— It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” – Voltaire
Appreciation…. thank you… etc. and so forth. There were some interesting reactions to my post the other day. People who were surprised that I might appreciate having a few thank you emails “clogging up” my inbox; people who brought to my attention that I neglected to comment in any way about the 11 people who did not reply at all… So, I thought I would suggest some straddling of the fence — whether you are an editor, writer, agent, reader, friend, or some combination of the above. I’m listing some responses I’ve had to queries in the last year (and let’s assume these people are getting my reportedly reasonable form rejection). Tell me how you would feel, what you would think, what (if anything) it might do to change your reaction towards the writers (oft-time strangers) querying you, either individually or as a whole.
*person who does not reply at all
*person who threatens in their query letter to send a large gift certificate for a well-known restaurant in New York if they are rejected and makes good on said threat
*person who sends a short note thanking you for your time and/or your professional response
*person who replies with a rant that conveys frustration
*person who phones to explain why you should not have form rejected them, swears you will regret it, and then asks for a list of other agents they might submit to
*person who responds by sending you a query letter for a different project
*person who sends back your form rejection with a difficult-to-decipher hand-written note in the whitespace at the bottom
*person who replies with a rant that is vitriolic and contains foul language
I’ll be interested to see responses from a more general populace than the singular one of my own mind. And in the meantime, let me clarify: thank you is a nice thing to hear. When one reads over 5000 query letters a year and responds to most of them with a form letter, one does not expect a grateful and/or gratuitous reply. However, one can certainly appreciate a kindness regardless. In no way am I advocating an extra level of correspondence. People who assume that 5000 thank you notes might be intimidating, have a point. And everyone’s time should be respected. I suspect some writers have a finite amount of time per day to spend on writing-related activities as they may have day-jobs and/or children to care for… Getting the next few query letters out might very well be more effective than sending a round of polite comments to editors and agents. But a few scattered here and there, if the spirit so moves you, can only spread good will. I hope I have elaborated sufficiently, and I leave you with this, which I shall also endeavor to apply in the future:
“It is not the failure of others to appreciate your abilities that should trouble you, but rather your failure to appreciate theirs.” – Confucius
Et in arcaedia, ego. 
I’m glad to read that agents appreciate a “thank you” response. I’ve been sending them but have always wondered if the agent opens Outlook and says “Good grief, get the message already!”
What would I do?
*person who does not reply at all — this would be my default assumption. they asked a question, you answered, end of conversation. no affect on perception of writer.
*person who threatens in their query letter to send a large gift certificate for a well-known restaurant in New York if they are rejected and makes good on said threat — someone who has obviously studied wacky marketing tactics and taken them to heart. might be well-meaning, might be a crack pot, almost definitely not someone who can be relied upon to present a professional image. Would mail gift certificate back, no note of explanation. Don’t want to encourage further correspondence.
*person who sends a short note thanking you for your time and/or your professional response — how nice. would favorably influence me the next time I received someone from that person. they’d probably be nice, or at least professional, to work with. still doesn’t matter, though, if they don’t have something I want to buy.
*person who replies with a rant that conveys frustration — probably having a bad day, but it’s unprofessional to take it out on me. this is what friends are for. slightly influence me against person should the submit something else I might be interested in. would they behave similarly inappropriately in the future, and jeopardize a deal I was working for them? if their stuff was good enough, I’d probably still take it. no response to rant.
*person who phones to explain why you should not have form rejected them, swears you will regret it, and then asks for a list of other agents they might submit to — stay away from this nutjob! make note of name.
*person who responds by sending you a query letter for a different project — well, they’re optimistic and prolific. and your form letter doesn’t say that the writer stinks… no impact on author opinion.
*person who sends back your form rejection with a difficult-to-decipher hand-written note in the whitespace at the bottom — a rejection rejection? no response necessary. opinion of author lowered.
