I've had some lovely rejections of my memoir. Excerpts include:
'I was very impressed with the professional way you present this material and I enjoyed the chapters too.'
'I do like your title and I do like what you've sent me so thank you.'
'You write well and have an appealing, warm style.'
So far, so encouraging, but there's always a 'but', and it's usually that they don't feel confident of being able to place the book with a publisher. So I've decided to see whether I can do that myself. As a result, I've been researching publishers to see who might be interested. Yesterday I was checking out Tindal Street Press (fiction only, boo hoo) and I discovered a page on their site with resources for writers of short stories. Ten of their authors have each produced a short essay, covering an aspect of short story writing, which are free to download. I've read them all and they're good: well-written, readable, informative. The only thing I didn't like is that they call them 'masterclasses' which seems a bit poncy. There aren't that many how-to books which cover short stories, so I was pleased to find these essays. They seem to be aimed at literary writers, but the advice they contain is equally relevant to commercial stories. Here's the link: if you're interested, go look!
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10 comments:
What lovely rejections!
Thank you for the link. Looks like some very good reading to be had there.
(and yes, 'masterclass' does sound poncy:-)
Lovely rejections are good. Very good.
Whenever I read a book I check out the agent and the publisher... just as vague research... I don't write anything down but Tindal Street Press come up again and again for me. (Tell It To The Bees & Astonishing Splashes of Colour being my most recent.) Their books are fabulous.
Those definitely are good rejections.
Thanks for the link. I need all the help I can get when it comes to writing short stories.
That really does sound like a genuine appreciation of your work. Why else would they bother?
Sounds positive - thanks for the link
Those are nice rejections!
Thanks for the links! And I'm so glad to hear you like 'Nick Hornby' too. Haha!
If your have to get rejections those are the type that you want! Hang in there...it will only be a matter of time!
C x
If there was a [Like] button...
(I was referring to the Tindal Street Press link, above, there - I [Like] that bit.)
Though the term is a little wince-inducing, TSP do strike me as being quite (whispers) cutting edge.
Shame they don't do non fiction.
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