As an editor and awriter, I get the opportunity to experience rejection from two verydifferent, very distinct viewpoints.
On theone hand, I pour myself into my stories, working for hours and dayson end emptying myself into the worlds I create. Reading andre-writing sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph. Surrenderingmyself to the long and tedious project of writing novels. Putting inthe sweat, tears, and even blood (if paper cuts count!), only to sendthe completed work out and see it rejected.
I admitI have crumbled under letters that briefly stated, “This work doesnot meet our criteria.” The words are a simple rejection, or formletter, yet they had such far-reaching consequences. It left mefeeling like my work wasn't even good enough to warrant a secondglance.
To date,as an editor, I have had to send out a dozen rejection letters. Thiswas painfully done. Perhaps because I am so new to the process, Icouldn't help but wonder what damage rejection would do to thesewriters. After all, rejection letters are still sometimes enough tomake me want to quit, forget I ever knew how to write and never lookat pen or paper again.
I willalways remember the first two submissions I had to refuse. Not somuch because the submissions themselves stand out, but because of thetime I spent considering these books and the emotional turmoil I wentthrough knowing that my opinion, my words of rejection (no matter howcarefully I crafted them) could forever impact a hopeful writer. ButI rejected them for a reason.
Onesubmission was underdeveloped. The plot was sketchy and the storynever really came together. The other submission wasn't bad at all.The children's story was cheerful and sensitively handled a difficultsubject, death. I liked the piece, but I wasn't looking for afull-color illustrated book. It simply didn't fit the publisher'sneeds.
Fromthese experiences I have come to understand a little about what takesplace when a writer submits their work, unsolicited, to an editor.There is a formal process that a submission goes through not justwhen being reviewed, but when being created, too. It is important toremember that your submission is the first impression an editor has,not only of your book, but of you as an author. In order to succeedin your submission efforts, it is necessary to abide by a fewstandard “codes of conduct.”
First,manuscripts/illustrations that come without a formal query seem likea social misstep. The query letter, an overview of the proposed storyand the author's credentials, is as necessary as saying hello to anew acquaintance. As an editor, I typically don't know the author whois submitting their work, and when the introduction begins as such,“I'm submitting three stories, and sixteen illustrations. You don'tknow me, but I hope you'll publish my work,” I feel like animportant step has been skipped. A query letter is of the utmostprofessional importance when submitting your work.
Also,it seems that many writers who approach me this way don't realizethat there are submission guidelines listed on the website thatoutline what I expect to be included in the submission and how Iwould like to receive it. These guidelines make the submissionprocess a little easier for me, but more than that, they help me todetermine who can follow directions, and who
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