PROFESSIONAL BOOK EDITOR Explains Why Agents Rejected Your Book (It May Not Be What You Think!)

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Rejection hurts. There's no sugarcoating it. But finding the right literary agent—and getting rejected by others along the way—is a part of the traditional book publishing process. Learn from a professional book editor why literary agents reject books and what you can do to successfully query agents. Hint: your query letter is a great place to start, but it's just one element in the equation.

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GREAT BOOKS ABOUT WRITING/PUBLISHING:

SOME OF MY FAVORITE NOVELS:

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THE TOP 5 REASONS AN AGENT REJECTED YOUR BOOK:
1. Unprofessional or incorrectly formatted query letter
2. Genre not their area of interest
3. Underwhelming plot synopsis
4. Unpolished writing
5. Not hooked by your sample pages

ABOUT ME:
My name is Alyssa Matesic, and I’m a professional book editor with 7+ years of book publishing and editorial experience. Throughout my career, I’ve held editorial roles across both sides of the publishing industry: Big Five publishing houses and literary agencies. The goal of this channel is to help writers throughout the book writing journey—whether you're working on your manuscript or you're looking for publishing advice.

Feel free to get in touch!

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[AlyssaMatesic]

Have you been rejected by literary agents? Feel free to share your rejection stories. This is a safe space!

[chiptankgirl]

When I got my first rejection letter I was so happy. It's silly, but it made me feel so much more legitimate to get a response to my submission even if it was a rejection.

[RosiesArcade]

I have my polished manuscript ready to go and I've been querying literary agents for some time. My editor recently helped me refine the query letter a little more, so I'm hoping to find the right agent soon.

[christophersmith]

I was rejected over 120 times for my romantic memoir. It was written to my sons about how I returned after eight years to try and win back my first love. I ended 100 years of abuse in our family and remained celibate to her for eight years as a grand gesture. One rejection even went as far as to say that it "won't have a wide range of appeal." Another said it would "fail miserably."

Well, I found an independent publisher, and I can now respond to such criticism by saying "I have numerous reasons why you're wrong. They all end with the word 'AWARD'." Funny thing is, the book doesn't even release until New Year's Eve this year and it's still winning.

Even when I would get a negative review (which were WAY less than the number of positive ones), the next day I would find out I won another award. No one is omnipotent, despite what they want to think. This includes the all-knowing agents and publishers out there in the world.

This book sat in my head for 25 years until I finally got the courage to do it. I wrote it entirely on Iphone. After four years of writing on my lunch break at work (because I have two five year old sons and have no time in the evening), eight complete re-writes, six full editing rounds and 120 rejections, I finally did it. Cool thing is, now my first love knows our story was made into an award winning novel.

[Sophdais]

Thank you for this video!! I've finished my short story for children and I'm now sending out my query letters. I'm going through the rejection phase at the moment but hopefully an agent will come!! Thank you for this video, it was really helpful.

[c.c.l.]

So glad to get advice from someone with actual industry experience who shares real advice.

[Greed]

This video SO helpful and practical. Thank you! I'm now 2/3rds of the way through second drafting my novel and I can't wait to send it out to my beta readers to (hopefully!) get useful feedback. Then... after 3rd drafting with those comments it's on to the agents!

[kathleenschwab]

I am on the first draft of my first novel, and just getting my feel wet into the publishing world. Thank you for all the great info!

[dalemills]

Really good basic information to dull the fear of that great query letter only a few blessed souls know how to write.

[sunlightangel]

This has been a gem to find! I like how you actually want to help writers. My manuscript is 15 years in the making and I'm hoping to trad publish this year.

[ChimanaBendor]

Last week I researched and read that you have to tell the ending of your novel in your synopsis. Now I am confused, but it makes sense what Alyssa says.
However I live in Germany and I researched for german Agencys. Maybe there is a difference. Anyone (maybe also from Germany with experience) an idea? I would love to hear :)

[DalCecilRuno]

I'm going to query again starting 2021.
I realise that I was aiming at the wrong agents. I have revised and improved my query letter with the help of third party critiques, I had fellow writers see through my novel and I'm polishing it to the best of my ability.

My goal for next year is to aim at the right people. I don't know how to do that yet, but I'm working on it.

[jeromemalenfant]

7:20 I hate rhetorical questions in blurbs. When I see them, I want to respond, "What are you asking me for? I haven't read the book yet" Of course, John will be able to find the killer.

[sebastianpendragon]

when do you know your manuscript is a final draft, and ready to querying to literary agent.
And how you find right title for your books, and how do you chose the right agent if you got more than one representation offers.

[paulrobinson]

Informative and entertaining as always. Really enjoying your channel. Keep going.

[robertnorok]

What happened to the usual couch? :D
Should one send personalised query letters to many agents at the same time, or is it best to wait for a rejection before sending the next query letter?

[JohnRubio-yu]

Brilliant brilliant content:)

Your passion to empower others is hypnotic...I can relate ....

Thank you for leaving a beautiful trail of bread-crumbs for others to follow...

-John Rubio
-The Simple Art of Energy Reduction-

[KateJack]

Thank you for this video...I would love to know several more examples of personalized comments to agents

[KammiLutz]

I absolutely love your videos! You have such great content!

[scott]

Hi Alyssa! First I want to say thanks. Your writing tips videos helped me immensely with the revisions of my manuscript, and now while it is being beta read by a professional editor I am going through your publishing videos with a fine-toothed comb before getting started on querying. I have learned so much from these, and to be honest I was pretty clueless beforehand about everything.
I have a question about querying. When a query is rejected, is it okay to send it again to the same agent at a later time? I understand that revising the letter itself is a first step when querying goes nowhere. But past that, say for example that a query is not a good match for an agent because they are already working on something similar and are not willing to take on another. Six months or a year later though, they might not be and might be open to it. On the other hand, if you are using the same email address, they will see from the thread that you already pitched the same project to them earlier. Any thoughts on this?