Comments on: Why books get rejected

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:50:00 +0000

"Think of it this way: someone tells you a GREAT true tale about how he was rescued at sea by Malaysian royalty on a yacht smuggling a cargo of babies for illegal international adoption when his own boat sank in a storm after it was boarded by Somali pirates and how then they were all chased by drug smugglers who thought..."

I have have laughed and said "go ahead, pull the other one!" :D

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction :P

By: Satima Flavell

Satima Flavell — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:02:00 +0000

Hmm. I think maybe I’m excessively critical. I often pick up books whose first pages contain anachronisms or huge plot holes (like, how are they crossing that hundred miles of desert on foot with no food?)and I don’t buy them. In fact I won’t even review them, and review copies are free:-)My suspension of disbelief, once lost, seems irretrievable, and I find shonky research (or no resarch!) unforgivable.

By: Jo

Jo — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 05:33:00 +0000

I’m with you there, I have struggled through books which had a good story but were badly told. Sometimes I make it to the end, other times I give up in disgust even though the story is interesting.

By: Glenda Larke

Glenda Larke — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:06:00 +0000

Oh, definitely better odds than lotto! I still haven't ever won anything that involved buying a ticket...

I think when it comes to "terrible" novels out there, we judge it by our writing standards, instead of seeing it as a good story, which often explains the publication.

Think of it this way: someone tells you a GREAT true tale about how he was rescued at sea by Malaysian royalty on a yacht smuggling a cargo of babies for illegal international adoption when his own boat sank in a storm after it was boarded by Somali pirates and how then they were all chased by drug smugglers who thought...

I bet you'd listen, all ears. And you'd do that even if he was actually a poor speaker, repeating things, mumbling, stuttering, pausing at the wrong times, etc. His telling wouldn't matter because the story sucked you in.

A good writer and a discerning reader will roll their eyes when presented with lousy writing, but the editor looks at it another way: Will it sell because it tells a good story??

By: Satima Flavell

Satima Flavell — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:40:00 +0000

I think one of the most discouraging things is not that so many potentially good novels are rejected, but that some truly terrible ones make it into print. That suggests that really, it boils down to the taste of the agent or editor, and if the wannabe never manages to find the one person who just happens to like the wannabe's work and just happens to be looking for exactly the kind of thing the wannabe has written, s/he will not get published:-(

I console myself by thinking that at least the odds are slightly better than Lotto!