Why are Agents and Publishers Rejecting Your Novel?

There are many reasons that agents and publishers reject manuscripts. These reasons fall into two categories: variables controlled by them and variables controlled by you. Anything from budgets and a full list could fall into the first category, to something as trivial as an agent looking at your sample after an argument with his/her husband/wife and barely reading it. That’s publishing for you – it was never meant to be easy!

Thick skin and persistence are obviously key here. Even the spotty, awkward, greasy teenager gets a date if he asks every single girl in the whole school. Every ‘no’ brings him closer to a ‘yes’, and it’s the same principle with finding a home for your book. Knock on enough doors and you eventually find an agent or publisher. Right? Well, partly, but, sticking with the metaphor, wouldn’t it be better to have a wash, reach for the Clearasil and get some dating advice?

This is where the second set of variables become important. What can you do to attract attention and impress potential backers? More importantly, what might you be doing to ruin your chances of finding representation?

Not researching the agent or publisher thoroughly

It’s tempting to send samples out in all directions to see what sticks, but wouldn’t it be better to take the time to find the best match for your work? No poetry, children’s book, sci-fi, etc. means just that. No publisher ever is going to be so dazzled by your work that they will change their ethos to work around you. Don’t waste their time. Instead, show them respect and tell them why you have chosen them specifically in your cover letter. If you can’t think of a reason, they might not be the agent or publisher for you.

Not presenting your work to their specifications

Agents and publishers each have their own specifications governing submissions. Read them! Some things are generally similar – 12pt font, Times New Roman, double-spaced, one side of A4 – however, there are variables in their content requirements – email/snail mail, long/short synopsis, one/three chapters/whole manuscript. They may ask for a reading fee, a reference, a CV. The only way to find out is to check their website or The Artists’ and Writers’ Yearbook.

Not Presenting your work professionally

Are your sample chapters, cover letter and synopsis printed on good quality paper, well-aligned, free from thumbprints? Have you put them in an A4 envelope and neither stapled nor folded them? Are you proud to send this first impression to the people that hold your future in their hands? If not, bypass the postbox and head straight to the bin.

Not checking for errors

When you have solved cosmetic problems, the next step is confronting the text. Is your manuscript full of errors? This is an interesting and difficult question; if your manuscript is full of error, you have made them and might not be aware of them. A better question would be to ask if you are the best person to judge if there are errors in your sample. I suggest getting as many eyes on deck as possible. A professional proofread is never a waste of money.         

Not reworking your manuscript sufficiently

I’m sure there is no need for me to say this, but you shouldn’t be sending anyone your first draft. The first draft is merely the clay that you can then rework into your masterpiece. It is a springboard to greater work. There are no hard and fast rules about how many times you need to edit a book, but the more work you put in, the better the result, so allow yourself to be driven by your own high standards. Again, get as many people to read it as possible. A professional manuscript assessment is a great way of looking at the novel with fresh eyes and discovering strengths and weaknesses in both the project and your writing skills.

Underestimating the role of a writer

It takes hard work, determination, practise, sacrifice and devotion to be a writer. Many authors fail to find representation until they have written a number of books, developing skills with each project. Others find success later in life, again building and honing their skills over time. If you have chosen writing because of £million book deals and overnight success stories, you may be approaching this from the wrong angle. There are no shortcuts and no replacement for a lifetime of development. Take a course, join a writing group, get as many people to read you as possible so you can gain a sense of where you are in terms of your abilities. Seeking publication is applying for the Olympics. Are you ready for that?

Underestimating the additional role of a writer

Agents and publishers are primarily looking for great, well-written books. They are also concerned with who is writing them. In the 21^st century ‘who you are’ in this context means ‘who you are online’. Do you have a blog? Have you been published online or in magazines? Have you self-published? What do your Facebook and Twitter accounts look like? Are you presenting yourself as someone who is capable of building hype and publicising your own book? Do you have any significant contacts that you can share in your cover letter?      

