Ohmigosh

....!

Okay. As you know, I've been busy trying to get my book published. It hasn't been going so well. I lost the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. The first agent I sent it to [Jodi Reamer] rejected me. Then I sent it to another agent- Kristin Nelson. I sent my query letter w/synopsis to her, not really expecting to get a good response. [After the first few rejections, it's a bit difficult to be too optimistic.]

I've been [a bit obsessively] checking my email ever since, just wanting to get the rejection out of the way so I could have the OK to send it somewhere else if I needed to. So, I checked my email a few minutes ago.

She requested the first 30 pages! I'm so excited!

Awesome! It goes to show ya to always keep your head up!

Awesome.

That's great MewLover! If it gets published you'd better give us your real name / writing alias so that we can come out and support you :3

Don't worry about rejections, even Anne of Green Gables got rejected by 5 different publishers before being published and becoming an immediate hit.

Thanks, guys! I will definitely give you guys my name if it gets published.

It has to really stink to get rejected by publishers. I know that the writing field is kind of unstable, you never know what will work and what won't.

That said, from what I've read of the book, it will be great.

normally it's dependant on publishers about the book being accepted...
such as some will publish fantasy novels (if they're good of course) so sending them sci-fi or similar wouldnt be accepted...
but small groups of publishers at a time will reject novels and stories but if you get to the right ones they'll publish it...

*checks date* Not quite a month, but almost. Still, an update is necessary.

I rewrote chapters 2&3 to match the style of the new chapter 1, and because I really didn't like them the old way. Well... I got a response. And I quote:

Quote:

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Thank you so much for sending the Nelson Agency sample pages of LILA.
After a careful reading, we are sorry to say that we don't believe this project is right for our agency.
Because this business is so subjective and opinions vary widely, we recommend that you pursue other agents. After all, it just takes one "yes" to find the right match.
Good luck with all your publishing endeavors.

Sincerely,
Kristin Nelson
Sara Megibow
Anita Mumm
NELSON LITERARY AGENCY. LLC
www.nelsonagency.com

Note from Anita: Thank you for your interest in our agency. We'd like to commend you on the strengths of your novel; it has great characters and suspense. However, we don't think it is quite ready. The setting doesn't feel futuristic enough for the year 2532. We'd also like to recommend that you not mention your age when you query an agent; if the writing is strong enough that will not matter. Best wishes for your writing!

Here is a great resource you might want to check out: http://www.writersnet.com .

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*sigh*

I agree, you should not mention your age at all. That may be off-putting to publishers if you are relatively young.

I would keep submitting it. I'm sure there are several famous authors out there who have faced rejection as well.

Aw... Well, the only thing to do is keep pushing on. At least the Anita lady gave you some good advice for the future.

Mmm... I've heard of some really rude rejections. Getting some flat out constructive criticism from someone in the field is very valuable. I'm sorry you didn't get published but you got some good things said about your novel, maybe someone else will take it!

That's true. I'm glad Anita gave me a bit of advice. The last rejection was just a 'not right for our agency' thing, with no explanations/pointers/criticism. I really like what she said about the characters, they're about my favorite part of writing. Thanks, guys.

What genre of book is it?

Edit: I saw another thread of yours, and basically what I remember is that it's a murder mystery set over 500 years in the future. This kind of book doesn't really appeal to me. Either way, I'm sure you'll find a publisher soon!