When it comes to rejection letters, “Anything other than ‘yes’ is ‘no.’” Right?

Credit: Luke Beard

Last night, I was doing my laundry, eating a caprese salad (minus the tomatoes, olive oil and fresh basil), and listening to iTunes shuffle through my library. John Mayer’s “Friends, Lovers, Or Nothing” started to play, and while he’s probably correct when it comes to love, he definitely doesn’t have it quite right when it comes to revision requests.

Earlier this year, a writer friend had just received her first rejection letter, and the agent had given her some editorial feedback and offered to look at the manuscript again.

I was super excited for her. Her first submission ever turns into a revision request — what great news!

She, however, was confused. She had read the letter as a very polite but standard, “no, thank you,” and was going to set it aside.

Editors and agents will only offer to read the manuscript again if they are truly interested in seeing a revision and potentially working with you.

So if you received some editorial feedback and an offer to resubmit — congratulations, and get to work! They are giving you the opportunity to strengthen the project because they see something promising.

If there was no offer to read the manuscript again, then take heart. You and said editor/agent can still be friends on your next project. You just won’t be lovers on this one.

Still not sure what your rejection means? I deconstruct some rejections at When Should You Revise?, or you can leave a comment with your question.