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April 02, 2009
Rejection from an Agent is like a Rejection from Harvard: You Can't Take it Personally
My daughter's friend did the unspeakable. He applied to 18 colleges. He's a minority student who scored 2400 on the SATs, earned a 4.0 GPA (or 5.0 or 6.0 whatever the highest is these days), racked up 300 hours of community service, plays the piano, tap dances...the list goes on. And on. In short, he is the quintessential college applicant (the envy, or more likely the bash-bait, of all his peers).
Why blog about Super Senior on my writing space? There's a lesson for us all in what lies ahead. Keep reading.
As colleges passed out their decisions over the past few days, this ultimate applicant, however, received the following news.
Harvard: Rejection
Princeton: Rejection
Yale: Rejection
Penn: Wait-listed
You might first react by saying, "What the...?" The point is that rejection happens, even to the tippy-top, cream-of-the-crop.
And the same holds true for submitting writers. Many of my colleagues and cliets have received rejections from 2 or 3 agents and then tossed their manuscripts into a drawer. Sometimes that manuscript needs to be tossed, especially if it had a waning plot or was one draft short of being ready to submit.
Some of those manuscripts, however, are ripe and ready. And the writer needs to do the unthinkable, like the 2400 Kid did, and submit, submit, submit. There's no way Super Senior can take his rejections personally. He did everything in his power to make it to the top of the admissions pile. And still, for some schools, he just wasn't what they were looking for.
If you have a manuscript in the drawer that has been rejected a couple of times, pull it out and read it. If it's rough, revise. Make it tippy-top, cream-of-the-crop. Then, hop on over to The Guide to Literary Agents and start researching appropriate potential agents. Next, write an exciting query letter (if you're stuck, check out Query Shark) and give it a try.
And if you receive a couple of rejections, don't take it personally. You simply didn't write in the genre or voice they were seeking at the time. Keep submitting until you find the right agent for you.
Adopt the perserverence of the Super Senior who, by the way, was accepted to Brown and Dartmouth. Poor kid won anyway, didn't he? And you can, too!
Good luck!
Judy
Posted by Judy at April 2, 2009 08:37 AM
Comments
OK Judy,
You've inspired me to give it one more go. I find it completely baffling that I have successfully self-published one book, sold 1000 copies on my own, self-syndicated a humor column to over 400 newspapers in 25 states and 3.5 million readers, have appeared on the Today Show as a result of my success, and I still can't find an agent to represent my second book. Yes, I feel like that kid who got rejected from Harvard. But maybe I'll take your advice and take one more shot. Thanks for the kick in the butt!!
Posted by: Tracy Beckerman at April 2, 2009 04:52 PM
Tracy, I am so excited to hear you're going to give your manuscript another chance in the hands of editors. Your history is quite remarkable and I'm convinced there IS an agent out there for you. So much of this process is about the click that sometimes happens when two people meet. It's a great feeling when it does, making it seem like you've known a person for years. Unfortunately, those experiences are not all that common. You have to put yourself out there (again and again and again) to be discovered (or rediscovered)!
I wish you great luck! Please, please let us know how it goes!
Judy
Posted by: Judy Schneider at April 2, 2009 05:08 PM
Is it really that important to have an agent?
Posted by: TC at April 2, 2009 07:02 PM
Judy:
Amen, sister! There are a slew of similarities in the college and agent search processes. Having lived through my one and only applying to, and attending a "big" college, then wandering the world and coming back with his true love AND a different slant on his life's ambitions, I recognize how costly yet rewarding the process is. Your point that perserverence pays is true whether you are 29 or 92...or somewhere in between. I miss you, my friend. mary
Posted by: mary at April 2, 2009 07:38 PM
Thanks, Mary & TC.
Mary, you said it best, "Perserverence pays!" That should be a bumper sticker! (Miss you, too!)
TC, like any interesting topic, a debate about whether or not a writer needs an agent can become rather lengthy. All I have to offer, of course, is my humble opinion, and it constitutes a big, fat YES! Agents have relationships with editors, so they have a sense about those who might feel passionately about your subject, your writing style, your story. They know which editors are looking for what types of projects. They dine together, toast each other's successes, ask about each other's families. Imagine the difference, then, when your manuscript comes recommended by someone an editor has come to trust, or it arrives on the editor's desk cold, with a recommendation from you (someone they likely don't know and who is, hopefully, boldly biased).
In addition, agents understand the writer's rights and know how to fight for them. They handle the business end of the project, including everything from decipering the contract to issuing royalty checks.
I understand that this is the age of the do-it-yourselfers (thanks to the HGTV and DIY channels, I love them), but I am a firm believer in paying professionals to do what might be difficult (by that, I don't mean challenging) to do well (and safely) on your own. I believe in paying electricians, accountants, lawyers, and agents!
TC, some people say it's more difficult to win the interest of an agent than it is to land an editor, so I see how that might be frustrating for writers. In the end, the search is worth it (for me, at least).
I'd love to hear from others on this. What do you think? Do writer's need agents?
Posted by: Judy Schneider at April 3, 2009 08:17 AM