Subjectivity

I was "out of the office" all day Saturday, which is to say, I was having lunch with my extended family. Of course, when I got home, I had a nice bunch of emails to sort through--mostly junk, as usual. I have seven email addresses that all flow to one melting pot of emails {thank you, Thunderbird}, which means I have everything from band updates, query replies, friendly emails, newsletters, forum updates, and everything in between...all in one place.

But on Saturday, there were two emails right on top of each other. And both of them were responses to partials I had sent out in response to requests. The first was a short rejection, shorter than even some query form rejections I've received. It wasn't right for the agent; she hadn't fallen in love with the voice.

The very next email was actually from yesterday's snail-mail agent. It began with how much she was enjoying the book, and could I send the full manuscript {via email, thank goodness} so she could continue reading. There were lots of exclamation points. {You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can judge an email by its exclamation points.}

Subjectivity.

Two agents, both with partials. One didn't fall in love with the voice. One wants more, please!

This is a subjective business. Everywhere you look, agents and editors are turning down books that others make bestsellers. One agent loves your voice, another hates it. One thinks your MC is depressing, another thinks she's way too bubbly. One thinks it won't sell, the next thinks it's been over-done. One likes the plot but hates the MC. The other loves the MC but doesn't think the plot makes sense.

Subjectivity.

Your book can be the next Twilight, and you're still going to get rejections. They're going to happen. You're going to get rejections from agents, from editors, and from readers. They're going to tell you what they dislike...and I doubt they'll all say the same thing. And that's okay.

I'm here to write the best book I can write. If someone doesn't fall in love with the voice, that's not my problem. {Unless 20 different agents are telling me the same thing, of course. Then it's time to go back to the drawing board} If someone disses my plot and someone else thinks it's brilliant...it's not my problem. It's my job to write the best book possible. That's all I can do.