*person who replies with a rant that is vitriolic and contains foul language — make note of name, never to have anything to do with this person. no response necessary.
Re: What would I do?
AOL to all of these (‘me, too’), particularly on the second item.
If it’s a personal rejection or if I’ve had personal contact with the agent/editor in question (conference meeting, e-mail exchange) I’d send a thank you e-mail, if it’s a form rejection, probably not.
Re: What would I do?
I was going to do a similar point-by-point, but Jennifer said exactly what I would say. So consider this a “me too” datum.
Re: What would I do?
What she said? That’s what I’m thinkin’.
I would guess the “reasonable” nature of your rejection is part of what gets you the kind responses… I’m not personally inclined to send a thank you for a one or 2 line rejection… but something that makes me feel a little better about my efforts… that may be worth gratitude.
Do you ever put handwritten/personal notes with your rejections? Advice, perhaps, or why the submission didn’t work for you? That would be a BIG call for thanks, in my book… especially if it keeps me from getting rejected by the next person. 😉
As for the varied responses… the people who freak out and rant or phone probably don’t have much of an idea of what goes on in the industry. But then again, there are people out there who think that “no phone calls” can’t possibly apply to them. Heh. As for the returned form letters or outrageous gifts… hoping for a second chance? I don’t know… as someone who tends to receive weird gifts in my line of work (I’m a radio personality)… I sometimes have no clue what inspires people to such lengths. Though we did all enjoy the big sack of candy bars from the guy who works for Nestle. 😉
Do you ever put handwritten/personal notes with your rejections? Advice, perhaps, or why the submission didn’t work for you?
I have to admit that I almost never, by which I mean I can’t recall an instance in recent memory, do this at the query/unsolicited level. I *always* offer feedback on submissions I have specifically requested — the amount of detail may vary, of course.
*grin* *nod* But I think an agent/editor would have to have a really, really nice and stealthy form letter to get 100% back with thank you notes.
Plus, there is the fact that some people are *not* grateful you took the time to respond (when you don’t have to) and will not send a thank you, and probably only the personally rejected people are going to send thank yous, if they send anything at all. The others–hopefully–don’t want to appear creepy and stalkerish, replying to a form letter and to an agent who probably won’t remember them.
Er, anyway, all that to say, I can’t imagine your inbox exploding with thank you notes. But what a way for it to go, eh? 😀
*person who sends a short note thanking you for your time and/or your professional response
That’s actually my favorite, and I’m not really an editor (well, I was on the editorial board of the literary magazine back in college, but I don’t think that counts). I’ve had friends who were editors though, and I can appreciate al lthe hard work that they put in, first reading through the slush pile (an onerous task in its own right, considering some of the writing I’ve seen by new authors), then, if a story passes the first read, trying to decide if a story fits into the category of what they want or need for their publication. This is aside from other factors that I don’t know about, of course, though I think those two are the major ones for an editor.
*person who threatens in their query letter to send a large gift certificate for a well-known restaurant in New York if they are rejected and makes good on said threat
That depends on the restaurant, lol. One person’s trash is another’s treasure. Of course, if you neither live in New York City, nor plan to go there just for a restaurant meal, it’s rather a moot point.
I combine the two best responses in your list: I try to send another query of another project, but begin by saying thank you for taking the time to look at such-and-such and for the timely response (assuming it was timely of course . . . and all of your rejections of me have been timely . . . and nice).
I didn’t do this at the beginning however. At the beginning I assumed the “conversation” (as put it) was over and that the agent/editor would be more annoyed at getting a thank you than they would be at getting nothing. So the above solution was my compromise.
I do understand the occasional thank you as being a nice thing. I’m a teacher. A math teacher. I think I can safely say that the amount of thank yous I get are fewer and farther between than for agents/editors. But perhaps I’m wrong.
Hey, I emailed a thank you to one of my high school math teachers just a few months ago. I had a wonderful series of math teachers in junior high and high school, and I am grateful! Some of us really do appreciate good math teachers. 🙂
Just my rambling reactions, hope they help.
