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[paddington_bear]

I've received two rejections from publishers, and they've each included the seemingly requisite "this is not a reflection on the quality of your project; rather it is an indication of the fierce competition...." reassurance. While I'd rather receive this comment than  a "your writing is far below our minimum standards for publication"- type comment, it's hard to know the actual quality - from a publisher's perspective - of what I've submitted. Does any publisher actually say that the material isn't "up to snuff" (or some equivalent) or do they always let people down easy?

paddington

[miss_m]

What you present sounds a lot like a form letter.  Is there anything in the letter that personalizes it beyond your address and, perhaps, the title of your project?  If not, take it as a form letter--with the requisite "letting you down easy."  I have heard publishers have levels of rejection letter forms, though I have never seen much evidence of that myself.  If it is personalized with more specifics from your manuscript, then, yes, they mean it.

If you are asking if/how to find out if your work is really publishable by someone (or just want to reduce your anxiety), you might try asking a trusted and sensitive colleague (with a moderately recent book pub) to read/edit for you.  I have even seen folks do this with success in small departments where no one was quite in their specialty.  If this is a diss revision, you might ask your adviser to be honest with you about how publishable your work is--quality-wise AND market-wise--and perhaps to suggest friendly publishers/presses.  If this is a more creative/popular project, you have a whole other kettle of fish.

[bibliothecula]

I'm sorry to say that it's a form letter. You may need to do a better job in your prospectus/proposal positioning you book in the field and explaining why it's needed to fill a gap in the literature, or why it presents something new and is important. Don't forget to provide an analysis of your primary competition and why your project is better, newer, etc. You may also need to do more research about a press and its list before you send off your proposal. Finding a good fit is important. If your topic is French history, be sure that the press you send your ms to is looking to expand their French history list. Re-read Germano's Getting it Published and keep trying!

[paddington_bear]

miss_m and bibliothecula,

Thank you both for your suggestions. I sort of guessed that it was a form letter but just wanted to make sure. I've done pretty much what each of you has said. Most publishers actually give pretty specific information regarding what they're looking forward (in the proposal/cover letter include information about how the ms fits into their library, etc.) and I've been following them; and I've been referencing the Germano book I have. There's nothing to do, I guess, but keep going. Thanks again.

paddington

[trabb]

There's nothing to do, I guess, but keep going. Thanks again.

paddington

Indeed!  A good friend of mine reminds me constantly that academia is a career of failures punctuated by euphoric moments of success. 

Good luck at the next press!

[junior_guy]

I found these "reassuring" letters frustrating.  Couldn't presses at least offer some tangible, concrete reason for not pursing a project and/or suggestions for revisions?  On another note, I finally got some success when I did something similar to what miss m suggested... so find someone you trust and just keep trying!

[paddington_bear]

I found these "reassuring" letters frustrating.  Couldn't presses at least offer some tangible, concrete reason for not pursing a project and/or suggestions for revisions?  On another note, I finally got some success when I did something similar to what miss m suggested... so find someone you trust and just keep trying!

I agree with the frustration about the lack of tangible suggestions/opinions.  Each publisher asks for something different, and of course no one wants a full ms yet, so it's hard to know what part of the package may be turning them off. (If anything is, in fact, turning them off. I know that every ms can't be published, for various reasons, but I suppose if the subject was so fascinating, and the writing so enticing - or whatever - I guess the publisher would add it to their list.) junior_guy, was the second version that you sent out, after having people look at it, very different from the original?

paddington

[paddington_bear]

There's nothing to do, I guess, but keep going. Thanks again.

paddington

Indeed!  A good friend of mine reminds me constantly that academia is a career of failures punctuated by euphoric moments of success. 

Good luck at the next press!

Thanks! The rejection I sort of expected - or at least I wasn't surprised, I guess - since it was only the second set of material that I'd sent out. I guess I thought there'd be more negative comments or something, justifying their rejection. LOL!  But obviously they don't have to (or have the time to) justify every rejection.

paddington

[bibliothecula]

Sometimes it's not a matter of there being negative things about your ms, so don't dwell on the idea that the ms has problems. Just keep sending it out to appropriate publishers. It can be tough, but it's worth it when you see that first copy in print.

