Form Letter Responses - Getting Your Book Published
Pretty much every single publisher I have written has sent form letter responses. They go through the trouble (one would think) of reading the 3-chapter submission I sent in, and undoubtedly have "a reaction". However, all I get to hear is "sorry, try somewhere else."I realize it might be "easier" for them to just say "we won't take you" vs getting into an argument with the author about WHY they chose to reject the work. Still, it would really have been helpful for them to say something like
"We don't want novels with swordswomen"
"Your female character was not lively enough"
"You need more descriptions of the environment"
Anything they were upset about, I would have wanted to know. Heck, even just ONE suggestion would have been really helpful. As it is, they didn't like something about the novel and I have no idea what.
What if the issue was that they already had an author working on a sword series and they liked my writing but didn't want two competing authors in their stable? What if the story would have been perfect but they disliked the setting? I have no idea how to improve, and I just wasted 3 months of my time waiting for their rejection.
I want to note that I run a Literary Magazine myself which takes in poetry, short stories, etc. One cycle on a whim I added a personal comment to *our* rejection letters, asking the submitter if they would be interested in some gentle feedback. Most of the people wrote back thrilled, saying it was the only time they had ever been made that offer! In many cases the poem or story was ALMOST accepted and only had some minor problems. The writer would never have known that if we hadn't told them. So I think that sort of feedback is incredibly helpful and would really not be a burden or time-sink for the publishers to provide. Just one or two sentences can make a world of difference.
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