When
an author’s manuscript is rejected by a publisher it is natural for the
author to believe that the book was not good enough. That can induce
failure of confidence leading to complete de-motivation. When I submitted
the MS of my crime novel 'The Wastings' to the Auckland branch of a
large international publisher I received this reply:
‘…It is clever and well written but it doesn’t quite engage the reader…this manuscript is not for us…(Name withheld) Managing Editor’
Another publisher took up The Wastings and it was subsequently published. A short time later I received a letter from Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse stories:
‘Dear Don,
‘…It is clever and well written but it doesn’t quite engage the reader…this manuscript is not for us…(Name withheld) Managing Editor’
Another publisher took up The Wastings and it was subsequently published. A short time later I received a letter from Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse stories:
‘Dear Don,
A very brief line to say how much (yes!) I enjoyed and admired The Wastings. So did my wife. So did my daughter. A lovely idea & a beautifully written work. You’ve made a splendid debut in crime fiction. More please! Good luck with your opus secundum.
Colin Dexter’
I much prefer Colin Dexter’s opinion to the unnamed managing editor's!
My message to all rejected authors is: Believe in yourself. Don’t lose heart. Even professional editors get it wrong. Mark Twain and J.K.Rowling, no strangers to rejection, could attest to that fact.
In
the aftermath I did write an opus secundum which the publisher of 'The
Wastings' had contracted to publish. He broke the contract. I didn't sue him
because I knew he had no money (that's why he broke the contract). So I
published it myself. It was called 'Second Bite'.
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