A Writer's Worst Nightmare: Rejection.
You have poured your heart and soul into your story. It is perfect. It is wonderful. It is finished at last. Now comes the hard part: publication. But you have no fear, your story is the greatest story ever written, editors will love it, they'll be knocking on your door begging to publish it... or will they?
Sad truth of the matter is, that it is very rare for ANY story to ever get published. For every story that does get published there are thousands more that got rejected. Once in a while an editor will send you a letter detailing why they could not accept your story, but nine times out of ten, all your get is a postcard with a check mark next to the word "reject", and you have no idea why your story was rejected.
For many writers, most writers in fact, the response is to write a mean, dirty, nasty letter to the editor. You'd be surprised how many writers do this. Letters which, most editors never see because they have a secretary to weed them out.
What most writers never consider, however, is just how many writers are out there and how few publishers there are for those writers. There are three facts in the publishing world on which we can rely. Let's consider this for a moment:
# 1. ) The average publishing house receives over 1,000 manuscripts each and every week.
#2. ) The average publishing house publishes less than 100 books per year.
#3.) There are 52 weeks in one year.
If we are to assume that the above facts are true, we can farther assume that the average publisher rejects 52,000 manuscripts each year. Think about that number for a moment: 52,000. Do you know what that means? It means that for one, single, solitary publisher, there are 52,000 writers that got rejected. And mind you, that's just one publisher. Now how many publishers are there? Hundreds? Hundreds times 52,000 rejections. What is that? Millions?
Now granted these are averages and there are many publishing houses in that average that publish less than ten books per year, while less than a dozen publish a thousand books per year. Publishers of ten books a year, may only receive a hundred or so manuscripts a week and publishers of a thousand books a year often receive over 10,000 manuscripts each week. So you can see that the 52,000 figure isn't exactly accurate, it's only an average.
If you are new to writing, than your first thought may be that your story was rejected because it wasn't good enough. It is not uncommon for writers to feel that they are a rare breed. This is not true. Writers are alarmingly common, so common in fact that there just aren't enough publishers to publish all of the great stories they see each week. Sadly an editor must reject many wonderful stories simply because they have a limited amount of space in which to publish them.
The Pink Slap
What is it and how do I avoid getting one?
Every writer has seen it. Writers all know what it is. The pink envelope with the letter telling you your manuscript has been rejected. The pink postcard with the word reject checked off. The friendly email telling you thanks but no thanks. The question is not "What is The Pink Slap"?, but rather, "How do I avoid getting one?".While there is no fool proof way to avoid having your manuscript rejected, there are a few things you can avoid doing, thus improving your chances of avoiding rejection. In this Lens we shall explore a few of them.
Websites To Help Your Writing Career:
- Publishing Law Center: Copyright, trademarks, intellectual property, contracts, licensing, rights, PubLaw Update Newsletter
- legal information for publishers of magazines, newsletters, books, and multimedia products including copyrights, trademarks, contracts, licensing, & rights.
- National Novel Writing Month - National Novel Writing Month
- National Novel Writing Month is an annual novel writing project that brings together professional and amateur writers from all over the world.
- A Writer's Desk: Forum for Fiction Writers - Home
- Writing lessons, story starters, writing exercises, character creation, plotting, message boards, and free blog for writers of fiction, short stories, horror, sci-fi, romance, mystery, and fantasy. One stop spot for all your writing needs!
Five Reasons Manuscripts Get Rejected:
#1.) Spelling Ninjas
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#2.) Grammar Police
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#3.) What the *#@* is wrong with my %#@!ing story?!?!?!?!?!
Uhm... yeah... right. So, now that you are done venting and swearing and throwing a rather obscene vulgar fit of rage, let's take a look at your manuscript. Oh, I see. That was your manuscript. Okay. So what was the question again? What? You mean you actually don't know why it was rejected? You're kidding, right?Okay, if you can't figure it out yourself, I'll tell you: It was all that swearing. All that back to back to back vulgarity. Why? Well, for one thing, vulgarity doesn't sell, and a publishing house will only accept a manuscript they think they can sell.
When asked, most editors will tell you that vulgar verbology is one of their pet peeves. Swearing results in more rejections than most writers realize.
What to do? For starters, try learning to speak without being vulgar. Chances are, if you are writing that way, than you are talking that way as well. Your writing reflects your day to day speech patterns. Your characters often talk the same way you do. The best way to cure the problem in your writing is to cure the problem in your mouth.
Clean up your writing. Remove at least 99% of the swearing from your manuscript. Get rid of all those annoying exclamation points. Try submitting your story again.
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#4.) I know you don't publish fiction, but...
- I know you don't publish fiction but...
I know you only publish Romance but...
I know you don't publish graphic novels but...
Do you have any idea how many cover letters start with this phrase? Just about every single one of them! If your cover letter had phrase "I know you don't publish _____ , but . . . "anywhere in it, than you can be sure that the editor never even read your manuscript. It was rejected because you sent them a story that they couldn't use, no matter how much they liked it.
My question to you is: If you knew that they don't publish stories like yours, than why did you send it to them in the first place?
A word of advice: Before you send your story to be published: KNOW THE MARKET! Read the guidelines. Follow the guidelines. Believe that the guidelines are there for a reason and obey them. If the guidelines say they only publish 300 word home repair how-to's than don't send them your latest 300 page romance.
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#5.) But everybody loves Harry Potter!
...and my story about him is soooo much better than Rawlings were!Did you know that more than half of all manuscripts get rejected because they are about copyrighted characters? Editors are swamps in illegal fan-fic. Lately Harry Potter and Captain Jack Sparrow top the list.
