# “That’s me in the corner, that’s me in the spotlight, losing my religion…” # - REM
With this fifth post in my “On The Road To Publishville”
special-focus series, it’s unfortunate that I have to expand on my previous post on the subject of “rejections” , since I’ve continued to receive them for my “Moon Crater”TM manuscript… It’s not all “doom and gloom” though, because this really does give me the chance to stop, take stock and reflect on this minor setback, and obviously share this experience with fellow wannabe writers who might find themselves in a similar position…
My initial reaction on receiving each of the
now six literary agent rejections I’ve got back for “Moon Crater”TM has been one that’s swung from gentle optimism to utter despair within the space of the day I get the said “Thanks, but no, thanks” messages. Suffice it to say that I’m ever hopeful that Agent Number 7 will be my lucky one but I’m also glad that the ones I’ve targeted so far accept email submissions because to be rejected after what sounds like weeks for snail-mail submission replies would probably feel a whole lot worse and a whole lot more of a waste of time… So once you accept the fact you’ve now received a number of rejections (I always send a polite reply back to say “Thanks for your ‘Thanks, but, not thanks’,”) and settle down to the ‘recovery’ phase, I think it’s probably important to ask yourself if your approach to literary agents might need refining. There’s some great articles for this on Cynthia Liu’s writing site and I’m now in the process of re-editing my cover letter and synopsis (which should be tailored to each individual submission anyway) in an effort to make myself and my book more attractive, whilst also refining the professional 
approach I’m going for...
With this fifth post in my “On The Road To Publishville”
special-focus series, it’s unfortunate that I have to expand on my previous post on the subject of “rejections” , since I’ve continued to receive them for my “Moon Crater”TM manuscript… It’s not all “doom and gloom” though, because this really does give me the chance to stop, take stock and reflect on this minor setback, and obviously share this experience with fellow wannabe writers who might find themselves in a similar position…My initial reaction on receiving each of the
now six literary agent rejections I’ve got back for “Moon Crater”TM has been one that’s swung from gentle optimism to utter despair within the space of the day I get the said “Thanks, but no, thanks” messages. Suffice it to say that I’m ever hopeful that Agent Number 7 will be my lucky one but I’m also glad that the ones I’ve targeted so far accept email submissions because to be rejected after what sounds like weeks for snail-mail submission replies would probably feel a whole lot worse and a whole lot more of a waste of time… So once you accept the fact you’ve now received a number of rejections (I always send a polite reply back to say “Thanks for your ‘Thanks, but, not thanks’,”) and settle down to the ‘recovery’ phase, I think it’s probably important to ask yourself if your approach to literary agents might need refining. There’s some great articles for this on Cynthia Liu’s writing site and I’m now in the process of re-editing my cover letter and synopsis (which should be tailored to each individual submission anyway) in an effort to make myself and my book more attractive, whilst also refining the professional 
approach I’m going for...