My writing rejections...

Sharing the rejections I got for my debut...before it went on to sell!

Hi everyone,

Happy Wednesday!

I thought I would do a post about rejection - I did a more general one here, but it is always useful to see specifics and I thought some of you may find it useful to see my own journey.

My first book went out on submission over ten years ago now (wow that makes me feel old!) when I was about 23/24. I had signed with my amazing agent Camilla, after she had read a first draft of what became The Doll House (at the time it was called The Architect’s Daughters). I had had LOTS of agent rejections before she signed me (those are for another post!) but I was quite lucky in that it was relatively quick - maybe a few to 6 months of querying before she emailed to say she wanted to meet.

We met up and she told me how much she loved the book, but asked me to do some work on it and push it in a more thriller direction. I loved thrillers, but didn’t have the publishing experience I have now, so had never really thought about it. It was already quite a dark book but it was probably more family-focused and book-clubby than overtly a thriller.

I went away and revised the manuscript, sent it back to her, and then she emailed me (when I was sat in Foyles cafe!) to offer representation. I don’t think I will ever forget that feeling (it was like the bit in Love Actually where Laura Linney has to excuse herself to do a little happy dance; I went to the bathrooms and read the email over and over by myself. There was not actually an attractive man waiting in the other room though, just my friend! Haha).

Anyway, I was over the moon. Then we did a bit more work, then we went on submission. God, it was awful. I was so nervous Monday-Friday, devastated every Friday night when emails closed and I knew I wouldn’t hear anything, hopeful again every Monday… worse than waiting for any man to call! It did not sell straight away, by any means. We did get one offer from a medium sized press but my agent didn’t think we should take it at that time. I got lots of rejections, which I am pasting verbatim below (with some identifying factors removed) in order that it is helpful. I think it first went out in Autumn time maybe, and then I asked for the rejections and got them just before Christmas. I cried all the way home to Suffolk, holding a print out of my rejections on the train.

In the new year, we submitted to another round of editors. More rejections. It was not until about Spring time that I got an offer from HQ Digital, who took a chance on my debut novel. I met with the editors and it came out later that year or the year after, I actually can’t remember now! It did well enough that I was moved onto the print list and then I have had subsequent deals and five books, all with HQ (HarperCollins). I still feel SO lucky to have this, and to all of HQ for changing my life. But I had at that point been rejected by almost every other publisher I could think of! Proof that it only takes one.

Writing and getting published is such a rollercoaster and for anyone in the trenches, you have all my sympathy but this posted is intended to show you that you must hang in there! It might not be this book that sells, but another one might! You just never know and the only way to guarantee you will never be published is if you stop writing. So don’t! I hope the below helps you.

Email from my agent:

The main feedback is it is wonderfully written but the suspense part is too quiet for the market. I’ve been really pushing how talented you are and how amazingly you work editorially – what you achieved in the last few months with the suspense is remarkable so I know you can do it. However, I think people are really aware of the bar set by The Girl on the Train and the easy pitch for this so as we knew it is a really extra tough time for this. The most interesting reaction came from XXX at [Big 5 House] as she really likes it but is worried that she won’t get it through acquisitions. She shared it in-house and the main issue is it is wonderfully written but needs that extra edge/spark on the suspense side. I spoke to her on the phone and made suggestions i.e. having a red herring in (and I confessed that you had this in but I took it out as it didn’t feel developed enough) and also holding XXX back as a surprise ‘bad’ character until later. She thought these sounded good but at this stage I’m really sorry as she would need to see a new draft.

Specific feedback, each bullet point is a different editor or house:

• XXX said she’s really impressed with the work you’ve done, especially the flashbacks (saying she could feel her skin prickling), and that she thinks it’s quite a fresh take on the domestic thriller, but she just didn’t connect with it enough to move forward.

• XXX says the dual narrative with sisters makes The Architect’s Daughters a little too close to a book she recently acquired for her to take it forward herself, but she was utterly gripped and thought it was brilliant.

• In the end, The Architect’s Daughters wasn’t quite for me. I thought it was very well written, very tightly plotted, and I found it a tense, immediate read - but ultimately I really liked, rather than loved, it, despite the ‘twist’ at the end - and that makes me think I’m probably not the right editor for it.

• Thanks so much for sending me this novel to read. I thought it started promisingly, but I didn’t feel the tension was quite sustained – so my interest in the characters faltered slightly. The interplay between Corrine’s clear intelligence and her potential mental instability is well balanced and carefully poised. The alternating chapters ensure that their set up is contrasted with the manic life of Ashley and James. James’ marked absence poses more questions, but ultimately I felt their plot line has less depth. The looming figure of Corrine and Ashley’s father helps add a new dimension, but at this stage the pieces have not been fully fleshed out and whilst there is potential for an extremely interesting undercurrent, it currently feels unclear and could be developed further. I feel the plot strands need to be brought into sharper focus and characters like Ashley and the sister’s mother given more depth. My fear would also be that this is pretty crowded genre and at this stage the novel and plot line don’t stand out quite enough?

