Grateful Reject: Day 1

Since it is the week of Thanksgiving, I thought I'd do a series of what makes me grateful for rejections. 

I know, right? What a controversial topic.

Because what is there to be grateful for rejections? Oh, oh let me tell you.

Today I'm starting with: discovering the awesome agents. I'm grateful that rejections help me find reasons for me to work with or not work with a certain agent in the future.

My favorite agents tend to be the ones that I've had good communications with. Even if that communication was centered around a rejection. Some of these helpful rejections come in the form of personalized responses. I love it when an agent tells me why they turned down my work specifically.

Other times these helpful rejections come in the form of a well written e-mail. Is the agent kind? Is the agent personable? You can tell a lot about an agent from the types of rejections they send.

On the flip side, I've gotten some off-putting rejections that make me not super excited to query that agent again. 

When I query a new project, I usually look back on my notes from the last project I queried to remind me if there were any agents I had a particularly good experience with. And, alternatively, any agents I didn't have a particularly good experience with.

An author has to find an agent they can work well with, and that relationship may start with a rejection on another project. Who knows?