By:
Ruth Harris
I'm
an Amazon #1 and million-copy NYT bestselling author published
by Random House, Simon & Schuster and St. Martin’s. I was also an editor
for over 20 years. I worked at Macmillan, Dell and Bantam and for a small but
thriving independent paperback house, now defunct—not because of me. :-) I was
also the Publisher of Kensington.
I’ve
been the rejector and the rejectee which means rejection is a subject I know a
bit about.
So let me cut rejection down to size.
Manuscripts
get rejected; not writers.
It's
business and (most of the time) it's not personal.
The
reasons for rejection start with the basics, i.e. the ms. sucks . Author can't
format/spell/doesn’t know grammar or punctuation. S/he is clueless about
narrative, characterization, plotting, pacing, and can’t write dialogue. S/he
has apparently never heard of paragraphing and writes endlessly long,
meandering, incoherent sentences that ramble on like poison ivy. You cannot
believe the grotesqueries I encountered during my days in the slush pile.
Sometimes, though, the ms.
Staff
editors, these days, are greatly overworked and overwhelmed. They don't have
the time (or, if they are just starting out in the business, even the knowledge
or experience) to edit the ms. into publishable shape. These days quality
editing is the author’s (or the agent’s) responsibility.
Occasionally, other hazards present themselves...
Rejections
come for unexpected reasons: True Story #1
.
. .
Read the full
article HERE!
~*~
If you
missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are
again:
- Anne R. Allen's Blog: The 10 REAL Reasons Your Book Was Rejected: A Big 5 Editor Tells All http://ow.ly/JOI8T
- All
Bloggers and Writers Should be on
Flipboard : Here’s Why, and an Idea on Collaborating | Silas Payton http://ow.ly/JOIpu - 5 Ways to Improve Your Writing Style | Writing Is Hard Work http://ow.ly/JOIMt
- How to use dialogue for story development: Ibsen's "Ghosts" | Creative Writing Prompts, Tips and Tricks http://ow.ly/JOIQo
- Using Astrology as a Character Generator | Meg Wolfe Writes http://ow.ly/JOKv3
- The Writing Café, Using Passive Voice in Creative Writing http://ow.ly/JOMHj
- You
Wrote a Killer Love Story
… by - Top
Tips for Getting the Most out of Monetizing Brand/Blog Relationships
: - Structuring
for Nonfiction Books--How Do You Do It, So
Your - Can This Be Over Already?: Confronting the Truth about Endings – Kobo Writing Life http://ow.ly/JPpMK
- The Creative Penn Blog: Helping you write, publish and market your book | The Creative Penn http://ow.ly/JPqam
- Writer Unboxed » The Dangers of Storytelling http://ow.ly/JPsKF
~*~
The Ruby Brooch (Time Travel Romance) Audiobook narrated by Teri Schnaubelt is NOW Available on Audible and coming soon to Amazon. Enter below for a chance to win a copy of the twelve-hour audiobook.
The Ruby Brooch eBook is currently a
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