Ever since I read Nathan Bransford’s post “Why You Are Receiving Rejection Letters,” I’ve been thinking about my own rejection letters from literary agents. I’ve been trying to decide whether I should set aside my middle-grade historical fiction manuscript and start writing a new one, or if I should persevere and stubbornly continue submitting it. So I want to reanalyze my situation–and the criticism within my rejection letters–based upon Mr. Bransford’s criteria and decide if there is one unanimous thing I should really fix with my book before continuing to submit it, or if I should just ignore the scattered criticism and send out more queries. (I have only gotten 10 rejection letters so far. I might need to collect a hundred before anyone accepts it). I could really use some help from all of you helping me decide! Read the real live excerpts from my rejection letters (only the ones that have requested and read the full manuscript) below and help me decide what to do!
Agency #1: “Although THE TALLEST TREE is beautifully written, we did not connect to the story as deeply as we had hoped.”
Agency #2: “While I admired much about it, I’m afraid I wasn’t as completely engaged by the manuscript as I’d hoped to be.”
Agency #3: “While I believe you have a compelling premise, I’m sorry to say that I just wasn’t taken in enough by the plot to feel I could represent it effectively.”
Wow. I just read those all together. I’ve never seen them all in one place before. They kind of seem unanimous, don’t you think? Is everyone saying my book plot is…boring?
Please vote! Either a) ignore the agents, they don’t agree, keep submitting! OR b) mmm, they seem to agree there’s something wrong with ______. Consider revising before submitting again.
Hannah Karena Jones 
WHAT WOULD MEG CABOT SAY ABOUT THIS?!
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I don’t know! Even she said she’s set aside books for awhile because nobody was interested. [deep sigh]
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