Let us speak about…
No, wait. That’s too cute.
Try this one:
What do we do with our rejections?
WE DO NOT POST THEM ON OUR BLOGS.
WE DO NOT REFER TO THEM ON OUR BLOGS IN OBLIQUE WAYS.
WE BARELY ADMIT THAT WE ARE QUERYING ON OUR BLOGS.
Why?
Let’s see.
- Do you like having an email that you sent in confidence forwarded to someone else, even though there’s nothing remotely incriminating in it?
- And topping that, do you like to be MOCKED, as so often happens on these blogs? (I know you guys wouldn’t do that, but perhaps a commenter would.)
- Would you like to have a standard rejection (though it might be sent to hundreds of people, was crafted thoughtfully with the delicate ego of the writer in mind) plastered all over the internet, so you feel you must work up another template?
- If you took the time to give a PERSONAL rejection, would you like that dissected and commented upon by the masses?
Prolly not.
Way back in 2007, Miss Snark addressed this. And we all know that Miss Snark was never, ever wrong.
If you Google people who have gone the route of posting their rejection letters, with or without comment, they by and large seem to be…how shall we say…
And you don’t want to be lumped in with that.
Even if you redact names, be careful what you write.
How would you, as a writer feel, if you sent a query, got a request for a full, then received a long, thought-out rejection letter. It would be hard to swallow, but well and good.
But then.
The agent wrote a big hairy blog post about rejecting your manuscript. And it was almost word-for-word your rejection letter. Name redacted.
Not that I’ve ever seen that happen. *cough*
Last of all.
Ever been to a sale where there were obviously 50 boxes of the thing you wanted, and only one box left? And you wonder what’s wrong with the one that’s left?
Ever see a litter of 8 puppies go up for adoption? The first 6 go like a house afire, but the last 2 hang around for four months?
Yeah. Don’t shout out to the world that there are agents/editors out there who found your work resistible. And REALLY don’t give them the figures to prove it!
Wednesday we shall discuss what to do with rejections.
Sub It Club 
Ya know… this was really helpful. I think a lot of it I already had a subconscious awareness of (and gratefully, therefore, haven’t done this) however, in this new age of global technology… we do need to hear the “rules” and etiquette as it becomes clear. So thanks for laying out some great guidelines on how to professionally respond (or not respond) to rejections in a public forum. 🙂
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Should be a duh, but some people need to hear this.
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I love this! Thanks for posting!
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Sometimes you have to take a breath, don’t you, before you post something. What seems harmless at first blush can have all sorts of repercussions.
If anyone out there HAS posted rejections, take them down with a gee-whiz apology for making a newbie mistake. While the Internet is forever, ignorance can be excused, and true remorse counts for something too!
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