Before you start your protest, there is something you should know: Laws forbid publishers from publishing stories about copyrighted characters. If a publisher did publish such a story, the minimum fine is $25,000. The fine to be paid by you the author of the copyright infringing story. Mind you that that is the minimum, and that Disney once sued (and won) in a copyright infringement case and the infringer was fined $12 million. Other cases have resulted in prison time: the minimum for copyright infringement being 25 years. So no matter how well thought out your plot is, no matter how well written your story, if it's about a copyrighted character, it is going to be rejected. ALWAYS!
What is wrong with Fan-Fiction? It's not like I killed anybody.
Living the criminal life of a low-life thief and why you should go to jail for it.
While it may be good practice for new writers, to write out their fantasies with copyrighted characters... if you are not capable of creating your own characters, than you really have no business pretending to be a writer at all.
Why? Well, for one thing to be a writer, you must create your own universe. Yeah, that's right...Writers create.
And what do writer's create?
Writers create characters. If you can't create your own characters, you will not get very far as a professional writer.
Fan-Fic for your personal fantasy and writing practice is one thing but to publish it and make a mockery of the original writer's intended character traits is not only an outrage, but a copyright infringement that could get you a $25,000 fine and/or 10 or more years in prison. Some authors may not care, but what about the one's who do care? What do they do?
In a word...they sue your ass off, and take you for everything you have...you could lose your home, your car, your job, and if you are lucky you won't go to prison.... that's IF, and the law swings to the rights of the creator of the characters, so your chances of landing on the little tiny if are not good.
Think about it this way:
Pretend for a few moments that you are not some fan-fic groupie...but that you are an actual writer...the REAL THING...a 100% honest writer who has created a universe filled with wonderful characters. Characters who you get paid to write about. Characters, who, if you stopped writing about, your family would starve, because you are a real writer and you get paid to write....
The Evils of Fan-Fiction Continued:
You have created a character that you love deeply. You have poured your heart and soul into designing him. You gave him a home. A career. A family. A lifestyle. A goal. A purpose, etc. He is perfect. Now you write a story about him. You want the world to know how much you love the character you have created.
Eureka, the story is published! Better, yet, the world loves him. He becomes an over night hit. You are so proud that the world loves him as much as you do.
Than one day you come across a fan-fic site, and shudder, shock, horror! You find that your beloved character has murdered his wife and is in bed with the author of the FanFic story! Or your villain has given up a life of crime and now preaches the Bible as a traveling evangelist.
You stare at the screen in disbelief. You are shocked. You are hurt. With tears in your eyes, you ask yourself: "How could they? How could they take my beautiful perfect character, and turn him into such a monster?"
Your heart is broken. You give up writing. You cannot understand how your fans could be so sadistic and cruel as to destroy your beloved work of art. Why? Why? Why? You thought they loved him as much as you do...and now you find that they don't love him, they only love to hurt him. WHY? You ask again. You worked so long. You worked so hard. And for what? For this? To sit back and watch as the fans destroy the character you created and turn him into something you never intended him to be?
Than you realize...they are destroying your character, and fans are reading it! Fans are reading it! That means they are not buying your stories anymore. You are not getting paid for these works of fan-fiction. Your family must go hungry because your fans instead of paying for your work are reading fan-fiction. The writers of the fan-fiction have not only destroyed your character, but they have stolen the food right out of your children's mouths. They have stolen your income, your career is ruined.
You see the problem with fan-fiction?
Do you see now why I hate it so much?
How do you think you'd feel if someone did this to you and a character you created?
And you know what? All authors, editors, agents, and publishers will agree with me on how evil Fan-fiction is, and that's why none will accept your stolen story. Some may even report you to the FBI.
Think about what you are doing before you do it.
More Info On The Copyright Law
- Publishing Law Center: Copyright, trademarks, intellectual property, contracts, licensing, rights, PubLaw Update Newsletter
- legal information for publishers of magazines, newsletters, books, and multimedia products including copyrights, trademarks, contracts, licensing, & rights.
- U.S. Copyright Office
- U.S. Copyright Office is an office of public record for copyright registration and deposit of copyright material.
- The Library of Congress
- The Library of Congress. The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution, and it serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with more than 120 million items. The collections include books, sound recordings, motion pictures, photog
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What this all means to you...
Copyright Info:
EK's Star Log Copyright © Wendy C. Allen 2005-2007. Star Log, Space Dock 13, The Twighlight Manor Press, Moonsnails, Buried Treasue, Copper Cockeral, and Xavier's Nest Copyright © Wendy C. Allen 2005-2007. Twighlight Manor, EelKat, White Rock Asylum, Planet Ptarmagin, Crystonite Chronicles, Etiole, Sir Roderic, The Swanzen Family, and all other related characters, info, writings, names, images, and content Copyright © Wendy C. Allen 1978-2007.
All content written and designed by Wendy C. Allen unless otherwise stated. No part of this site may be reproduced or transmitted without the express permission of the author. All rights reserved.
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I agree with you on the fan fiction although I have to admit to liking one or two, but mostly I find it lacking in integrity. I have seen fanfics that make HP gay, christian, American anything the writer identifies with
Posted September 04, 2007
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anndouglas
Wendy, this is another great lens. (The etiquette books were a fabulous touch.) :-) Posted August 27, 2007 |
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KimberlyDawnWells
Great start on a great topic! Please join us at http://www.squidoo.com/groups/writers Posted August 13, 2007 |
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