....the rejection letter I had is the average example of a rejection letter.

A few months ago I sent the first two chapters of my novel, a synopsis and a covering letter directly to Vintage for consideration. I don't have an agent so I wasn't shocked when I recieved a rejection letter last week. In the letter the publisher suggested I find an agent, told me where to look, etc.

However, at the end of the letter there was a final paragraph in which the publisher said, 'I strongly advise you find an agent, as your work has a lot of potential.'

As this is the first time I have ever approached anyone with my work, I was wondering if this is a normal thing for a publishing house to say in a rejection letter, or whether I should accept this as a 'compliment'.

I hope at least one of you can advise me with your own experiences!

Thank you.

AngieJay

This sounds very positive to me - I don't think anyone at Vintage would say that if they didn't mean it, they're a very succesful 'house'. Good luck with the agent quest.

Joe

No, it isn't common, though it happens. It means they like it, but think it needs more work to be ready than they can do. Nothing to stop you quoting what they've said in submission letters to agents, especially if you only sent it to Vintage, as an agent will then know there are still lots of places for him/her to send it.

I got my first agent by being able to quote that an editor friend had said 'if I had had this from an agent, I would have tried very hard to buy it.' Actually, when she did, she didn't buy it, which just shows how many slips there are betwixt cup and lip! But it kept me going for years!

Good luck!

Emma

Yes, anything positive you hear or recieve you should take as wrote, especially if it comes from a professional quarter. Agents and publsihers don't encourage writers they see little or no merit in as the market is swamped with have-a-go's and the last thing they want is to solicit that.

That is my impression anyway.

It can be really gruelling to be honest sometimes, even as a writer. I was incensed about a year ago when a close mate decided she was going to 'write a book'. It wasn't that, it was just that she'd never written before, rarely read anything, and never expressed an interest until I started getting praise for, and talking about, my work.

Then, at parties, when people asked me about my writing, she would pipe up and also present herself as a 'writer'. Very frustrating!

The problem was, her work was absolute rubbish - spelling mistakes everywhere, atrocious grammar, copyist themes and characters nicked wholesale from Harry Potter, given different names.

But as a good friend, I encouraged her all the way (though admittedly through gritted teeth). Even when she began to submit to agents at the same time I did. I'd worked on my book for two years, she'd written a 50,000 word children's 'book' in about two months so you can imagine how I felt to suddenly be caught up in this 'competition'.

Anyway, eventually she was very upset when a leading children's authors agent wrote back to my friend pretty promptly. On one side of a postcard, the agent had simply put 'I suggest you learn how to write before submitting work for publication and review'.

Needless to say, my friend never wrote again. I joined her up with the Writer's Bereau last Xmas as a gift, and also as a way to encourage her efforts, but she never took it up.

JB

Hi AngieJay

The same thing happened to me. I happened to meet someone who knew someone and in the end my manuscript landed on Caroline Michel's desk (Harper Press). It took a few months (yes) for them to get back with a phone call to say that they thought it was very good, and that it would be in my best interests to find an agent. I called back for recommendations - they gave me two names and sent an introductory email to the agent they thought I would best get on with. Sadly, after reading some of the manuscript the agent said that the material was right and the writing was right but it just wasn't her type of thing. I am now re-writing with the hope of approaching the second agent and quoting the publisher's feedback. Even though I was unsuccessful with the first agent, the publisher's feedback gave me a lot of hope so I would suggest that you see your feedback in the same light.

I hope this helps.

Anyway, eventually she was very upset when a leading children's authors agent wrote back to my friend pretty promptly. On one side of a postcard, the agent had simply put 'I suggest you learn how to write before submitting work for publication and review'.

JB, I read this anecdote in fear and trembling that she was going to land a vast deal, and we would all be grinding our teeth, and setting off another round of grumbles about the lack of taste and discrimation of the publishing industry. How refreshing to have evidence that they occasionally judge correctly!

Though I was cheering by the end of your story, I can't help feeling for your friend's distress, however well-deserved. As a matter of interest, if you'd tried to point her towards grammar, spelling and original ideas, would she have listened, do you think?

Emma

The thing was, I struggled with myself emma. I'm not a naturally jealous person, but did feel as though she was stealing my thunder at the same time as cheapening the craft. I stopped showing her my own work, as on two occasions, she plagiarised my ideas pretty severely. She also asked me for plots and ideas regularly, and I'm not Batman and I don't need no Robin, if you understand.

I did my best to encourage her, by suggesting she do the introductory course I'd paid for. However, her reaction proved to me that she was in it for the 'imagined' money and fame. The moment she realised the work involved, she balked.

Now she leaves me to the writing, and whenever I enquire about her own efforts, she just laughs.

JB

Sounds very encouraging to me.

JB, I too was relieved your story turned out the way it did. Justice! It reminds me of a friend of mine who started writing seriously, having had some success with journalism (won student awards and new writer awards all over the place - he could definitely write, in other words). Out of the blue, his retired father said something like, 'That's a good idea. I think I'll write a book too!' So basically they were writing their books both at the same time....


This story turns out slightly differently from yours. The father got his book published no trouble whatsoever. The son didn't - not that one anyhow, though he did several years later land a three book deal with Transworld. However, it really riled him at the time. Not just that his father decided to take up writing at precisely the same moment as him. But that he got his deal so easily - and first, of course.

I wonder what sort of family psycho-drama was being played out there.

Oedipus?

JB, I too get very twitchy if I come across anyone working on the same territory as me. If you offered her good advice, and your own example, and she didn't take it then I'll stop feeling for her! It's much sadder when people really, really try, and don't make the grade.

Emma

Indeed, but let me be clear. I would never resent another writer who I took seriously, or admired their work, even if I knew them. What I despised was the fact she was an untrained amatuer doing it for the first time, and she publically and professionally placed herself on the same level as me.

The father/son thing would be frustrating, but it denotes that the father at least, had some amount of talent and therefore deserved to be be published. That's just life.

In my case, I knew my friend was on a fast track to self-mortification-ville, and also hoping I would help 'shape' her novel to the goal of publication. I still have a copy of her manuscript somewhere. It is truly abysmall.

JB