Hi there
I'm sure this has been asked many times before, but is there a general rule of thumb of how many agents your work is rejected by before you accept that there's something seriously wrong with it (e.g. it's no good)? I'm only a couple of rejections in, so not thinking about giving up just yet, but had heard that 15 rejections or more is a good sign that you're flogging a dead horse.

I accumulated less than ten rejections to realise that I needed professional help. I got much closer the second time around but needed only one rejection that time to realise I could do better. I’m currently reworking, again…

Cheers, Grinder

I think it depends on what sort of rejections they are. I send out about two dozen. I don't count ones that wing their way back within 36 hours of being posted as they haven't even mad the slush pile. If they are taking 6-12weeks to return it means they've reached the slush pile and been looked at. If all of those return with nothing more than a standard rejection, then the ms is shelved and I get on with the next one.


- NaomiM

<Added>

- my genre is childrens, so a 6-15K ms is not as great a personal loss as an 80K ms.

I'd agree with Naomi that the answer to this question depends entirely on what kind of rejection you're getting. If it's standard rejections, with no hint of why then - oh, I don't know, but fifteen makes sense. If you're getting any indication of what does and doesn't work for the reader, then you want to start thinking about what to do about that.

But, yes, if you're deep in Two, and sending One out more is no big deal, you could decide it's worth going on. If you start wanting to revise One, then you need to think about where your priorities best lie.

Emma

I read somewhere that overall Stephen King has received 750 rejections...

I would say it depends on the type of rejection. Normally i'd agree, 15-20 as some ballpark figure - but my last book, the full was requested by two agents before i had submitted it anywhere else. They both rejected it with indepth ( and one particularly harsh) explanations and, i realised, that the book was a no-hoper without being TOTALLY rewritten. I lost all passion for it and moved onto the next book.

so i'd say it all depends and has a lot to do with how strong your self-belief is in that particular work.

Best of luck.