After just under 3 months, I’ve heard back from the first person out of 6 editors and agents I pitched. I’m deeply appreciative that they read the whole book and provided insight into why they’re passing on it.
They liked it, but didn’t think it was unique enough in a crowded market. I know my pitch worked enough to gain attention, but the manuscript didn’t follow through.
Getting feedback from an industry professional is like gold.
I hope that all my rejections come with something to help me learn.
Faith Allington 
Chin up. You can do this. 🙂
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Thanks!! I’m keeping focused on making my book great 😌
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It’s great you’ve had an open connection with the first letter. It’s progress down the path, offers a chance to think about what could be done differently and lets you take a little time to absorb feedback from a few folks. I look forward to reading it some day. And thanks for giving us authors a response to be proud of!
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Thanks James! It is tough but I hope to learn from it.
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I haven’t done any pitching lately, having gone the self-pub route, so it’s interesting to hear from someone who is in that mode. This reminds me of thoughts I had when I was sending queries and mss. to publishers and agents: unless they suggest changes and a reqeust a second look, the first look is final for that publisher/agent. Others may send different remarks, or no remarks at all. This leaves the writer with no clear direction, except to rewrite and try different publishers/agents, who may not recognize the rewrites as improvements and will apply their own criteria. This led me to regard the whole submissions process as a “crapshoot.” That was my experience; yours will likely be quite different, and I must agree that constructive remarks by someone in the publishing business do have value for a writer.
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Hi Audrey, thanks for stopping by! I totally agree that sending out the manuscript is a hot mess – you never know when/what you’ll hear back. I chose very specific people who liked the type of work and I think the in-person pitching helps.
You have a ton of books on Amazon, congrats! How intriguing that you’re taking an HP Lovecraft story. I don’t read horror because it is too intense, but I’m really impressed.
Are you working on a new book in the series?
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Targeting your pitch to specific individuals seems like a good strategy. Researching individuals thoroughly first may be likened to doing the rejections for the ones that are likely to reject, thus saving time and aggravation.
My books, although inspired by an HPL horror story, are in the realm of psychological fiction, examining the question of what kind of person would want to revivify the dead, and what kind of person would befriend this individual. I’ve also written a few “spinoff” stories, filling in corners between or within the 4 novels of the series, and I am just starting on a novel to follow the series, but it’s too early to say much about it as yet. Thanks for your interest.
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