I have a story out on submission. I got my first official "Not-Right-For-My-List" rejection yesterday morning. Boo. I was saddened, but hey, it's part of the process.
Hubby's reaction to the rejection surprised me.
"You should resubmit that GARDEN story you got the agent with. You know. It's been five years since you had it out on submission. They probably won't remember it. It's the best work you've ever done."
I wasn't sure if that was a compliment--Hubby seems to think that I would have a better chance if I resurrected a story that was rejected TWELVE times by publishers (although one editor loved it and we came thisclose to a sale--only to have it fall short). Granted, the last rejection was in 2005, but as one blogging agent wrote in his blog--"What worked in 2005 would not necessarily work in 2009."
I would have to dig it out of my archived files (I seriously haven't looked at it since 2007) and see if it's worth saving.
But is it even worth the effort of trying? I certainly haven't given up on my Fairy story, but what about dusting it off?
That is my dilemma. Do I try and put it out there again? Would editors remember?
????????
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Yes, editors remember.
ReplyDeleteYou want to land your agent with whatever is your strongest project, the one most ready for sale.
That's how you make the choice. Once you're contracted, you can start offering them other pieces.
Your writing has grown in the past 5 years. Even if you take out the original story, you may need to do a massive rewrite. Do you want to do that right now, or keep going in the current direction?
That choice is yours, but, unless you do a MASSIVE rewrite on the earlier book, yes, agents and editors usually remember something that they read years ago.
As a script reader, I remembered a script I'd rejected several years previously for a different company -- and i was reading 15-20 scripts per week at that time. I also hit the roof when the author claimed the company for which I worked at the time, and for whom I rejected it, had PRODUCED it. Liar.
One might not remember every word in a piece, but there's a familiar tickle.