I wanted to share my latest rejection :Most of them, like this one are positive. But if they enjoyed it, wouldn't the book buying public? why not take the risk?
Am I naive or just desperate? What more can I do.........?
"We have all really enjoyed reading NETJETTER SUE and **** took the opportunity in Frankfurt to discuss it informally with a couple of her editor friends who specialise in travel writing. We all agreed that the quality of writing here is high, and you tell your experiences with a self-deprecating sense of humour which is refreshing in a travel book.
However, we also agreed that it's an extremely tricky market to penetrate: the main problem is really that it is very hard to cover new ground - no pun intended....
So I'm really sorry to tell you...."

Woe is me for I am depressed
Sue

Sue, you can take enormous encouragment from their positive comments. I'm sure that won't help today, probably not tomorrow either. But, by the weekend you'll have notched it up to experience.
It might simply be that whoever you sent it to doesn't have the budget for another new writer at the moment.
Make sure your submission is clean and presentable, reprint if in any doubt - it should look pristine - and send it out to another agent, another publisher. Again and again if necessary.
It took me eighteen months to find an agent. Persistence will pay in the end, especially if you're getting comments like this. Don't give up.
Good luck.
Dee.

Thanks Dee and heartfelt congratulations on your success.There is life after rejection
Sue

Oooh its the terrible pun at the end that just does it, isn't it? I hate the inevitability of it all! The fact that you can't enter into a dialogue about it and ask them 'well, erm, isn't it your JOB to break into the market on behalf of original and well written books and their authors'. Surely if its worth discussing between agents, then it's damn worth discussing period?

I know how you feel, because I am fast approaching a veritable collection of these so called 'positive' rejection letters. I know it's great to get good feedback, and as it says in the Yearbook, you should never take these lightly. Agents and publishers dont tend to encourage new writers unless they are really worth it.

So take heart! It sounds to me as if you're literally just around the corner from a big YES.

James x

Thanks James
Lets hope we all turn that corner soon
Sue

Sue, at least they let you down gently. It has to be better than a standard rejection letter ! Do you have sample chapters posted here for general consumption, by the way? A friend of mine is currently writing a travelogue, so I'll point him this way if you have, if only to show him how it should be done! (Sorry - private joke between him and me!)

Seriously, my initial reaction is that they clearly liked your work, but maybe you need to find a more unusual angle to project it, like 'Round Ireland With A Fridge', for example? Sorry if I sound presumptious, but I don't know your work... I'm waffling now, so I'll sign off! :-))

Hi Tabitha
I have 2 extracts in the travel writers group if you want to look.In the comments is a link to the website which published my weekly reports.
I have thought of 'round the world with a teddybear' but think it may be a bit naf.I have also toyed with 'round the world on a zimmer frame' but actually I am not that old and fairly fit so it would be a lie. Other than inventing a few rapes, kidnaps and murders I am stuck on how to make my tale more than what it is - a middle aged woman on a voyage of discovery, both of the world and herself.
Sue

How about around the world ON a teddybear INSIDE a fridge? The surrealist angle may work for you
James x