I'm a day late (and very late at that) in posting because I was at the TeenBookCon yesterday. It was fabulous. I took my daughter. We fan-girled all day. And took pictures. Totally awesome.We listened to authors tell us their publishing stories; all the times they've failed and succeeded, even after publishing multiple books. Each one is hard, they said. There's no guarantee, just because you've been published before.
Rejection, or the fear thereof, is one of the hardest things a writer will face. Well, after writing the actual book that is. WHY WON'T THIS THING JUST WRITE ITSELF. :) The fear that someone won't like our work sometimes keeps us from ever sending it out. But you'll never know if someone will like it or not, unless you TRY.
To date I've sent out one query. One. I got a rejection the following day.
I had to laugh. Mostly out of relief because the torture had been quickly. No drawn out agony for weeks and weeks. One day. One look. Nope, not for her. No problem, I said. In fact, I had only sent it out because my husband asked me to. Practically insisted. He could see that I was being held back by fear, and he wanted me to get past that hurdle as quickly as possible. I didn't feel ready. And that the work wasn't ready. But he knew me well enough to know that that feeling would never change. I would always fear that it wasn't ready. I wanted it to be perfect before sending it out. As if. Pfst!
I've learned a few things since that first and only query and soon I'll be ready to do battle again. The book is stronger. I'm stronger. And I know that what I want is to find it the right home. I'm not going to worry about whether or not someone doesn't like it or why. I'm willing to find the right person who will love it as much as I do. It deserves nothing less. I deserve nothing less.
How do you view rejections in the publishing world? What are your worst fears when it comes to publishing?
Rejection used to hurt me a lot more than it does now. Maybe I'm getting a thicker skin, maybe I'm getting desensitized or maybe I've just realized that each one of those rejections brings me closer to those beautiful YESES. And they do come :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't submitted my stuff to that many people yet, but I feel that rejections just come with the territory. When I get a "no, thanks" letter, I remind myself that there are many big-name authors out there who got tons and tons of rejections before they heard a "yes."
ReplyDeleteThat fear of submitting is like waiting to get slapped in the face: you know it's going to hurt, you just don't know how badly.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest fear of being published has been realized, I'm afraid to admit. I've had a book contract for a year now, and after a series of setbacks, we finally got around to those edits only to find out we couldn't agree on how deep those edits (rewrites/cuts) should be. In the end, I chose to sever my ties with that publisher and keep my book as I envisioned it. If I can start all over again after what I've gone through, I believe now I can go through just about anything. I'm stronger thanks to this past year's journey, and I've learned so much.
looking back... i love my ipad too! and i neeeeeed more patience, always in such a hurry!get outta my way, people! i need to slow down
ReplyDeleteas for rejection, i'm a realist, i expect a no and am pleasantly surprised (freaking excited!) by a positive.
happy a to z!
Some of the best writers out there were rejected many, many times, so you are in good company! I remember the first time I ever published a COMMENT on a blog (about 8 years ago), I was so nervous. Crazy! ;)
ReplyDeleteRejections are very hard to deal with, but the only consolation is that some of the most famous books were rejected before they were printed.
ReplyDeleteRejections suck. But they're gonna happen. Even highly successful writers were rejected at some time.
ReplyDeleteI'm querying my 2nd novel. The first one was a huge learning process and I realize now I did it too early. I feel much smarter about it now. The whole writing to publishing is a huge learning curve, and I continue to learn all the time.