I’d probably send – and certainly appreciate -the short, polite thank-you to my response, but I can also see why someone might assume your email box is always overflowing enough without that, especially if they read your blog regularly!
But this?
*person who threatens in their query letter to send a large gift certificate for a well-known restaurant in New York if they are rejected and makes good on said threat
just left me blinking? Wouldn’t it make more sense to send a large gift certificate for accepting them?
I have to admit that I’m amazed by some of the responses you receive to rejection letters. It’s hard for me to imagine people who continue correspondence (especially that of a rude or tacky nature) after you’ve given them your decision.
Thank-you notes, of course, are the exception, and I’m assuming that additional queries of a different project would probably be acceptable in the future, but…everything else seems totally unprofessional to me.
person who does not reply at all
I would imagine that this is the norm and that this particular person is probably accustomed to rejection and takes it with a grain of salt. They most likely either need to improve their work or query elsewhere, and they know it.
person who threatens in their query letter to send a large gift certificate for a well-known restaurant in New York if they are rejected and makes good on said threat
I would consider this totally unprofessional, but I think that many people–perhaps writers, in particular–forget that part of their development as a writer also needs to be the development of a busines-like attitude and knowledge of what is appropriate and what is not.
person who sends a short note thanking you for your time and/or your professional response
I think this would be the ideal response. A person that knows your time is valuable, that understands the marketing process enough to know that there are many people competing for your time and attention and that the fact that you sent any rejection at all meant that you took time out of your busy schedule to read their query letter.
person who replies with a rant that conveys frustration
Once again, I’d have to consider this person unprofessional and wonder if they were really ready to market.
person who phones to explain why you should not have form rejected them, swears you will regret it, and then asks for a list of other agents they might submit to
I think this goes way past unprofessional. This is down-right rude and I can’t imagine that it would make the person endearing should you see a query letter from them for a different project in the future.
person who responds by sending you a query letter for a different project
I imagine this happens quite a bit, but it seems to me that it might raise some warning flags as to whether this individual actually gave any thought to the fact that they received a rejection…whether they thought about the reason for the rejection before they chose another project to query.
person who sends back your form rejection with a difficult-to-decipher hand-written note in the whitespace at the bottom
I feel that this approach is, once more, unprofessional. They’ve been rejected. No further contact is required. Do they really think they’re going to convince you to change your mind?
person who replies with a rant that is vitriolic and contains foul language
This is the worst if all, I think. Though the person who phones in seems fairly close in audacity, as does the person who responds with a rant of frustration. I’d have to question whether or not this person took themselves seriously as a writer, whether they’d labored and questioned and edited their work. I’d also have to wonder whether they had the ability to work with an agent should they find one.
I think that #1, no reply at all, is generally the best response to a form letter rejection. Even #3, a short thank-you note, seems a little pushy to me. Like you’re hoping the agent will say, “Oh all right, you were so polite, why don’t you send me a partial.”
But I do think a thank-you note is appropriate if you got much more than a form letter. Maybe not necessary, but a good idea.
All the other responses range from silly to counterproductive.
Ohmigosh. I have never even considered that it might seem pushy, or that someone might misinterpret my “Thank you for your consideration and response” to mean anything other than, um, a thank you for their consideration and response. I thank the bus driver when I get off their bus or the check-out person at the grocery store, so to thank a person I know is taking the time to consider my query seemed like the natural thing to do.
Most agents or editors may not think it’s pushy. That’s just my feeling, and why I as a writer wouldn’t send a thank-you note for a form rejection letter. Unless, of course, it said otherwise in the guidelines. 🙂
I figure you’re already saying “thank you for your time and consideration” within the initial query. For me, that seems like enough. Unless you’re getting substantial feedback, which is worthy of extra recognition and thanks.
