Yesterday I received two encouraging emails. The first was a rejection letter from an agent:
“Thank you for allowing us to review your manuscript for Light Bringer. Your writing is very impressive and, on a personal level, I enjoyed the story immensely. Unfortunately, at this time, we are not prepared to offer a contract for representation.
“I know it is disappointing to receive a rejection, but this is certainly not meant to suggest that your work is without merit. Rather, given the small size of our agency and the fluctuating nature of the market, our literary needs change periodically and sometimes we must pass on good writing simply because it doesn’t match those needs.
“Given the quality of your work, it really is just a matter of time and persistence before you find the right agent or publisher.”
The second email was a notice from Amazon regarding my novel Daughter Am I:
“Thank you for participating in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. We received thousands of submissions and were impressed by the incredible talent and creativity seen in the entries. We are happy to inform you that you have been selected as a semi-finalist.
“You can find your entry on Amazon.com via the following link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00121WDKQ.
“Now that you’re a semi-finalist, feel free to encourage friends and family to review yours and others’ entries.”
It sounds as if I had a good day, which I did, but at the end of it, I am still unpublished. Persistence is something I can do, but I could also use some help. If you get a chance, will you check out my ABNA entry? You can download it by clicking on the above link.
Bertram's Blog 
January 16, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Wow! Congratulations about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. That’s cool. Also, glad you found encouragement in the above rejection. It’s good when it doesn’t dash the spirits entirely. Check out more on rejection at http://www.literaryrejectionsondisplay.blogspot.com
And feel free to send some rejections for anonymous posting if you are so inclined. But mostly, congrats on the great news. I’ll link to this site, so that you can get some traffic to Amazon on your novel.
January 16, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Congratulations on both counts! I once had a letter (a half dozen or more years ago now) from Story Magazine (at the time, the best small mag for short stories around) rejecting a submission, but making me feel like I’d won something big by their praise of my story. In the end, not published, but–
And I will definitely check in at Amazon for your story.
And have added you to my blogroll (thanks to Suzanne, I figured out how). (I am not a clever person when it comes to drop down menus.) (Volumns revealed in that little aside, volumes . . . )
January 16, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Congrats, Pat! I hope it won’t be long until you have a publishing contract. I would like to bask in the glow of your accomplishments, as I slink back to edit again.
But before that . . . to Amazon!
January 17, 2008 at 9:14 pm
The first time I sent out a batch of queries, the nicest rejection that I got was a tiny hand-written note scrawled in the margin of my own letter, saying something like “not for me, but good luck with your search.” The others were absolutely soul-destroying, not-even personalized form rejection letters. This is a tough business to break into.