What Publishers said...

A big part of writing for publication is being turned down. If you start taking this personally, you won’t be a writer for long. More than 60 publishers and literary agents turned Manford down. Here’s why they did so and what some of them had to say.

Publishers stay in business by providing books people want to buy. Those that have been in business a long time have their tried-and-true “list” of topics under which they accept books. However expansively you might interpret these topics to include what you’ve written, the publisher ultimately decides what to accept. If you’ve written a book on computers, for example, and send it to a publisher that specializes in the Revolutionary War, you shouldn’t be surprised when it comes back.

Literary agents represent writers and try to approach publishers they think will be most interested in your work. Agents, too, have their “list” of topics in which they specialize.

So it is not at all surprising or unusual that 34 publishers and 5 agents said Manford was “not right for our list. ”

There are a lot of books being published and a lot of people writing them. Publishers print a certain number of books each season and are often scheduled out several years. Literary agents also have just so many clients they have time and energy to represent.

Thus, when 8 publishers and 3 agents said they “were not accepting new material at this time,” it just meant they were already too busy.

Most “turn-down” letters are pre-printed forms, some with check-boxes for the reason or blanks to fill in the book and writer’s name. Occasionally, in addition to delivering the bad news, a publisher or agent will take the time to offer a few words of encouragement.  Such encouragement may also be on a form letter, but you take what you can get. Here are a few comments that 10 more publishers and agents sent back about Manford:

• “You create a group of eccentric and fun characters that would interact well in a series of stories, but…”
• “The stories you mention in your recent letter do indeed sound interesting, but…”
• “While your material possesses obvious merit. . . ”
• “We agreed your idea was a good one, but…”
• “Although this is a delightful story…”
• “The idea is really intriguing, however…”
• “Although your proposal sounds interesting…”
• “This is a sweet story, but…”(2 of this one)
• “Although it certainly has potential for success. . . ”

Sometimes the person returning the work didn’t like it, and sometimes will say why. Manford got a few of those, too, and here’s my favorite:

• “Although the concept behind your idea is appealing and we recognize that you have consciously decided not to ‘write down’ to children, we do tend to publish books that are easier to read. ”

So, did Manford give up after getting all these letters? Does Manford ever give up? Of course not, and he is pleased to say that the Sea Script Company in Seattle has published two books of his adventures. They’re illustrated, too, as you’ve probably figured out from the drawings on this site. You can read about the books and buy them here.