Five Reasons You Can’t Get Your Novel Published – And Why It’s Not Your Fault

No Entry

 

by Larry Kahaner

 

             Dear Author:

            Thanks for sending us your manuscript. The plot is unique, the characters are compelling and the writing is top notch. It’s one of the best books we’ve ever read. Unfortunately, it’s not right for us.

            Best Regards, The Publisher

 

What the…?

 

As an author with long-term success in publishing non-fiction books, I can tell you that publishing is not an easy game. It takes talent, perseverance and luck. Even more so for fiction writing. And missives like the one above seem to defy logic and common sense.

Let’s first dispatch the most obvious reason why you can’t get your novel published. Your book stinks. It’s poorly written, the characters suck and the plot is ridiculous. Assuming that’s not the case, that your book is just as good as, or better than, anything else out there, here are the top five reasons why a publisher won’t touch your novel.

1 – “We don’t have room on our list.” Legacy publishers are limited in how many books they publish every year. With so many good authors around they’re often booked solid for this year and maybe the next year. Some of their list is taken up with their perennial money-makers (think the Richard North Patterson writing machine) and editors at these large houses are allowed a few new authors each year that they’re permitted to bet on. There’s not much room for others.

2 – “It’s not our kind of book.” Authors hear this a lot. You might be thinking “but I thought you published mysteries; mine is a mystery.” Your book may be just outside their comfort zone for many different reasons  – like there is a kidnapping and the editor doesn’t care for snatch jobs. Romance publishers often are sticklers for their own particular ironclad rubrics that can seem to outsiders as frightfully picky.

3 – “We’re not accepting any new books.” This is related to reason #1 but applies mainly to small, independent publishers who may publish only a handful of books annually. I’ve been a business reporter for decades and I’m often amazed at how companies (not just publishers) are reluctant to grow revenue by producing and selling more products – often out of fear of making it big or sacrificing quality control.

For some smaller indies, producing more books and thus more revenue, might upset their cozy way of doing business. Again, this always strikes me as small-minded. Many industries are hamstrung by not having enough raw materials. Not so with publishing, If you have good authors clamoring for you to publish them, why not hire part-time or gig editors and production people who are willing to go with the ebb and flow of things?

4 – “It’s not a book that we know how to sell.” Publishers often will be blunt in saying these exact words or they’ll couch it by saying something similar to #2. In other words, they’re saying that your book doesn’t fit nicely into a genre that they recognize. For example, your protagonist might be an intergalactic PI. The publisher may know how to sell alien novels or PI novels but put them together and, ummm, we’re flummoxed.

I find this shortsighted, too, because bestsellers often break these rules and do well for the publisher that takes a chance. Best example: When John Grisham tried to sell his first legal thriller, publishers shied away because it was a new genre and it didn’t fit in with what they knew. Count how many rejections he received and how many books he’s written that have been blockbusters.

5 – “Right place wrong time.” An author friend of mine sold a book to a publisher that hadn’t been active in his particular non-fiction genre. As luck would have it, they were interested in expanding into this genre and were looking for a book such as his. Lucky guy. But it works the other way, too. A publisher may have just decided that they’ve had enough of one genre and are getting out of it for any number of reasons.

All of this should not discourage you. In fact, it should bolster you because these turn-downs are not under your control. You’re probably doing all the right things.

Here’s a last thought: The publishing industry is becoming more and more like the movie industry. Moviemakers are relying on the blockbuster film to help them turn a profit. Instead of making money on smaller movies throughout the year, they focus on only a few films and market the hell out of them to protect their expensive investments in exorbitant actor fees and promotion. When they fail, and they do, backers can’t complain too much because, ‘hey, it has George Clooney in it.’ It’s classic CYA.

On the other hand, we’re seeing this model get bashed by cable and streaming video companies like Netflix, HBO, Amazon and others who are producing lower cost films and making money doing it.

In the same way, I believe that e-books will disrupt the current book publishing model by lowering some production costs and taking book roster constraints off the table for solid, hardworking and talented authors.

After the dust settles it will be a better time for authors and publishers.

It’s only a matter of time.

 

 

Guest post contributed by Larry Kahaner. Larry is the author of more than 15 non-fiction books and has just completed a thriller. Check out his blog at The Non-Fiction Novelist.

30 thoughts on “Five Reasons You Can’t Get Your Novel Published – And Why It’s Not Your Fault”

  2. Excellent article. I would add a 6th reason and that is the current depravity of today’s society. You see this in today’s films. Movie studios looking to “play it safe” by making poor remakes and unoriginal films just to make money. Instead of taking chances on original material. That is lose-lose for everybody in my opinion.

    I’ve stuck to my guns and continue to write what comes from my heart. Writing for the market is lose-lose and I don’t want my books to suffer from the same boring worn-out drudgery that plagues today’s commercial books and film making.

    Liked by 3 people

      1. I write in the Universal Pen System which seamlessly combines genres. I don’t understand why the general public is so evasive when it comes to originality. Some of the best works are groundbreaking.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Reblogged this on deborahjay and commented:
    For those who still hanker after a traditional publishing deal, this post presents more of the cold, hard facts of the publishing industry – and why simply writing an awesome novel is not the only factor in getting published.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Curses…flummoxed again! Yeah, I always get that one. I’m a writer, not a genre–but hey, a lot of readers won’t accept anything “out of the ordinary.” Tried and true works best most of the time…

    Liked by 2 people

  7. Thanks for an excellent post.

    After enough rejection letters, it was preferable just to go the CreateSpace route when I read that traditional publishers were struggling to survive in an e-book world.

    Like

  15. Very discouraging, but the truth, I know. I’ll be throwing my writing into the traditional publishing industry ball-pit soon, too. I feel like Lloyd in Dumb and Dumber, “So you’re saying there’s a chance.” That’s optimism.

    Like

  16. Another thing with agents and publishers is that they want to see you keep subbing to them. They want you to keep knocking to prove that you’ll put in the work. Everyone is a writer nowadays so we have to work harder to make a name for ourselves.

    Like

  20. Is self-publishing considered a “cop out”? I don’t mean that to sound as derogatory as it sounds. Can self-published works still become very successful, and if so, what are examples.

    Great article!

    Like

  21. Reblogged this on For my writing journey and commented:
    Have you ever wondered why a publisher (when dealing with small presses or publishers who accept unsolicited submissions) or an agent might turn down a manuscript that is perfectly and flawlessly written? What’s that? Only poorly written/edited works get rejected, you say? Think again. Every writer, including the best selling authors (enter whatever name you want here; Rowling, King, or any other) had their best work rejected more than once.

    Here are five reasons this may happen, and will happen to those of us who will try traditional publishing. Don’t be disheartened. Our time will come one way or another. But it’s still helpful to identify the reasons behind a rejection, so that our ego and precious feelings don’t get crushed every time we receive one. You see, it’s not always your fault.

    Like

  22. Reblogged this on ARC Books and commented:
    I think the information here is something authors, indie or otherwise, should read and take on board, being rejected by a publisher may not mean you’re rubbish as a writer, perhaps you just need to look for a different way to get published.

    Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.