How To Survive Rejection

In our last blog post we had taken you through how to approach a publisher, and left you at a place where your work gets rejected instead of accepted for publication. As someone who has been receiving rejection letters since she was 14 years old (yes, that was the year I began approaching publishers), I laugh every time I receive them. After a point of time you get used to them and learn not to dwell on them.

But if this is your very first rejection letter, then you should take your time, mourn yourself and then get up and start working doubly harder.

From my limited knowledge of the publishing industry, I can tell that taking a book on for publishing is like playing a game of chance. You might think the book has potential but the audience might not. Our readers are the ones who make us, really.

Here are the Dos and Don’ts after receiving a rejection letter:

DO:

1. Write a polite email thanking them for their time and hope to work with them on some future project.

2. Do begin working on a new project. Work harder.

3. Sometimes editors are nice enough to tell you why your current work did not make the cut. Do keep that advice in mind.

4. If this is your first rejection, do allow yourself sometime to feel sad. Then get back and get back to work.

DON’T:

1. Don’t get discouraged.

2. Don’t give up on your dreams.

3. Don’t write an angry email back to them, telling them how they don’t understand you or your craft. Chances are they’ll block your email address for good.

4. Don’t stop trying to get published. Send it out to other publishers who you think would be interested in your work.

5. Don’t throw a tantrum because you got rejected! You’ve been through worse I am sure.

6. Don’t let one rejection consume you. It would be difficult to appreciate life, if you got handed everything. Sometimes you have to fight for what you believe should be yours.

Remember, every great author that you know today was probably rejected once in their lives. They didn’t give up and neither should you.

Keep writing. And keep dreaming.
Until next time,
BEE A Hive of Knowledge!

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Aniesha Brahma is an author, blogger and social media manager. She has three books under her belt: The Secret Proposal, The Guitar Girl and When Our Worlds Collide. She blogs at: Aniesha’s Musings & Bibliotheque. She is also the editor of BUZZ Magazine. You can connect with her over social media: Twitter|Instagram|Facebook 

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