Finally, sadly, flogging a dead horse

Your book just might not be good enough. It’s blunt, I know, but this is a reality that we all have to face at some point in our careers. We have devoted six months or a year or fifteen years to a book, we have put our souls into it, and we’ve accidentally produced a stinker. You can try to mend it, seek advice, edit hard, but some books were never meant to be. I have seen writers crushed beneath the weight of their magnum opuses for decades, unwilling to let them go because they have devoted themselves to them for so long. This is no way to live. Sometimes, it’s okay to simply let go, take what you have learned to your next project and keep moving forwards.

Hayley Sherman has been helping writers move towards publication for ten years.

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Read: How to Get Published

Staying Motivated When You’re Skint, Pissed Off and Your Protagonists are Stalking Your Nightmares

You’re skint! You’ve been working on the same soul-hungry, ink-draining, end-dodging novel/screenplay/collection for so long that its characters have started to lurk around the corners of your nightmares and jump out at you with their demonic hair and crazy weapons of doom. When you wake up they’re still there, demanding your attention even though it’s a sunny day and you’ve been told there are actually real people in the world. You’ve starting to compare yourself to people your age, from your best mate to J.K. Rowling, both of whom have achievements that far outweigh your own. You’ve started to hide from your laptop because it’s looking at you all the time and you’re sure you can hear it calling you. Why aren’t you writing? You can’t run from me forever! You walk into the library and your heart sinks at the sheer volume of books confronting you. What could you possibly have to say that hasn’t already been said? And no one’s reading them anyway. You’re battling to produce a masterpiece that will end up in this large-print, pensioner-fingered graveyard before it’s even lived a life. All is lost!

But you know deep down that this is what you signed up for. You know that you can make a killing but not a living with a pen, so you drag yourself through the lean years. You know that there will be days when your characters salute you when the sun goes down and you can snuggle under your duvet as a hero of the craft, so you tolerate the struggle. You know that the majority of writers find success later in life and you’re in no hurry, but how can you keep your sanity in the meantime, when your self-confidence has buggered off in a taxi with your talent and you’re sitting on the floor thinking the unthinkable – of getting a proper job? Maybe this will help …

Read Something Awesome

This could be the book that you’ve been waiting to hit the shelves, a biography by an author who has been through what you’re going through, or your favourite book, which you’ve already read one hundred times. There is a danger of falling out of love with books when your own has had you in a headlock for so long, so be good to yourself and get into bed with a classic.

Do something Awesome
I waste a lot of time when I should be writing and I end up doing nothing. I think I’m fooling myself, but I’ve got my number. Watching ‘just one episode’ on Netflix, cleaning the house from top to bottom, alphabetising my shoes; this is not writing and I am fooling nobody. If writing just isn’t going to happen then better to be honest about it and go out into the world than spend a day wracked with guilt and zero productivity. Go have a good time and feel good. Go and do something awesome and inspiring and your creative world will reap the benefits anyway.

Make Contact with Awesome People

Write a letter (yes, a letter) to your favourite author. Why? Because they might actually write back to you with words of encouragement. Because it will make you feel good to reach out. Join writing forums and get Tweeting, join a real-life writing group to meet other writers who have pulled half their hair out over questions of point of view and characterisation. Get support.

Try an Awesome New Medium

If you’re a novelist, have a go at writing a screenplay; if you’re a screenwriter, try your hand at poetry; if you’re a poet, see what it feels like to develop a play; if you write comedy, get serious; if you are a literary author, lighten up; if you tend to write long, sprawling sentences, see what short bursts are like. Go further still; if you usually tell a story with words, try doing it with music or art, film or dance. There are many ways to tell a story and so many creative spaces in which to park your beautiful mind.

Write to Your Awesome Self

I read this tip in a book many years ago and it’s such a charming idea. Quite simply, write an emergency letter to be opened in times of deep dejection and distress. Write it when you’re feeling great. You’re the best writer ever. George Orwell and Virginia Woolf had a love affair and you were the result. There has never been a writer quite like you. Write it all down and go into specifics, remind yourself of what inspired you to write in the first place and what you would like to achieve with this project. Be kind to yourself.

Need help? Hayley Sherman has been supporting independent writers for nearly ten years as an editor, creative consultant and ghost-writer. Visit www.whoosh-editing.com for more details.

