Remember this song? Well, I feel like I should hit replay all day long today. If you remember from a previous post, I've decided to venture out from being an educator for 10 years. I was told by my employer that for "professional reasons" they were not going to have me back next year. Professional reasons? What in the world is that? For educators that means showing up on time (which I did), being at our weekly meetings (which I was), and keeping my paperwork up-to-date (which was a little difficult for me). I was too busy educating the future minds of tomorrow to fill out some stupid paperwork!! Well, I got my yearly evaluation back today...and it does not reflect what they said in that meeting. My "professional reasons" were at the proficient level. That's not enough to fire someone. We've always been told that "proficient" means average and being average is fine...I'm not coming back...so I just need to move on and not care.
Anyways...this also leads me to two e-mails I got from agents today as well. The first was sent out on April 26th, so it was a quick return and it said:
Dear Ms. Gokey,
Thank you for sending us the query for your YA novel LIFE ISN'T FAIR, which we have read with interest. This is a compelling story, but we are sorry to say the project is not right for our list. The voices in these pages are very strong, however, and so we hope you'll be able to place the manuscript with a great agent soon!
All our best,
Pretty good, huh? COMPELLING STORY and STRONG VOICES...sounds pretty encouraging. Overall, if you were going to say no, this was a pretty nice way of saying it. It doesn't completely destroy all hope in getting published. If you got this same e-mail, please don't say so. At least give me this!
And then I got this agent's e-mail a few hours later. I sent it in on May 9th, so another quick reply. This is what it said:
I’m sorry to say that I’ve decided to pass on your work. The children’s and YA markets are very competitive, and I have to feel a high degree of confidence in a story to take it on. I just don’t have quite enough conviction that this is one for me at the moment, though please bear in mind that another agent may feel differently – it’s such a subjective business. I’m also sorry that I can’t offer editorial comment or advice on your story; we receive such a high volume of submissions. If you haven’t already done so, please see our website and my blog – links below – which will tell you more about what we seek and writing craft in general.
Best wishes, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to consider your work.
A form rejection. Whatever. I understand you have a lot of queries coming in...but you could at least out some BS in it like the first one to make me feel better.
Well, it's time for me to go. I know that there will be days like this...and I will continue on with my agent search...but I'm so ready for SUMMER!!
Anyways...this also leads me to two e-mails I got from agents today as well. The first was sent out on April 26th, so it was a quick return and it said:
Dear Ms. Gokey,
Thank you for sending us the query for your YA novel LIFE ISN'T FAIR, which we have read with interest. This is a compelling story, but we are sorry to say the project is not right for our list. The voices in these pages are very strong, however, and so we hope you'll be able to place the manuscript with a great agent soon!
All our best,
Pretty good, huh? COMPELLING STORY and STRONG VOICES...sounds pretty encouraging. Overall, if you were going to say no, this was a pretty nice way of saying it. It doesn't completely destroy all hope in getting published. If you got this same e-mail, please don't say so. At least give me this!
And then I got this agent's e-mail a few hours later. I sent it in on May 9th, so another quick reply. This is what it said:
I’m sorry to say that I’ve decided to pass on your work. The children’s and YA markets are very competitive, and I have to feel a high degree of confidence in a story to take it on. I just don’t have quite enough conviction that this is one for me at the moment, though please bear in mind that another agent may feel differently – it’s such a subjective business. I’m also sorry that I can’t offer editorial comment or advice on your story; we receive such a high volume of submissions. If you haven’t already done so, please see our website and my blog – links below – which will tell you more about what we seek and writing craft in general.
Best wishes, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to consider your work.
A form rejection. Whatever. I understand you have a lot of queries coming in...but you could at least out some BS in it like the first one to make me feel better.
Well, it's time for me to go. I know that there will be days like this...and I will continue on with my agent search...but I'm so ready for SUMMER!!