Rejection Letters

I’ve noticed a trend amongst agents, who must be taking heat from whiny writers about their wording in rejection letters. The ‘I didn’t fall in love with this’ theme in the recent rejection letters I’ve received is a hoot. I liked the old style ‘Sorry, not interested’ or ‘Not for us’, and then a quick ‘Good Luck’ at the end if the agent feels charitable. This ‘let them down easy so we don’t get hate mail’ is getting really funny. Dear agents, on behalf of we thick skinned, cement-headed, writer wannabe’s, we realize you don’t have the time to hold our hands while you stick the knife in. We like the quick stab right in the heart. Don’t sugar coat it. You can’t please the sensitive sissies out there, believing they’re God’s gift to the written word anyway. They’d want you all to write a book of your own explaining what exactly about their masterpiece failed to garner acclaim from the writing world.

Love appears in so many rejection notes now, I nearly deleted a manuscript request because I couldn’t tell the difference. I bet the Snark doesn’t use love in her rejection letters. I think I may have queried the Snark, not knowing of course, because her identity is a secret. The rejection letter said simply, ‘Don’t ever write me again. In fact, don’t write again, period’. Now that’s a rejection letter. :)