Dealing With Rejection Letters
They Are an Important Part of the Publishing Process
Rejection is a part of life, but that doesn't mean it's easy to deal with. Some people are better at dealing with rejection than others and can handle it without letting it get under their skin too much. Other people find rejection more difficult to handle. They may feel like giving up altogether because they're afraid of being rejected again. The key is to not to let your fear of being rejected prevent you from submitting your work.
Accept it.
It's important to remember that rejection is a normal part of life. All writers have experienced rejection. Don't beat yourself up over it! You can't let one, two, even a hundred rejections get you down; they are only small parts of the larger picture. Eventually, someone will read and accept your work. Aspiring to become a published author is not for the faint of heart.
If you've been working hard on something and have worked hard to find the right place for it, there's nothing wrong with getting rejected by agents. It doesn't mean they don't like your work—it just means that they chose not to publish it. Maybe they already have too many similar pieces on the same topic or plot. Or perhaps they just didn't think that what you had written was good enough quality by their standards. Remember, the bottom line for publishers is profit. Does your book have sales potential? Don’t let this discourage you from continuing to create new content. There will always be another opportunity.
Think about what you can learn from the process.
Rejection is a normal part of the creative process. The key is to learn from each rejection and put that learning into practice in your next pitch.
If you get a response, consider what the agent said and use it to improve your next pitch. If you don’t get a response, that doesn’t mean your work isn’t good enough—it could simply mean the agent was extremely busy and/or the publisher he pitched to didn’t think it was appropriate for their audience. Maybe they've recently published something similar. Keep sending out pitches until someone says “yes!”
Get back out there, again and again.
The more you get rejected, the more you learn. The more you get rejected, the more you improve. And as long as these rejections are coming from different places, then they will all contain valuable information that will help improve and strengthen your writing. If an agent rejects your manuscript because of poor writing or storytelling skills, then keep working on it until it’s good enough for them to approve. But if they don’t want to publish your book because they’re not interested in the subject, then take it as an important lesson and find another agent who is interested in the same thing. Recognize the three don’ts. Don’t,
Take rejection personally
Get discouraged
Dwell on it
It’s true that rejection can be hard to deal with, but it’s important not to let it grind you down or slow you down. Instead of letting the process get you down, look at rejection as an opportunity for growth and learning.
Rejection isn’t personal. It could just be that your work wasn’t right for the publication/employer/etc., and that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with what you’ve written.
Rejection doesn’t have to be permanent. If an agent has turned down your manuscript or proposal once, keep trying until someone says yes. There may be other opportunities out there waiting for you.
Conclusion
The best thing to do when you get a rejection letter is to accept it. Don't argue with the person who wrote it, or blame them for their decision. It may tempt you to do this because you really want your work to be published. You may feel they should have accepted your work, but that will help no one. Instead, look at what went wrong so that next time around, things might go better for you. I hope this article was helpful.