As a would-be writer, I would hope I’d stick with either a short, polite thank you (probably email), a well-thought out new query (if I have something different enough from the first), or, most likely, nothing. Email thank yous are easily deleted, kill no trees, and it’s difficult for me to see them as rude, as long as they’re sincere.
The gift certificate boggles me, and the rants would make me cranky. Not that making me cranky is especially difficult, mind you.
*person who does not reply at all
No change in opinion. I’d figure that particular deal is over and move on.
*person who threatens in their query letter to send a large gift certificate for a well-known restaurant in New York if they are rejected and makes good on said threat
I’m not going to lie. First instinct would be tempation to fly to NY and use it. But then I’d worry about my safety, the ethics. I’d send it back.
*person who sends a short note thanking you for your time and/or your professional response
I’d appreciate the thank you, especially if I sent a rejection with a lot of comments. I wouldn’t think it was necessary for a form rejection.
*person who replies with a rant that conveys frustration
Read, then delete.
*person who phones to explain why you should not have form rejected them, swears you will regret it, and then asks for a list of other agents they might submit to
I’d probably say something along the lines of: “I understand you are frustrated but your project is not for us. Good luck.” Then I’d hang up.
*person who responds by sending you a query letter for a different project
I’d give the project the same amount of consideration as any other query.
*person who sends back your form rejection with a difficult-to-decipher hand-written note in the whitespace at the bottom
I’d blink, then probably recycle it.
*person who replies with a rant that is vitriolic and contains foul language
Blacklist, for sure.
———————————————–
As a writer, the last thing I want to do is come off as annoying. I tread carefully with agent correspondence–I want to be professional and businesslike, yet pleasant, fun, and easy to work with.
What she said.
I largely agree with ; however, when I was slushing at Lenox Avenue, I hated seeing ANY response in my inbox because I had that moment of “brace yourself, it could be a rant.” Sure, they were all thank you’s, but I still had that moment of abject terror.
*person who does not reply at all No reaction, assume this is business as usual and they are trying not to clutter up your in-basket or waste your time plowing through form thank you letters
*person who threatens in their query letter to send a large gift certificate for a well-known restaurant in New York if they are rejected and makes good on said threat Nut. Return gift or donate to worthy cause.
*person who sends a short note thanking you for your time and/or your professional response Nice gesture, would brighten day
*person who replies with a rant that conveys frustration Toss letter, unless it has any mock worthy phrases that would make a “greatest hits” entry in LJ.
*person who phones to explain why you should not have form rejected them, swears you will regret it, and then asks for a list of other agents they might submit to Terminate call swiftly, do not engage, do not waste your time to offer professional advice, keep note of this person’s name in nut-job file.
*person who responds by sending you a query letter for a different project Reaction would depend on why they were originally rejected, was it related to writing skill set or a project that wasn’t commercially appealing. Would probably read the second query, but not a third or fourth, which would demonstrate that they were learning impaired.
*person who sends back your form rejection with a difficult-to-decipher hand-written note in the whitespace at the bottom Toss, life is too short to try and figure this stuff out.
*person who replies with a rant that is vitriolic and contains foul language Do not respond, but do save copy of this letter in the nut job file.
I advocate keeping a list of lunatics so you don’t waste time with future queries from these folks, as well as copies of any correspondence that you may need to produce in court later when requesting a restraining order.
I also strongly recommend the Office Voodoo Doll Kit. Or simply lay in a large stock of Gummi bears and detach their heads when the stress of dealing with the rude, ignorant and unteachable drives you nuts.
I just don’t get it. Why do anything in response to a form rejection letter — other than going back to work on the MS or sending it out to another agent or editor, that is.
Do these people send a thank you note (or a snotty/threatening/whining note) or a bribe to an employer who doesn’t hire them for a job they’ve applied for?
