Yeah, My Rejection letter is here

[John Morrow]

John, where did you work? I used to work for HarperCollins, and my wife used to work for Tor.

Random House when it was still owned by Newhouse in the late-1980s/early-1990s. The Vintage Books imprint. The nice thing about doing book production for a really large publisher is that when the printers screw up a cover or book, you can say, "I think you should reprint this for free," and they'll do it.

Of coruse there's nothing you can do when the art and editorial departments really screw up. Somewhere I should have a copy of a book with the author's name spelled differently on the front cover and the spine. It should be one of only a handful of office samples that survived destruction. The really sad thing is that we even produced press proofs of the cover and nobody noticed until the books were bound.

Then there was the truck full of books that ran off the road and into a swamp. I had to figure out if they could safely burn the muddy books and that's when I realized that they were still using animal-based glue in the bindings of books. I really enjoyed working in publishing but I think they actually pay better at fast food restaurants.

 

[RangerWickett]

I don't know if this is something special, but I see the number 71 written on the bottom right of my SASE in black magic marker. Anyone have anything similar?

 

[Kastil]

I have #49 on mine. Would be interesting to know what that little number means, eh?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? :-D

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I really enjoyed working in publishing but I think they actually pay better at fast food restaurants.

Especially in NYC. Not long before I left (in late 1999), Random House upped it's starting salary for entry level positions from $23000/yr to $30000/yr. I can't tell you how many of my co-workers at HC who had been there for 4-5 years and had been promoted out of entry level spots, were all of a sudden willing to start over at the bottom at RH in order to get $4-5000 more than they were in thier mid-level positions.

 

[John Morrow]

Especially in NYC. Not long before I left (in late 1999), Random House upped it's starting salary for entry level positions from $23000/yr to $30000/yr. I can't tell you how many of my co-workers at HC who had been there for 4-5 years and had been promoted out of entry level spots, were all of a sudden willing to start over at the bottom at RH in order to get $4-5000 more than they were in thier mid-level positions.

My starting salary was $15,500 at Random House and, at the time, that was good for NYC publishers (I'd seen similar positions in the $14K range at other publishers). In my experience, the only people who could afford those jobs for the long haul were (A) bohemian Greenwich Village types living 8 to a loft, (B) the children of really wealthy people who stayed at one of their parent's NYC places, or (C) someone with a spouse with a much better paying job.

 

[Estlor]

For someone trying to break in to the business, this topic is very fascinating. It amazes me that publishers ever publish works from "new" authors given the cavalier attitude they have about untested waters.

Oh well, back to the slush pile for me!

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

I have #49 on mine. Would be interesting to know what that little number means, eh?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? :-D

I think that is just to keep track of the entries (So you were in the first 50 that arrived).

 

[mattcolville]

When I was trying to get my (very bad) novel published 11 years ago, I got one of those rejection letters from Harper Collins.

However, I did get one rejection letter actually written by the editor I'd sent it to, telling me what he liked and what he didn't, and I did get another letter from another editor saying "This looks very interesting, please send the manuscript."

That was a pretty amazing moment for me, but of course once they saw the whole thing, they rightfully came to their senses.

I'm thinking about trying again, now that I'm an actual writer and story editor. Figure if I could get that kind of response based on the total crap I wrote then, I should fare better now.

 

[RangerWickett]

So, Matt, show us something you've written. *grin*

 

[momnatur]

what number are we up to?

What's the highest number we're up to, as far as the little number in the corner? I'm all nervous to go home and see what's in the mailbox, dang it. I was just curious as to whether all rejections had been mailed or if this was just a first wave kind of thing. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

"Lady, you're my kind of stupid." --Mal