Questions to Ask When Rejected

It is no fun to receive those rejection notices from a magazine or book publisher or literary agent. Almost everyone uses standard form letters in this process. Because of the high volume of submissions at some places, you are fortunate to even receive a rejection notice.

When you receive a rejection, there are some questions that I like to ask myself about the submission.

First, did I send it to the right editor and the right place? The publishing world is constantly changing and I've heard Sally Stuart say that at least 90% of the entries in The Christian Market Guide change each year. It's one of the reasons seven years after Howard Publishing changed to Howard Books, that I continue to receive submissions to the Fiction Acquisitions Editor at Howard Publishing (a role I've not had in years).

Second question: Do I like and believe in what I sent out? When it returns, you have an opportunity to adjust your pitch. Most of the time, it's probably ready to go out to someone else but it's a good question to ask. My much published journalist friend Kelly James-Enger calls rejections a bong and encourages you to get it right back out into the market in her article here: http://bit.ly/pupeLa Look at #10.

Third question: Can I take my material in a different direction where I can get my material into the market and earn the money directly (instead of a once-a-year royalty payment from a book publisher)? In the past, I've encourage you to look at your material differently. Recently I've created a new product to teach you how to create your own course. Everyone has something to teach others. It's the model that I used to create my proposal course and now I've pulled it together into an affordable--yet robust program for any writer: Simple Membership System

For every writer persistence and perseverance is a big part of this work. You need to be on a continual search for opportunity. When you find it, latch on to it and run toward it. The search may take a while but you can get there with continued effort.