I confess I would be reluctant to send a thank you note after receiving a rejection. I would look on it as an attempt to maintain some sort of connection in the face of a kiss-off, which isn’t the impression I would want to give. I would have thanked them for their time in the original query.
The only time I’d consider such a note is if I had met the agent at a con and knew I’d likely run into them again at some point. Assuming they’d remember me, I’d want to ensure we were in a no-hard-feelings/you-don’t-need-to-look-the-other-way-when-you-see-me-coming place. Not sure if that would matter to the agent, but it would to me.
In the spirit of your post, I’d like to thank you for your post. There have been rejections I felt like acknowledging with a thank you, but didn’t thinking it would be a bit awkward. I’m glad to know it wouldn’t be.
The person who does not reply at all: given the constant feedback of “agents/editors/publishers” are busy, I admit to not wanting to clog an email inbox with thank yous. However, I can see where a nice snail mail thank you might be appreciated–though what are the chances you will remember that project by the time you get it?
The gift certificate? Hmm, interesting quandary. You’ll likely remember the person, but how will you feel if you get another query for them some time down the road?
Rants of any kind–while frustration in this business is understandable–certainly wouldn’t be something I would think appropriate, much less smart, to send to an agent who just rejected you. Hello blacklist!
My reaction?
I’d expect no response to a form rejection. I’d be surprised but pleased by a thank-you note. Almost any other response would cause me to think that the person is an unprofessional idiot, and might well get them onto my mental blacklist.
(I have been a slush-editor. I have the scars.)
FWIW, I would not respond to a form rejection in any way.
Resubmitted because I’m clearly not as smart as I thought.
It seems terribly lame to reply with ‘I concur!’ But here’s me doing just that. But – I have ulterior motives. I do! I swear it! See, it was brought to my attention that just adding someone to my friendslist might be thought of as rude – voyeuristic in a way, I guess. So, since I’ve added you I thought it prudent to introduce myself, too. Not because I’m a particularly polite person (well, maybe I am – but you can’t prove it!) but because it’s unwise to go annoying/irritating/creeping out a literary agent when I’m very near to pursuing the services of such a person, myself. No sense narrowing the field unnecessarily, right?
No no. I’m not hitting you up for representation. That would be even LESS wise in this venue than not introducing myself. I’m no fool! (No matter what they say…) I just found you… uh. Come to think of it, I don’t remember HOW I found your journal. But I did. And I’m interested. And I’ve added you to my list. Err – my FRIENDSlist. Yeah. 😀 And I just wanted to say:
I’ll be watching.
WAIT! No. Back to the creepy! Nuts! Try that again:
I’ll be reading you…
No. Okay – how about we stick with:
Hi, my name is Brett. I saw your journal and thought I might glean some measure of wisdom from your writing. I do hope you don’t mind, but I’ve added you to my friendslist. Please feel free to poke through mine if the mood suits. I’m here. I post infrequently, but do occasionally put up amusing little bits. Thank you in advance and ever so much for your forbearance.
(I do hope I amuse as that is my aim. And I apologize for hogging up so much space in your comments – I’m a wordy bastard.)
Sincerely,
Brett Rebischke-Smith
YAAW (that’s ‘Yet Another Aspiring Writer’ – come to think of it maybe I should make that GGYAAW for GOOD GOD, Yet Another Aspiring Writer’.)
Honestly? The thank you note never even crossed my mind. I guess because I just imagine offices already swimming in mail that another piece of it would be either lost or trashed.
But seeing as how my ms is out to several agents at the moment, I think I’m going to run out and buy some stationary. 🙂 I like the idea.
Oh, and since it just occured to me, do you ever get christmas cards with a ‘Hey, what’s the status on my manuscript?’ in them?