Writing Exercises

Much like an athlete, it is essential that you exercise before the marathon that is writing a novel, script or poetry/short story anthology. Even non-fiction writers need to warm up or you will find yourself exhausted with only a blank page to show for your efforts.
Writing exercises, however, not only serve to enhance discipline and stamina, they are paramount in generating ideas and improving your skills in certain areas (e.g. developing characters, writing dialogue, etc). Listed below are tried and tested writing exercises for you to dip into:

Adjective Free

Adjective free is an exercise which explores style and language choice. Write a scene or chapter, maybe just a few pages, without using adjectives. Introducing this limitation is a great demonstration of the power of word economy and the over-reliance of certain words. It will also get the cogs turning in a uniquely challenging way.

Chain Writing

This exercise is great fun for two or more writers. One person starts by writing a few paragraphs then passes it on to the next person to continue (maybe by email). This can provide a great break in a heavy writing session, introduce you to collaborative work and produce amusing results.

Character CV

The better acquainted you are with your characters, the more rich and believable they will appear to your reader. As the title of this exercise suggests, write a character CV for any character you are writing about. The CV should not simply include work and education details; include as many of the following as possible: Height, body shape, hair colour, skin colour, method of transportation, favourite saying, accommodation, typical outfit to wear, friends, pets, upbringing, favourite food, drink, book, film, moral attitude, financial situation, hobbies and anything else you can think of.

Eavesdropping

This exercise is specifically geared towards improving dialogue writing. In a public place (maybe a café), sit, listen to and record as much natural dialogue as possible. The importance here is to write it exactly as it was said. In addition to improving dialogue writing, interesting people translate into interesting characters for future writing.

Go out into the World

It is so important to take breaks from writing and this is a productive way of doing so. Go out into the world (the city, beach, forest, etc) and bring back one or more items that you find. These can be, for example, an interesting leaf, a brick, an item of rubbish, or anything that takes your fancy. Write vivid physical descriptions of the item(s) and develop a back story to how the item(s) ended up where they were. This is good as a general exercise and may generate story ideas.

Liars

This is a great exercise which encourages writers to show and not tell in dialogue. Write a scene where two characters are lying to each other without stating that this is the case. The reader must be able to figure out that both are lying through your use of language alone.

New Endings

This exercise is great for identifying writing influences in your style and distancing yourself from them. Select a favourite novel, script or short story and rewrite the ending. When completed, examine how your voice differs from the original author. As writers our voices need to be as individual and original as possible, so actively practice abandoning outside influences.

News to Fiction

This idea has been used by many writers to inspire stories and films. Select a news story of interest (local news stories are quite good for this as they are not too dramatic and leave lots of scope for embellishment) and write a fictionalised account of it. As an extension of this exercise, choose an ad from the classified section of the local paper and write the back story of the sale.

People-Watching

People-watching is an endless source of entertainment and, as a writer, it can also be a great source of inspiration. Spend some time in a public place and select one person to be your central character; writing a detailed physical description can be a great creative exercise. Taking this one step further, create a life story for this person and they could create the foundation of your next big idea.

Pick an Object, any Object

Starting small, chose an object and work outwards to create a scene. You may, for example, choose a chair. What does this chair look like? Who sits in it and when? What room is it in and what is it like? Make your descriptions vivid and this exercise has the potential to generate wonderful plot and character ideas.

Random Words

This is a great exercise for working with specific restrictions and will often produce zany writing. Collect words from the dictionary by opening the pages and blind-pointing. Alternatively, ask a friend to give you a list of words. Now write a story containing every one of these words. It can be challenging when you have to include hovercraft, daffodils, X-ray, Oxford, stereo, liver, ice-cream and prostitution in the same story.

There’s no I in fiction

Okay, there is an I in fiction, but this exercise will help to separate your personality from your characters’. Select a character from a story/script you are working on. Write an unrelated scene/chapter where you interact with your character. It could be that you’re having a meal together, giving a job interview or even that your cars smash into each other and you are having an argument. This exercise will highlight areas where you are using your own personality in the place of genuine character development.