• The writing is strong, but I simply didn’t think it quite rich or textured enough in terms of its character and plotting to really make its mark in this arena. It’s competent in every way, but it’s such a competitive field. I just wanted more in terms of twisty plot and intrigue – more layers of character and atmosphere. It has tremendous promise and I hope Phoebe finds a good home.

[Big 5 Publisher] – telephone conversation - email from my agent

The editor thinks you’re brilliant and shared the manuscript in house but for her that suspense edge isn’t there enough. She feels it needs something to push it further to be able to compete with the market. She thinks you’re so talented but at the moment feels she’d need to read another draft before being able to move forward.

• I did really enjoy it but am afraid it’s a pass from me. Phoebe writes very well and I was compelled all the way to the end. However, I felt that the balance of the pacing was off, with a quiet start that took a while to get to the grittier bits and a pay off at the end which didn’t really deliver for me. There were elements of the plot, too, which I found to be a little too unlikely. Sorry not to be writing with better news – and an offer – but I do see that Phoebe has a commercial writing future ahead of her and look forward to watching/cheering from XXX. I’m sure others will feel differently and snap her up – do let me know where she ends up.

• I absolutely see the Liane Moriarty comparison, and love the relationship between Corrine and Ashley. I was particularly drawn to Ashley’s paranoia and really felt caught up in that side of the story. Unfortunately I wasn’t as gripped by the doll’s house aspect of it as I’d hoped, and so sadly I am going to have to pass.

• I wanted to be in touch about The Architect’s Daughters, which I’ve not quite finished yet but I’m really enjoying. Phoebe can really write and that first chapter – wow, it really crawled under my skin. Loving the two narratives of the two sisters and under normal circumstances I think I’d really be in touch to discuss an offer. Alas, only four weeks ago I bought XXX (another girl!) from Ballantine which is of course a different story, but it does also have the dual narrative with two women and the ‘unsafe home’ theme at its core. I’d personally be totally cool about this but I think it would just be too tricky for the team to make the distinction and to give both projects the same attention. So it is with a heavy heart that I’m going to pass on The Architect’s Daughters. But have a fantastic time selling this novel and thanks so much again for thinking of me. I really wish I had two lives as an editor sometimes!

So after all these, I emailed my agent telling her I was really sorry it had not sold; I felt like I had wasted her time.

She is the nicest person in the world, so she said this, pasted from her email:

“Phoebe, Miss Morgan, you deserve a publisher who is as in love with you as we are and who knows how remarkable you are. I know this first hurdle of finding a home is feeling like the biggest mountain in the world, but trust me you need an editor & publisher who can instantly see how to make your book a huge success and is instantly convinced. We don’t want you in a home where we’ve had to do the convincing because then it means they won’t publish you well and it’s too big a risk for you book to get lost.

You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for, it’s the publishers that are crazy and they so often get it wrong. It just means you’re going to write something so brilliant next and then XXX [redacted haha].

There, that’s my pep talk over! I still have all the belief in the world for you and TAD and I can still 100% see someone loving you and seeing your worth, but in the meantime for your own sanity sake I think you need to put all your frustration and disappointment into your next book, blow everyone’s socks off and I’ll make them pay an extra [redacted!] for saying ‘no’ to TAD. Xx”

So at that point, I went away and started trying to write book two, which I sent to my agent, but which we actually ended up scrapping. Secretly I still have hope that one day I will dig it out!

But THEN as I was trying to write a second novel - in March, the Spring after I had cried at Christmas, we got the call from HQ to say they wanted The Architect’s Daughters! I felt like I was dreaming because I was so convinced by that point that it was over, but it wasn’t and that book changed title to become The Doll House and sold thousands of copies. For which I am (and I hope this is clear) eternally grateful. Thank you to all the people who read my books and who take the time to message me to say so!

I then wrote another book which became The Girl Next Door (hardest edit but my fave of my books!) And that one and The Babysitter were my second book deal, with HQ.

I will stop now but please share your own story in the comments if you would like to, and as always, thank you for reading and subscribing. I hope this provides some inspiration/hope! I have also talked more about writing and publishing recently on these podcasts:

On the Sofa with Victoria - about the market and trends post-Frankfurt Book Fair, with Jack Butler from Sphere (Little, Brown)

Inside the World of a Big 5 Publisher and the Honest Truth about Publishing with Phoebe Morgan

Your Roadmap to a Career in Publishing with Phoebe Morgan - Prose Pros podcast

Happy listening, hope you find them useful!

Phoebe x