Posted on January 19th, 2013, this is a fun one. Not really much else to add to it since it’s right to the point. People who weren’t following me back then might get a kick out of the final question though.
For some reason, I began thinking about all of the rejection letters I have received since I first began submitting my writing in high school. That was 17 years ago and I gathered a lot of rejection letters until I stopped trying a few years ago. I didn’t quit writing, but decided that there had to be another way for me. I felt a change in the writing world and I was seeing it in the rejection letters. There was no longer a pretense of publishers and agents reading my submissions. One even messed up spelling my name and write the title of a book that wasn’t familiar. Many times I never got a response, so I began looking into the industry. I really had no idea what was going on until I received the following statement in an agent’s rejection letter:
“We think you have talent and your story shows a lot of promise. Sadly, you are not Stephen King, so we have no place for you. We wish you the best of luck.”
This confused me for several days because I was well aware that I wasn’t Stephen King. For one thing, I have no interest or connection to Maine and I’m shorter. I assumed that this comment meant one of the following translations:
1. You are not as talented as Stephen King, so we don’t want you.
2. I wasn’t as famous as Stephen King, so they weren’t willing to take the risk.
Now, I can fully agree with and accept the first translation because I think Stephen King is better than me right now. I’m always learning and evolving my style, so I could reach his level at some point. For now, he is one of the masters and I’m one of the struggling peons.
That second one is what I think was really being said and that irked me. A lot. Not because they were wrong because they were right. It was because I felt like they were rejecting me because I wasn’t already published. Yet, I had been rejected by publishers for not having an agent. It was my first time meeting the Writer’s Catch 22: You need an agent to get published, you need a fanbase to get an agent, but you need to be published to get a fanbase. I was young and easily angered, so I did what any rational author would do. I started thinking up various ways to destroy the rejection letters and laugh like a maniac while doing it. There were darts, swords, scissors, lacing one with peanut butter and leaving it out for the squirrels, and so many other methods that should nominate me for a padded room. The Stephen King one made it to the end where I simply burned it over a pot and swore I was going to prove everyone wrong. In retrospect, I probably should have kept that rejection letter on the off chance that I ever meet Stephen King.
So, the point of this post is to reveal my past with rejection letters, which has been plaguing my mind and ask the following question:
What was the most bizarre or inspirational rejection letter you ever received and what did you do with it?
Legends of Windemere 
Since I independently publish, I’ve never had to face this with my books. But I did face it when I was in academia, but mostly critiques of papers and grant apps without outright rejection. It was a good learning experience and I learned to let all that negativity roll off and to find something positive to work on.
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It definitely takes some getting used to. Though there are always a handful that seem unnecessarily cruel.
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I just give them a mental middle finger – and sometimes a real one!
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Wow. What a letdown. You’re talented, but you’re not Stephen King? If that agent only looked for his or her concept of Stephen King, I wonder if he or she is still working in the industry.
I’ve literally had hundreds of rejection letters. One that really hurt included this line: “This is not a must read.” Then I thought about it: someone else might think differently. So I kept querying. Another agent claimed she loved my book, but after I revised it at her request, told me I didn’t do what she told me to do and rejected it. I puzzled over that one. Years later, I discovered she quit the business.
People can be wrong. Just ask the agents and publishers who rejected J.K. Rowling and Kate DiCamillo. (Hundreds rejected her, Kate said. Years later, she won the Newbery award twice once someone finally said yes.)
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Ouch on the revision one. It’s like they want an author to fit into a specific box and then realize they hate that box.
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HI Charles, I have never submitted my writing to a traditional publisher but I am well aware of the trend with rejections and so I know I am unlikely to have success that way. I don’t want another corporate in my life so I just self publish. I don’t think Stephen King would get published now as publishers don’t take any chances at all now. I don’t know what they will do when all the big names have passed on as there are very few new entrants into that market.
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You have a good point about no risks. My guess is they’ll republish the big names and nepotism will help others get in. Not that nepotism isn’t common now, but you’ll definitely see more of it.
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Yes, I think you are right. You can see current big name authors paving the way for their children as authors with join novels.
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I got a rejection letter that said. “We simply have no place for you.” I had to check back to see if I had made a mistake and sent the letter to an agent that only does non-fiction. Nope I was peddling a thriller and this was an agent who represented thriller authors. My last wonder was he making a statement about my weight? I crumpled up the letter and let my cat play with it until he got bored.
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That’s a weird response.
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I thought so, too.
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I submitted a partial fantasy manuscript and got back a rejection letter… and a partial cookbook?
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A partial cookbook? That’s bizarre.
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I assume they mixed up the submissions and a hopeful cookbook writer was probably equally confused to get back chapters of a fantasy novel.
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So you’re not Stephen King, what an odd thing to say. Keep writing, Charles.
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Thanks.
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You’re welcome.
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