Friday, September 16, 2011

Agent and editor blurbs?

I received a positive rejection yesterday from an editor on an YA I wrote a few years back. I'll take a personalized, positive rejection over a form rejection or no-response any day. It builds your confidence when an editor takes the time to say some nice things about your work. But at the same time, they're saying "Thanks, but no thanks." So, no matter how many personalized, positive rejections you get, it's still a rejection. It still hurts. It's still not what you're working towards.

Regardless, it got me thinking, half in jest and half serious, about the idea of including agent/editor blurbs in my next submission. Something like, here's what editors and agents are saying about my YA techno-thriller. Of course, you'd leave out all the reasons they didn't want it, maybe leaving you with something resembling book cover blurbs like the following:

"Compelling main character!" "Intriguing high stakes premise!" "Great hook!"

Even though I'm tempted to do it, I realize it's not a good idea. While it sounds like it provides positive validation for the story, what it actually does is draw the editor's attention to the fact that it's already been rejected by a number of others. You don't need the editor or agent thinking rejection before they've even had a chance to read your work.

So, as tempting as it might be, the better solution is to keep working on improving your writing and make your queries irresistible.

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