Ah, the whiplash sting of rejection. My manuscript has been rejected by Ark Press (see bold text below).
Thank you for submitting to Ark Press.
The Ark editorial team has reviewed your work and given it careful consideration. We appreciate the opportunity to review your treatment and manuscript, however, The Sniper isn’t right for us.
We would, however, love to see another project from you. The writing was quite good and the story kept us engaged. Please do keep us in mind in the future
Best of luck with your writing,
If I were a drinking man I’d probably go on a two-week bender and drown my sorrow in 180 proof rum. But the show must go on! I will gather up the jagged shards of my dreams and limp off stage to nurse my wounded pride and super-glue my shattered dreams of literary glory back together somehow.
I told Camera Girl of this crushing defeat. She told me to suck it up and stop whining. Not the sympathetic shoulder I was hoping for. In another age maybe I would have run off and joined the French Foreign Legion but I don’t think they allow enough free time for macrophotography and right-wing punditry in the Legion. Vive la France!
Well, it wasn’t all bad. They did say the writing was pretty good. I mean, maybe they were just saying that to soften the blow but I’ll take a positive spin on that and continue to work on finishing the book and then either get it published or self-publish it on Amazon.
Honestly, I was very glad that they got back to me. And I liked the polite and professional remarks they sent. I think a lot of publishers don’t even bother to send rejection letters anymore. So, an honest rejection is actually kind of comforting. But still, there is a disappointment when you don’t win the prize. But we know that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. At least that’s what that crazy atheist said back a hundred and some odd years ago. And he should know because he went crazy and died!
So, the show must go on and all sadness and chagrin must be pushed aside and efforts must be redoubled. I intend to memorize a hundred new adjectives every week, take up MMA fighting and try my luck at swordfishing to increase my relatability with the reading audience. After all Hemingway did some of that stuff and he was very relatable. I wonder how good Camera Girl is at MMA fighting? She’s pretty strong and agile so maybe she would be a good sparring partner. But she is kinda mean and I can’t afford to be injured too badly before I get into the octagon with my real opponents. Maybe she’ll agree to fighting me blindfolded and with one arm tied behind her back. That seems reasonable. But just to be sure, maybe I’ll also tie her ankles together. Yeah, that would be good. I could definitely take her then. Alright, I love it when a plan comes together.
How much you want to bet the letter was written by AI, or worse, is a boilerplate form letter on the corporate word processor? Don’t give up. There are other publishers. How about Baen Books?
Baen’s on my very shot list of publishers to try. Well, it could be a form but if it is it’s a polite one and I still am glad there was an acknowledgement. Feedback is hard to get.
I’d call it a win just to get a reply.
Decades ago, I tried my hand at writing and 2 of three publishers didn’t even send a reply.
The third was something to the effect of “Thanks, but no thanks.”
I am told that new authors wind up in the slush pile and some publishers take months to go through it. How long from submission to reply was your wait?
About three weeks. Yeah I was consoled by the positive spin they put on the rejection. Well, I’m not totally crushed merely dinged in two or three places. “If you at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Boy, that’s trite.
That was a very prompt and polite reply! I would count it as a win, even if it’s not the decisive victory you sought. Keep at it, dude! I’d love to buy your book, whether it’s self-published or from a larger publishing house.
Thanks for the encouraging words Tyler. Apparently writing a novel is more complicated than i thought. The closer you get to finishing, the more tweaks you think are needed.
” I intend to memorize a hundred new adjectives every week, … increase my relatability with the reading audience.” Take a well deserved break. Just a suggestion: my wife and I just saw Accountant 2 starring Ben Affleck and enjoyed it but–there is an Accountant 1 done in 2017 which our movie going partners said would make #2 a lot clearer. So we rented #1 and watched it twice + I did some spoiler Utubing to prepare. Complicated plot, BA is a high level autistic, math savant, civilian Batman fighter, and killer marksman. BA helps finance an academy for autistic kids… Read more »
Hey Neil. I saw The Accountant a while back. It was interesting. I’ll keep my eyes open for when the sequel comes to streaming on one of the channels I get. But don’t worry about my morale. I was just being hyperbolic about my disappointment. I’ll take it all in stride. The world will survive my rejection slip from Ark Press, I hope. More distressing to me is the extra work I’ve been stuck with lately. I’m getting too lazy for it. One of these days I may quit.
Forget the Foreign Legion. A year or three as an 0311 (rifleman) in a Marine infantry platoon will very probably change your outlook and improve some aspects of your vocabulary. But they’re probably not accepting 60 to 70 year old recruits because boot camp would kill them in 8 hours or less (maybe much less, like about 40 feet into the obstacle course). If this were still Biden’s term, you could put on a wig and tell the recruiter that you’re trans and they’d drop the physical part for you to as strenuous as mowing the grass with a riding… Read more »
Thanks Tom. I’ll give it my best shot.