Hmm. Interesting question. I’d approach it partly from the perspective of a businessperson in general and partly from the perspective of a neopro. Plus from the perspective won by having in the past reviewed written appeals for more financial aid monies–which is in some ways similar to reviewing a slush pile–and having gotten some of the same response patterns as below to the standard “We’re sorry but we cannot increase your financial aid package” letter I sent out. Plus death threats. Seriously. Ah, the material I have from those days to draw upon if I ever write an academic mystery….*wry grin*
*person who does not reply at all–
Null set for me; I wouldn’t be upset if I were sending a form rejection they didn’t reply to.
*person who threatens in their query letter to send a large gift certificate for a well-known restaurant in New York if they are rejected and makes good on said threat–
Goes into my “potential psycho stalker file” and gift certificate is returned via registered mail, return receipt. The point someone else made about potential bribe claims would be my worry there.
*person who sends a short note thanking you for your time and/or your professional response–
Gets appreciated as good business and filed.
*person who replies with a rant that conveys frustration–
Gets filed in the “not psycho stalker, but not professional caliber behavior” file and not responded to unless something in the letter makes it absolutely necessary.
*person who phones to explain why you should not have form rejected them, swears you will regret it, and then asks for a list of other agents they might submit to–
Gets politely told that it is not the agency’s practice to provide lists of other agents and gotten off the phone. If necessary, notes get made of verbatim conversation and put in “potential psycho stalker” file.
*person who responds by sending you a query letter for a different project–
Depends on the project, I think…
*person who sends back your form rejection with a difficult-to-decipher hand-written note in the whitespace at the bottom–
Note gets tossed or filed according to agency practice for correspondence from strangers. If I can’t read it, I don’t have time to deal with it. (And one of my first summer jobs was being a secretary to engineers, so if I can’t read the handwriting, it’s AWFUL.*grin*)
*person who replies with a rant that is vitriolic and contains foul language–
No response, but definitely put in the “potential psycho stalker” file and if sent by e-mail, blocked from submitting mail to the agency domain name.
My recent consumption of Miss Manners manuals seems to indicate that a form letter does not require a response, however, a thank-you never goes amiss. One should not, however, fall into the trap of sending thank-you notes for thank-you notes.
Why some people seem to believe that, because their business is “artistic”, they are entitled to “artistic” displays of bad temper and bad manners towards others in the industry, I’ll never understand. If you are a job agency, and I send you a resume and a proposal to fill job #12, and you reply with a polite form rejection letter, it would be shockingly unprofessional of me to reply to that form letter with rudeness, and it certainly won’t get me hired. (Don’t any of these would-be writers have to hold day jobs? Do they mouth off like that to their boss?)
If your standard rejection form doesn’t specifically say “Don’t bother sending us anything else”, then it’s probably all right to reply to the form letter with another query – although fronting it with the “Thank you for your time” note would be nice too.
I will admit that I once almost sent back a rejection letter to an “editor” of a magazine (the actual editor was sick, so her husband had taken over, fitness for the job notwithstanding) with a great deal of red ink all over it correcting his poor spelling and grammar, as well as his serious misunderstandings of manuscript formatting and said magazine’s submission guidelines. I refrained, whether out of the goodness of my heart, laziness, or the entire magazine’s folding a month later, I don’t honestly remember.
I will in the future make a point to send a thank-you for any rejection letter that doesn’t look like a form letter. I probably should have sent one to my last rejection, but I really wasn’t sure if it was a form letter or not.
Would it be acceptable to send an email thank-you note for a paper-mailed submission and rejection, or would that just be confusing? I suppose I should stick to postcards.
Myself? I choose to reply to rejection letters as such:
If it’s a form letter, I choose not to respond at all, only because the odds of the agent actually remembering me is moot.
If it’s a rejection letter that actually is addressed to me, and mentions my submission? Instant thank you letter. Because as a writer, that tells me that they at least took the time to somewhat consider the submission.
If it’s a rejection letter with feedback, I jump up and down and say “whee! They actually read it enough to offer some advice!” That warrents at least a thank you card (or this time of year, a christmas card). And possibly a submission of another project later, (depending on the critism).