ThomasLitchford

Someone in the comments section of the last post asked about the content of my rejection letters. Herewith Denise Shannon’s reply:

[Handwritten] Dear Thomas Litchford, [End Handwritten]

Thank you for your recent query to the Denise Shannon Literary Agency. Unfortunately, we do not feel your project is right for us, but we wish you the best of luck elsewhere.

Elyse Cheney’s:

Dear Author,

Please forgive this impersonal note regarding your query, which we have considered but must decline.

We hope you can understand that we receive a tremendous number of queries, and are forced to focus our attention on a limited number of projects.

We encourage you to keep writing and to try other agents.

Sincerely,

Elyse Cheney Literary Associates

And Carol Mann’s:

August 15, 2006 [five days after I put my query in the mail]

Thank you very much for submitting your query to the Carol Mann Agency. After careful consideration, we have decided not to pursue your project at this time.

Again, many thanks for the opportunity to read your work; we wish you the best of luck.

Sincerely,

The Carol Mann Agency

So, as you can see, nothing beyond the usual form letter. It’s hard to say whether anyone read my submission or not. I suspect that with such a quick turn-around these agencies are simply too busy to take on anyone new, so everyone gets the form letter.

I liked Nicole Aragi’s reply, which basically said she has a full client list. That I can understand. The rest of these are sort of like getting wacked with a cushioned bat: ‘We’re rejecting you, but we want to be really nice about it.’

It’s a necessary part of the business. So many submissions, so little time.

Then there’s also the distinct possibility that I’m not much of a writer after all. But I’ll wait until I get a couple hundred more rejections before I let myself believe that.