"It's a Tough Business, Kid!"

Much is made in the writing community about the power of rejection—whether by agents or editors or even critique partners. Once published, of course, the rejection continues in the form of bad or seemingly cruel reviews, and if one spends long enough immersed in the publishing world, it’s easy to see that the whole landscape is pock-marked with rejection.

So I thought it might be helpful if an agent stepped out and was totally honest. Even on this side of the desk, publishing can be an incredibly disheartening business. We take on books or projects that we’re passionate about only to discover that the market isn’t quite right, or that publishers don’t share our vision. It leads us to question our supposedly terrific taste… it makes us wonder if we’re even good at this agenting gig at all. The deals we think will make us often let us down; the ones we’re not anticipating turn out to mark our grandest days.

None of us in this business is immune to the discouragement of rejection. Whether it’s a project we love, or our own work, or a book we were sure would hit all the lists, if the stars don’t align like we anticipated, it can take the wind right out of our sails. In fact, by using that turn of phrase, I’m quoting one of my favorite fellow agents.

It IS a tough business, kid, so why do we do it? Why do agents stay in the trenches, fighting it out, day after day? Because of the thrill of seeing authors find their way into print. Because discovering a wonderful project and seeing it make a home at a publishing house is the biggest rush we can ever know. And because we love to see our clients rise like superstars—even when they don’t, we’re still banking—totally cheering them on—for that expected day when they will.

There are nasty phone calls in this business, discouraging emails, and many downturns that you thought might point upward. The book that goes out of print a year after it published, the cover that totally trashes an author’s hopes of breaking out. We see it all on this side of the publishing fence. But we also see days like these: A book that launches with 6,000 copies crosses the one million mark just two years later. The author who begins with 38,000 copies reprints eighteen times to the tune of several hundred thousand. The mid-list, barely noticed nonfiction title that began with 7,000 copies earns roughly $25,000 every single royalty period. The smallish book that never quite hit a homerun is optioned for a blockbuster movie.

“Mama told me there’d be days like this…”

So for every writer reading this, the one who just got a rejection letter—maybe even from us—just know that the trick is holding out for the days when it’s not all a downpour. As surely as someone will pass on you, someone else will see something beautiful in what you’re doing.