I’m a bit low today. I sent a partial (with synopsis and covering letter) for my latest novel, TimeSplash!, to Orbit – Bernadette had asked (on two occasions) to see it when it was finished. I explained it was a sci-fi thriller and said, as a joke, it was arguably a YA novel since the two main protagonists were both in their late teens. In fact, I’d argue the book is entirely unsuitable for children, being full of sex, drugs, and violence.
She wrote back within two days to say that Orbit doesn’t publish YA but that she would pass it on to a children’s/YA editor from Hachette who is visiting soon.
This was very nice of her, of course, but so inappropriate to the style and content of the book that it left me with the horrible feeling that she hadn’t looked at the sample chapters, nor even the synopsis. I can’t help thinking she saw the characters ‘YA’ in the cover letter and reacted solely to that.
The take-away lesson, I feel, is that I shouldn’t try to be funny in my covering letters – because the people reading them are scanning everything that comes their way at high speed, looking for rejection triggers. One wrong word and the partial is in the bin.
I now look forward to a second rejection from Hachette – this time from the Arrow editor, who will say she doesn’t think the book is suitable for a younger age-group.
Writing is so easy compared to all this stuff!
Graham
if your protag’s are in their teens it could very well cross into YA. and have you read YA lately? your work may be suited to the teenage market and may not get a rejection at all! keep an open mind about this one.
I agree. Don’t count your rejections until they’ve hatched :p
I know what you mean, Graham. I sent out tonnes of submissions for my DCA novel that had a cover letter mentioning it began as a sequel to a YA novel, and got nothing but rejected. I think publishers do look for certain things from proposals, and Hachette’s no YA policy probably had an effect on how your proposal was read.
Besides which, if there’s one thing I’ve learnt, it’s that you have to be clear-cut in your proposals – you, as the author, must know if it’s a YA novel or an Adult novel or whatever category your work falls into. Publishers may categorise you when they pick you up, but you have to categorise yourself first.
P.S. Have you thought about submitting to Severed Press? They’re looking for sci fi, too, and I’ve just got a promising email from the publisher that actually had heaps of creative criticism and ideas for making my manuscript better. That’s a rarity these days, as I’m sure you know.
Thanks for the suggestion, Luke. If Severed Press is giving feedback, I like them already.
The categorisation thing seems a bit of a Catch-22. If I say it’s not YA, publishers looking for YA will reject it even though they themselves may have thought it was YA if they’d actually read it – and vice versa, of course.
This is doing my head in.
It’s a funny old world. I sent ‘TimeSplash!’ off to Severed Press and they replied just now. The editor said he couldn’t use it because they only publish sci-fi horror (whatever that is – maybe some of those awful space operas I’ve been reading lately
However, he said he really liked what he’s read so far and he is going to read the whole thing!
Sort of consoling, I suppose.