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People's Friend rejection letter
Hello,
I received my first rejection letter for my first submission yesterday. I'm over it now. The world hasn't come to an end!
Anybody knows what the PF standard rejection letter says?
Mine said the story was enjoyable but they couldn't take it.
I suspect it's just their standard one because they're a friendly publisher but I'd like to know what you guys think so I decide what to do with my story next...
Thanks for your help.
Laurie
Comments
Glad you're over that first horrible hurdle. Well done for sending the story out in the first place and for 'getting over' the rejection in the second. They're not rejecting you, it's just that your story wasn't right for them. Do you read PF?Have you sent for their (very particular and picky) guidelines? You might benefit from market research - buy or borrow a few back copies and read the stories. Yes I know, some of them are not 'you'. But that is imma-bloomin'-terial. If you wanna write for them and be taken up by them, you need to know the mindset because they make NO exceptions even for established contributors. Their protagonists are good honest loyal upstanding people who believe in family values. They can have flaws - and your story can teach them to deal with their flaw if you like - but they are never divorcing/child abusing/racist/anything non PC at all! Think 'family reading' and you won't go far wrong for starters, think happy ending or at least hopeful ending and you're even further on their track. PF is not the place to get experimental with your writing. You need a firm idea of where you're going, a decent plot, not too complicated, and probably no more than maximum of 4 characters. Under 3000 works best (I do 2000-3000 for them) and any heroine or hero needs to be pro-active in sorting out the problem that besets them. Animals go down well with PF readers, as do country villages (not keen on inner city realities, in FriendLand!) and grandchildren, distant cousins coming home, think rosy spectacles and kindness, gentle humour.
There is no standard rejection letter. DCThomson, the publishers of PF, let PF encourage new writers wherever they can and the closer you get to being 'right for them' the more likely they are to say something like 'story not strong enough' or 'character too 'thin' or unsympathetic'
Don't give up and good luck with your next sendout.
What to do next ... Send another story to PF if you have something you think they'll like - if you don't, then write one.
Read the rejected story again. Do you still think it's good, or can you improve it? Read through other magazine guidelines and recent copies of the magazine (Ceka's right, that can help a lot) and see if you can find somewhere else to send it to.
Don't change the story just because it was rejected - only do that if you're confident the changes will improve it, or make it more suitable for another market. What's not quite right for one market might be perfect for another.
They didn't say anything was wrong with it, just that they couldn't take it.
I'm thinking of reworking it to turn it into a picture book. If I do that, I need to cut a lot of text to make the story 'tighter' and suitable to another format.
I think it's pretty hard to get a picture book published when you don't have an agent and I'm not there yet. Trying to pitch to agents would use what little (and precious) writing time I have for the time being. Things might change in a couple of years, when my lil' one starts school...
Thanks for the encouragement ^^
Good luck with your future submissions, Laurie.
http://essentialwriters.com/forum/topic/competitions-how-do-you-know-if-theyre-legit
I managed to sell a non-fiction article this week for not very much but I suppose that, technically, it makes ma a published writer.
Here's hoping it's the first of many.
Sorry, cath! That doesn't reflect badly on you though, just on them.
[quote=Laurie_DS]I managed to sell a non-fiction article this week[/quote]
Brilliant! Well done!