Great Reasons Why Publishers Reject - All Genres
What you must checklist before prematurely shooting that ms out to an agent.

Needs too much editorial work (a manuscript has to be 95% of the way to book-ready for me to be willing to take it on)


A former editor at Del Rey, imprint of Random House, was inspired to look at the reasons she rejected manuscripts submitted to her over a nine month period. During that time she passed on 133 manuscripts.

Here is her list of specific reasons why:
    - Not what Del Rey is looking for (meaning we had enough on our list already of whatever subgenre was on offer).

    - A good manuscript but not right for our list (included a couple of nonfiction SF-related titles more suitable for a small press, the odd children's book, etc.)

    - Not a genre that's doing well right now (horror, mostly; some foreign novels being offered for translation, anthologies whose concepts weren't strong enough).

    - Simply not good enough (a combination of mediocre writing and/or storytelling).

    - Contains major plot flaws (the story was too predictable or the author made a choice I didn't agree with which affected the entire manuscript).

    - Main characters not strong or likeable enough.

    - Needs too much editorial work (a manuscript has to be 95% of the way to book-ready for me to be willing to take it on).

    - Falls between genres (these were some of the most frustrating ones I had to reject; several were quite beautifully written but would be hard to promote in such a tough marketplace).
- Michael Neff



Women's fiction author, Joani Elliot, (September 2019 NYC Pitch) just informed her workshop leader, Susan Breen, that an offer from Jennifer Weis Agency was forthcoming following the NYC Pitch and that the NYC Pitch played a major role in sealing the deal. No surprise there! Congrats to Joani.

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