[prytania3]

Some publishers have several form letters, some more encouraging than others.

[cardamom]

Echoing bibliothecula's post, the reasons mss. get turned down are numerous and, unless they're train wrecks (and those do happen), the reasons are likely to have little to do with specific qualities of a given ms. Often it comes down to whether the ms. is the best fit for a list and how that's determined is often difficult to explain (alas, this is somewhat akin to the elusive issue of fit on the job market). Hence, the form letter about the competitive nature of the publishing environment, which is the truth in many cases.

As for providing feedback to authors who are rejected, that is extremely difficult to do without spending more time than is prudent on a ms. that a press does not want. Even university presses are businesses, after all. As an editor, it usually took me less than a half hour to do a quick yes/no on the majority of mss., but it would take a fair bit longer to detail the reasons why in a manner that an author would find helpful.

I did this in a few cases due to the compelling nature of the project that just wasn't a good fit for us and provided more detailed feedback in a couple other cases, usually when I thought that, with some substantial reworking, the ms. would be something we wanted. Sad to say that none of the authors in the latter category ever responded or resubmitted, at least within the next year or so.

Realistically, the best situation a rejected author can hope for is for the rejecting editor to provide some leads on other publishers who might be interested and, perhaps, even hand off the ms. to another editor.  If you're desperate for some feedback and have struck out elsewhere, asking for suggestions on where else to submit is not a bad idea and, as importantly from an editor's perspective, is a question that is usually quickly answered.

[bookishone]

I don't know if this is representative, but even though I did personalize the versions of my book prospectus sent to carefully selected publishers, only 3 out of 9 presses were interested in reading the manuscript. I got a variety of reassuring form rejection letters citing "fit" (and one pass-along-to-another-editor, that didn't work out). It was hell while the first few rejections came in and the interested presses hadn't responded yet. I was wondering if it ever happens that no viable press wants to see the book! I'm in a very competitive humanities field, though, so maybe 3 out of 9 is not so bad. The manuscript is currently out to my top choice press.

[junior_guy]

Paddington,

In answer to your question, the 2nd version was not substantially different... It did, however, off more concrete, specific details about the chapters and a colleague helped me out with some of the wording.  The problem w/ getting so many rejections w/o feedback is that, yes, there may be nothing substanitially "wrong" w/ a manuscript, but if you're tenure track, your department/provost/chancellor does not care.  What they care about is a book by a university press.  At least on the job market, you were interacting w/ people and thus could get some sense of how you were doing/what you needed to improve.  But trying to publish a book these days is like throwing things against a wall and hoping something sticks.  An editor at one press talks in detail about how (some) departments are failing their junior colleagues... could we also say that editors at (some) university presses are contributing to the problem... I mean, how do you expect your students to improve if you don't give them some hints as to what they need to do better?  (okay, obviously this is a sore topic for me)...

[mingus]

I don't know if this applies to you or not, but I am frequently surprised by the number of people who submit mansucripts out of the blue and then get a lot of rejections.  My advice is that you first have some discussions with editors about what you might have to offer and what they might be looking for.  Then submit the manuscripts, along with reminders of your previous discussions.  And, yes, many publishers are always reassuring, especially as they already have reassuring form letters ready to go. 

[paddington_bear]

I don't know if this applies to you or not, but I am frequently surprised by the number of people who submit mansucripts out of the blue and then get a lot of rejections.  My advice is that you first have some discussions with editors about what you might have to offer and what they might be looking for.  Then submit the manuscripts, along with reminders of your previous discussions.  And, yes, many publishers are always reassuring, especially as they already have reassuring form letters ready to go. 

I haven't sent any full manuscripts, only what the individual publishers have asked for, per their websites. I also haven't seen any publisher say that they don't accept unsolicited proposals, so I haven't felt the need to have any discussions w/ editors about whether what I'd be sending is appropriate. I've only sent out four so far; I compiled my list w/ books relevant to my topic that I used in my disseration.  Thanks for your information!

paddington