So I sent out four queries so far, and have received three rejections. One agent has not yet replied. I'm surprised by the speed of the replies so far, only a day or two each. At least they're not keeping me in suspense.
I take solace in knowing that other best-selling manuscripts were rejected numerous times before someone saw some value in them, and decided to represent the author, or the publisher took a risk and published the manuscript.
The Help was a very good book, and a good movie as well. If you haven't read the book, I encourage you to do so. I wrote about the book in an earlier blog entry. The author, Kathryn Stockett endured 60 rejections from agents before she found someone willing to represent her.
In her own words, here is how Kathryn Stockett dealt with the rejections:
"But I couldn’t let go of The Help. Call it tenacity, call it resolve or call it what my husband calls it: stubbornness. After rejection number 40, I started lying to my friends about what I did on the weekends. They were amazed by how many times a person could repaint her apartment. The truth was, I was embarrassed for my friends and family to know I was still working on the same story, the one nobody apparently wanted to read."
Well, a lot of us did want to do read it, and enjoyed it very much. And I, for one, am thankful she didn't give up.
John Grisham is another author I enjoy reading, but if he hadn't persevered through 45 rejections of his initial book, A Time to Kill, none of us would have had the pleasure of reading his books. So I feel I'm in good company.
So I'll slog on, despite rejection notices that say things like "This is not for me, but thanks for the look."
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