Well…
I’ve been telling myself this for weeks.
Did you know they say The Hobbit was rejected 55 times?
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was rejected 12 times.
A Wrinkle in Time faced rejection 26 times.
There are so many other authors whose rejections I could list off. Even the greatest books of all time weren’t received right away. I knew it could happen. I knew it probably would happen.
But I still wasn’t ready for it.
The News
First off, if you haven’t been keeping up with my recent writing posts which lead up to this one, you can find the first one here and the second here.
After pitching Sons of Starborn, participating in some lovely conversations with Miss Janelle Leonard from WhiteFire Publishing and waiting over a month (which wasn’t that bad of a wait in the publishing world), Miss Janelle’s publishing team decided that Sons of Starborn isn’t the right fit for them.
Which I understand. Miss Janelle was full of compliments about how I’m a “fabulous writer already” and have “a solid story world and characters,” so I’m very glad to hear that it wasn’t my writing that influenced their decision. They just didn’t share a market with Sons of Starborn.
So after all the prep work, after crafting my pitch and query and stepping out into the publishing world, I’m back to square one when it comes to publishing. Or that’s what it feels like, at least.
But…
This rejection is more than just a rejection.
I’m one pitch more experienced than I was before.
I’ve crafted my first query letter and now know how it should look in the future.
Thanks to this experience, I’ve learned how to reach out to a publisher and how to market my book without descending into a nervous wreck.
I am one rejection closer to the pitch that won’t be a rejection. One rejection closer to publishing Sons of Starborn.
So…I’m going to print that rejection out. I’m going to stick it to my wall. And I’m going to keep writing. One rejection does not define me. One rejection is just one step closer to publishing. And while for a moment it may feel like that rejection set flame to my chance to publish, the blaze will only fuel me.
This may not be the goal that I wanted to accomplish, but God has a reason for not bringing me into the publishing world yet. This is not a failure. This is a stepping stone.
Volā inter astra (fly among the stars),
Astor
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