Timed Free Writing

Set the clock for 10 or 20 minutes everyday and just write. Pay no attention to what you are writing; just let it flow. This will get those muscles working and will produce surprising results.

Visual Stimulation

Many great literary works began with a visual seed of inspiration, so try it for yourself. Choose a painting or image and bring it to life with words. You could write about what you see or what you feel. Who is in the picture? What is this world like? How does it make you feel? You could also select a few different images and combine them in a piece of writing.

Workshopping

Although not technically a writing exercise, workshopping your writing will help you to improve your technique and your critical skills. A successful way of doing this is to set up or join a small group (perhaps online). Everyone should read a piece of writing written by one of the participants and discuss their responses constructively.

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A Love Letter to Anyone Writing a First Novel

Dear *Insert your name, you brave and crazy adventurer*,

I just wanted to write you a quick note to express my love for you and everything you’re doing at the moment.

You know when you’re stuck in a waiting room for hours and all there is to read is a copy of last week’s Daily Mirror? Well, that would be what my whole life would be like without you and your kind, plunging headfirst into your wondrous and mangled minds and bringing back the bounty.

You may think me insincere, and I apologise for being forward (I hardly know you). It’s just that for every book by Kurt Vonnegut, Donna Tartt, Charles Dickens, Stephen King, Jane Austen and *insert your favourite author* there are hundreds of thousands of half-finished, abandoned, unloved manuscripts sitting, embarrassed and cold, in boxes in attics around the world, and I don’t want this to happen to yours. Imagine just how much great fiction has been swallowed up by the great self-doubt epidemic of our times. It may be brash and forward of me to write to you in this way, but I don’t want you to give up. The world needs to hear your voice, taste your truths and play with the stickle bricks of your creation.

If you’re flying high, writing lots and pushing forward then I hope that you will still appreciate my message of love (I salute you), but if you're struggling to make it to the page on yet another cold November morning, when there are bills to be paid and a hundred nothings out of the window to distract you, there may be a few ideas I can offer to help.

First of all, get in first; kick your doubts in the balls before they can drag you into the dark alley. You can meditate, try some self-hypnosis or write a letter to yourself to be opened at times of ‘Why am I doing this? I’m crap’. Don’t be alone; join a group or take a course. And then of course there’s the internet, keeper of a relentless haul of porn, skateboarding kittens and writing forums, groups, Twitter, etc. Just make sure that your doubt doesn’t become procrastination in the hands of social-media addiction.

Sometimes it’s not just doubt though; it could be that personal pressure is causing you to freeze at the sight of a biro. It could also be that your idea isn’t quite developed enough to plunge into the writing stages and more planning or research is needed. Try some writing exercises. No amount of staring at a blank piece of paper is going to turn a creative void into a bestselling masterpiece. Another problem could be the strength of your idea. Writing a mega slab of fiction could take years and is daunting even to the most experienced practitioner, but if you’ve chosen to write something that you only have lukewarm feeling for, you’re going to struggle.

And then there’s comfort. Take regular screen breaks, stretch, go for a walk, go and find inspiration. If you find that none of the above is affecting you, it could simply be that you've been overdoing it, or that you’re not comfortable in your environment. Setting up a writing space that is just for you – maybe even the kitchen table when the kids are at school – is essential to the wellbeing of you and your work.

Remember that there is no right or wrong way to be a writer. If writing at night works for you, then great. If starting at the end of your novel and working backwards is for you then do it. Maybe you find that working on more than one project and alternating your attention between the two will keep you interested. Writing is one of the few professions where you can suit yourself and that is something to be celebrated. If you have personal problems in your life that you think may be clashing with your ability to immerse yourself in the creative process then it may be that some life evaluation is necessary before you begin. I don’t want to pry into your life, but if there's an elephant in the room that you’ve been trying to pretend is not there, it’s not going to be any less visible when you're trying to get down to some writing.

Finally, if all else fails, it's discipline that will see you through. Plan working times and deadlines and stick to them. You chose to write for a reason; remember that reason as often as you can and just write.

I hope that this letter has helped.

Lots of Love

Hayley xx

 

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