuscript and the right editor, but–maybe the editor is moving to a different house next month, or maybe s/he just bought a similar project. That means yours showed up at the wrong time.
The variations on the possible scenarios are endless, of course, but the bottom line is that a little luck is involved. And the way to increase your odds is to send out targeted, appropriate submissions, enough to collect a few rejection slips.
For some writers, it is a good goal to get 20 rejections before the end of this year. Yes, 20. Or more.
It means you are submitting, looking for the right combination of circumstances to make that sale. You want your book to be published well, not just published. You want excitement, enthusiasm, joy. And the best way to find that may be by sending it to 19 places that reject it, and a 20th who accepts it.
Go on. Get rejected a lot this year!
All right, then! This is my year for submitting and you’ve made me ready for rejections. :)
Of course, if there’s an acceptance among the ‘noes’ that would be good, too!
Thank you for this post.