TRANSCRIPT

Hi, as promised in my last video, here is an actual rejection letter I received from a literary agency:

Dear Howard

Thank you for giving the blank Agency another chance to consider your work.

Unfortunately, we have had to concede again that this is not right for us

In the end, we simply have not fallen in love with your concepts or writing style to the extent that we would need to if we were to represent you as an author.

Accordingly, I would suggest that you approach other agents from now on.

We are sorry that we will not be able to accept any further submissions from you in the future but, as ever, we wish you the very best of luck in finding the agent who will be right for you.

Best wishes,

The Blank Agency

Yes, the letter is polite… but I mean it’s also so harsh! They could have just blocked my email address or deleted my emails the moment they saw them come in. But they hated my work so much that they took the time to basically tell me to eff off. Receiving that rejection could have derailed me completely. But my why which is, “I want to get paid to write what I want to write. Not what someone else wants me to write," kept me in the game. Hopefully you’ll never receive a rejection like that. And, like, if I'm being honest, it still stings to read it today. But the amount of rejections doled out can often make you feel like giving up. That's why it's essential to find your why. Make sure it’s meaningful to you. It will keep you going no matter what sort of rejection letters you receive.

I'd love to get your thoughts on this rejection letter or any other rejections that you may have personally received. Be sure to mention them in the comments.

Thank you so much for watching. If you got any value out of this video, please like it, subscribe to my channel and share the video with other aspiring picture book authors.