Thbtbtb to the universe.

[resonant]

We had our mail held while we were away, so today a big crate o' disposable paper items arrived from the post office. Amongst the incredibly numerous items-to-throw-away (how the hell did we get eleven newsletters in just under two weeks?!) was ...

A rejection letter from Silhouette.

OK, apologies for my naivete. Yes, I truly did expect to sell my very first novel to the very first publisher I offered it to. I didn't write a fantasy trilogy with a beautiful misunderstood telekinetic heroine named Axa; I wrote a category romance. I thought that was enough being realistic.

Oh, well. I'll find someone with category romance experience to critique the synopsis and the query letter, and I'll remind myself that it wasn't rejected because of flaws in the manuscript (since they haven't seen the manuscript), and I'll find another publisher to submit it to. Tomorrow, or maybe next week, or the week after.

Right now I'm just going to eat key lime pie and be depressed.

Comments

[halimede.livejournal.com]

Also, while submitting this novel to a different publisher, why not put together a synopsis and query for a second novel (as yet unwritten) and send it to Silhouette. No reason they might not like a different idea.

Last I heard (from hanging out on usenet, not personal experience) it was a bad idea to submit something that's not written, because if they do accept, it looks very bad if you then have to say 'uh, I still have to write it'. I suppose you could if you were honest about it, but apparently publishers are unlikely to accept as-yet-unwritten projects from unproven authors.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Huh. The language on their website suggests that they accept queries on unfinished novels -- at least, it says that one of the things a query letter should include is "whether or not the novel is finished."

Mine wasn't, and I said so. Wonder if that was my problem?

[halimede.livejournal.com]

What I've heard is that publishers are less likely to accept unfinished proposals from authors who haven't finished at least one novel, because a lot of people get stuck and never *do* finish the novel they want to write. Could be a contributing factor (along with the submission reader's cold, traffic adventures earlier that day and the weather).

I've seen various authors take the view that you'll collect X number of rejections per acceptance. Like with job applications, you count on a certain number of rejections and keep writing letters until you find the one that sticks.

BTW, one other thing: I've seen people in the comments say that the stuff this publisher puts out is 'bad' i.e. not to their taste, when your stuff is. Perhaps you'd have more luck selling to a publisher that puts out stuff that people who love your stuff love? Jennifer Crusie comes to mind.

Oh, and the one piece of writing advice that I see over and over online, especially when it comes to romance, is that you should write what you *want* to write, because if you don't have that passion for this particular story, it will show.