My most polite rejection letter to date

Well, got the heave-ho from the next agent in the list, but I have to appreciate that while it was a form letter, at least it was a polite form letter, complete with a pep-talk. “Assume we’re wrong,” was the message, “keep trying.” I had read the text of the letter previously on their Web site, but even though I knew what was coming the encouraging words were welcome. The large body of constructive advice and resources on the agency’s site was one of the reasons I had selected them in the first place. They seemed like they would be good to work with.

So let it be known that the Larsen-Pomada Literary Agency was the second agency to reject me, but in my book they’re number one!

On a related note, I have come, over the last months, to understand the need authors have to be published. Sure, fame and fortune are nice, recognition by peers and critics has its place, but there is something deeper, more fundamental. Yesterday I put my finger on it. Once an author publishes a work and it appears in print, then and only then is it possible to stop working on it. Publication is a release from bondage.

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2 thoughts on “My most polite rejection letter to date

  1. Yes. I have noticed similar traits in music. I know people who have written an album’s worth of material, recorded it, and then gone back and re-written and re-recorded, never laying it to rest. At least as an author you’re not expected to truck around the globe reciting your words for the next 10 years… (or are you…?)

  2. As an obscure author, one of the only ways to get into the big bookstores is with the ever-popular Boor Tour. Therefore publishers prefer authors who are willing to truck around the globe reciting their words.

    There’s a lot less gear to haul around than if I were a musician, though, so I have that going for me.

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