Have you ever wanted to peek into the mind of a publisher or agent? Have you submitted what you thought was the perfect query or a well-crafted story to a publishing house or literary agent, but it was rejected without any explanation why?
In many cases, the problem is not your story that’s getting rejected. It’s how you present and position it.
Editors seek books that will fit within the existing catalog of the publishing house they work for, something fresh and new, but also easily marketable to their target audience. Agents seek books they can pitch to such editors and get an easy YES.
If your query doesn’t present your story in a way that gives an editor or agent the confidence to say, “Yes, this is a manuscript I want to read,” it will be rejected. At the same time, even if you get a request for a synopsis and your full manuscript, it must have an effective opening that grabs the reader and makes them want to keep reading through at least the first 10k words. If your story opening doesn’t hit the right note in the first few pages, you could find yourself with another rejection.
But how do you know what’s missing, if all you got back was a form letter rejection?
The answer is that you won’t know the exact reason unless they tell you. Unfortunately, the book industry moves quickly, and oftentimes acquisitions editors and agents don’t want to take the time to craft a personalized response for each rejection they send out, even though this would be a benefit to most authors.
As a result, authors are left to guess about why they were rejected. You could seek the advice of a writer’s group, but the writers in the group might not even know either, or worse, they could give you so many suggested changes, that what makes your story uniquely yours is lost. Many authors just go on to the next editor or agent. Some feel so discouraged, they give up or consider self-publishing.
Self-publishing is certainly a good fit for some people, but not everyone is up for the time commitment necessary to make self-publishing work, and if there’s an issue with your manuscript that turned off those who read and reject it, self-publishing won’t resolve your rejection issues. It’s important to try to understand what could be lacking in your manuscript before deciding to set out on your own.
If you want to know why your queries or manuscripts keep getting rejected, we can help!
At Epic Publishing, we’ve always made it a point to send actionable feedback to the authors who submit their work to us. If we send a rejection, the recipient will know EXACTLY why we rejected their query or manuscript. We never leave authors hanging, and we never want to leave anyone discouraged or dispirited. But what about those authors who haven’t submitted work to us?
For a limited time, we’re opening up a new set of author services. We want to help you understand the issues that might keep your query, synopsis, or the first 10k words of your manuscript from landing the publishing contract or agent representation you desire. These services are open to any fiction writers, whether you’re seeking a traditional publishing contract, representation from an agent, or thinking of branching out into self-publishing.
Note that these services are independent of our book acquisitions. They’re not a shortcut to a publishing contract with Epic Publishing, unfortunately. But if you need help with your query, synopsis, or the opening to your book, to pitch it to other publishers, we’re here to help.
We’ve been publishing since 2016. Throughout that time, we’ve worked with many authors in the fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and thriller genres, as well as networked with other publishers in the industry and well-connected literary agents. We know not only what we look for in book pitches and manuscripts, but what they’re looking for as well.
If you’re wondering why we want to help you get published with another publisher or get started in self-publishing, it’s because we’re in this business to help authors achieve their publishing dreams, not just achieve their dreams with us. So, I encourage you to check out our new Author Services page, if you want a publisher’s help with your query, your synopsis, or the first 10k words of your manuscript. You can even ask us to look at a combination of these items if you wish.
Don’t let rejections get you down. Get answers and solutions with our help!
Epic Publishing 