No, Thank You a.k.a. the rejection

Since I just wrote about queries, I might as well share my position on rejections. I really dislike that word. It’s just too negative, no matter how you look at it.

Once you write The End under your work, it’s time for business. You write an ad, you invite people to come and see your product. It’s like selling a house or car. You might have a perfectly nice house with a sound roof or a great car, rust-free, low mileage, but the people who come to see what you have to offer simply don’t fall in love with what they see. There is nothing wrong with your product. The potential buyers just don’t feel it. You wouldn’t say you’ve been rejected, would you? You wouldn’t take that personal, would you? (I hope not.)

Ever gone to a garage sale? Nothing really caught your attention, but the person next to you fell in love with some trinket and snatched it right up. Did you just reject the person having the garage sale? Selling your fiction or non-fiction works along similar lines. It’s business and it’s subjective. You haven’t been “rejected.” The agent/publisher was simply uninterested.

Having this attitude or framing the issue like that has saved me from a lot of headaches and heartaches. Am I disappointed? Sure thing. But I don’t cry over the “No, thank you.” I file it and move on. Sometimes I return a few days later, reopen the file and l look at the letter again, because I can’t remember what was actually written.