To write is to deal with rejection in one form of another, but dealing with rejection as a writer is never easy. Submitting work to publications that practice editorial discretion comes with many benefits, but you are the one who has to get better at letting the inevitable rejection and criticism roll of your back in order to continue pursuing your writing and getting it before the widest audience possible. Author Ammar Habib is here today to offer his thoughts on dealing with rejection letters.

This year I will be covering formatting mistakes, publishing goals, doing a print run, knowing comp titles, and blogging a book. Feel free to explore Word Bank’s archive of publishing posts. In particular, you might find 5 Reasons to Crowdfund Your Next Book of interest.

Official Bio: Ammar Habib is an award winning & bestselling author who presently resides in his hometown of Lake Jackson, Texas. Writing has always been a passion of Ammar’s. He enjoys crafting stories that are not only entertaining, but also have something useful to say to the reader. Novels by Ammar include Dark Guardian, Dark Guardian: A New Dawn, Dark Guardian: Legends, and Memories of My Future.

Dealing with Rejection as a Writer

Rejection letters.

Those two words are something every aspiring author fears. When I first entered the industry as a young author back in January 2013, I did not fully realize how many rejections I would end up receiving over the next few years. However, after enduring over a thousand rejections between publishers, agents, and magazines, I do believe I’ve learned how to properly deal with rejection letters. And having landed an agent, published several novels, short stories, poems, and winning some awards, I have experienced some of what waits on the other side of rejection letters.

One important aspect of any author’s success is to learn how to properly view rejection letters and criticism. An improper mindset towards them can absolutely derail an aspiring author’s chances of success. At book signings and author events, I meet a lot of aspiring authors who have a ready manuscript. However, what I find is that many authors give up on publishing their book after twenty or thirty rejections. If they had a proper viewing of rejection letters, they’d be able to push through and achieve their dream of becoming a traditionally published author. I want to share some mindsets that helped me go through all those initial rejection letters as a way to help aspiring authors.

You Aren’t Being Rejected as a Person

This is the most important thing to realize. A rejection from an agent isn’t an insult to you or a metaphorical punch to the gut (although some of the more rudely written ones can feel like a cheap shot). It just means the agent doesn’t think they can make your work successful in the marketplace. A lot of times it’s just timing. It may be that the agent already has a similar project they’re trying to sell. It may be that they don’t think there’s a market for the project. Or, your project could be the perfect manuscript, but it may just not connect with the agent. You never know exactly why your work is turned down. However, it is never an insult to you as a person and is always a business decision.

This distinction is important for new writers. New writers are usually nervous about getting responses to their work because they haven’t built up their writing self-image yet. This means they are at more risk than a seasoned author of taking criticism to heart. I took rejections pretty hard when I was new, so I completely understand what it feels like. However, sometimes you just have to be stubborn enough to get through them.

Another important note is that just become one or two or fifty agents don’t think your book will sell, that doesn’t mean it won’t. Just think of Stephen King’s novel, Carrie. Countless agents didn’t give him the time of day before he finally managed to get the book published. Just imagine how many of them were kicking themselves after the book became a national sensation.

Everyone—Yes, EVERYONE—Goes Through Rejections

We’ve all heard the famous stories. Dr. Seuss was rejected by countless publishers. JK Rowling couldn’t get the attention of any publisher for Harry Potter when she first wrote it. Andy Weir went through well over a hundred rejections before deciding to self-publish The Martian.

However, the train doesn’t end there. Even after an author becomes successful, they still don’t get their work accepted everywhere they go. One of my friends, a NYT bestselling author due to a famous series he writes, mentioned something to me recently. He wrote an original novel a couple of years ago. For the past year or two, his agent has been unable to get any publisher to bite on it, so the author is now considering the self-publishing route for this particular work.

The point is that rejections are just a part of the trade. No matter how successful an author is, they’ll still have to deal with rejections. The quicker an author can accept that and learn not to take them personally, the quicker they can get over that mental hurdle and the more attention they can pay to the actual craft of writing.

No two authors have the same road to success; some rise up quicker than others. However, that is what makes this craft so unique and fun! Always remember: failure and success are not opposites. Instead, success often waits on the other side of failure. The only way to truly fail in this industry is to quit. As long as an author is willing to submit their work to one more agent, the hope of success will always burn bright!

“You never know exactly why your work is turned down.” via @AmmarAHabib1 #PubTip

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What tips can you add for dealing with rejection as a writer?

You can connect with Ammar Habib on his author website as well as explore his books on Amazon.

Images courtesy of Amar Habib. Please share responsibly, Jeri Walker 2018.