Today (24th July 2012) I received a rejection letter from John Jarrold. Naturally, I was disappointed, but it was such an in-depth letter, I didn’t mind as much as I ought to have.
I’ve attached the letter below for you to read.
Has anyone else received anything similar? Or is the one-line reject letter the norm?
Dear Andrew
I have now read your material – I do apologise for the delay. I can see the imagination and intelligence at work here, but I can’t honestly say I loved it. After fifteen years in publishing before setting up the agency, I’m all too aware how difficult it is to get a publisher interested in a new writer, so I feel that I do have to love my clients’ work – personally and professionally – to do the best possible job. If I don’t feel that strongly, I’m the wrong agent. Publishing is a notoriously subjective business, and every new author needs both an agent and an editor who do love their work. It’s hellishly difficult getting the bookselling chains to take a new novelist seriously, so that initial enthusiasm is vital. If an author’s prose doesn’t set me on fire, first and foremost, I say no, as do editors in this situation.
Most UK editors see around thirty books every week and only take on one or two debut novels over an entire year.
The entry level for a new novelist now is ‘special’, not ‘good’. This is partially because sales and marketing directors have so much more power than they did a dozen years ago. If they don’t believe they will be able to sell a first novel into W H Smiths and the rest of the bookselling trade in numbers, they’ll block the editor from acquiring it in many companies. A senior editor told me a few weeks ago that even if he loved an author’s writing, he wouldn’t make an offer until the book that was submitted to him was 100% right for the market – he has just acquired an author whose previous four novels he (and everyone else in London) had turned down despite liking them a great deal. Thus, I have to believe the writers I take on are truly wonderful, or it’s pointless submitting them. I just wasn’t entirely drawn in by your story and characters – I wasn’t thinking WOW, which is what I look for. Another agent may feel differently, of course. So often, it’s about unquantifiable gut reaction and the pricking of your thumbs.
FYI, I’ve taken on about forty writers as clients and turned down well over 9,000, so far…I know it can be as difficult to get an agent as it is to be taken on by a publisher. You just have to keep plugging away.
All best wishes for the future – and apologies again for not coming back more quickly.
Yours
John Jarrold
Website: http://www.johnjarrold.co.uk/
Andrew Toynbee's very own Blog 
Jan 24, 2017 @ 01:39:59
John is a very able agent and book doctor. However, he is afflicted by the same disease all agents are: the need to hook successful writers and stories and make them pay. For this reason a number of factors act against upcoming authors. First, no one knows you. Second, you have no track record. Third, your story has to fit the agent’s preference first and then has to make s/he drool enough over the dividend that book can earn IF they manage to get a publisher to bite, and IF it survives rounds of right negotiations, and said agent doesn’t get trumped. It’s worth remembering the best way to get over being a nobody is to write the best query letter ever, with the sharpest hook ever, and deliver the best story ever. I take comfort in reading many manuscripts online that make best seller lists and remind myself I can write as well as that with every line I write. And rule one for the writer is if something doesn’t fit the market, change it. I was once in Italy, shops were selling sunglasses. As soon as it rained the shopkeepers dragged out umbrellas and started selling them. The lesson: the readership is a moving pool of opinion – work with it.
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Jan 19, 2013 @ 08:04:07
Hi Andrew,
Sorry to burst bubbles for everyone on this thread but what John sent you is his cookie-cutter response.
I know because I literally just received the exact same letter, without a single word changed.
While I understand why John took the time to write it and I appreciate the ‘letting people down gently’ approach I actually feel that responses like this do more harm than good.
It gives the impression that you are oh-so-close and that there is nothing wrong with your skill as a writer and that it is just the evil marketplace to blame. This may well be true, but it is obviously not the truth for everyone.
I understand that John replies to thousands and thousands of queries a month, but I actually feel he should either stab us with the truth or just say that he passes. I’ve heard that he once said he knew if he was going to pass on a sub within the first page – so the long winded rejection is probably a bit disingenuous.
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Jan 19, 2013 @ 09:26:40
I appreciate what you’re saying – and now that I know he sends out the exact same letter to everyone he turns down, it has taken a little bit of the shine off it.
However, I owe a lot to this particular missive. Without it, I would very likely still be a ‘lurker’ blogger – emerging occasionally to comment before scuttling back into my shell to scribble some more unseen musings.
Instead, my sharing of this letter catapulted me into the blogsphere where I have found a great many friends, shared hundreds of stories and gained a wealth of experience with regards to self-publishing.
Yes, you are correct in this; In a tough publishing world, a harsh rejection would result in more determined and honed writers. But it also results in thousands of writers dropping their dreams and never submitting again. The result may be poorer prose and less engaging tales, I agree, but isn’t it a fact that many people improve with practice?
Thanks for letting me know the truth about the letter – it does help to put it into perspective.
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Jan 20, 2013 @ 04:38:08
Good for you Andrew, I’m glad this doesn’t dampen your spirits at all.
When I get depressed about the rejections that come in I just go to the nearest bookshop and look at all the completely rubbish books in the fantasy section that have somehow managed to get published.
Makes me realise that the game is very little about how ‘good’ you are. It is all about saleability and, frankly, good timing.
All the best, I enjoy the blog.
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Sep 24, 2012 @ 10:43:22
Yes it looks like you’re not too far away from attracting sufficient interest. That is by far the most constructive rejection letter I’ve ever seen. It is a numbers game, a saturated market and a question of who runs the show. The retailers, then the publishers, then the agents.
As to ‘Wow’ factor that’s a tricky one. It is subjective and therefore will always be difficult to understand.
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Aug 09, 2012 @ 08:48:28
What a splendid letter – I can picture the poor chap sat at his desk behind a pile of manuscripts as I read it 🙂
Great of him to take the time to give you so much feedback; it beats the standard “It’s not our genre” into a cocked hat. Rejection, encouragement and constructive criticism all wrapped up in one entertaining bundle.
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Aug 09, 2012 @ 16:46:09
If only every agent had the courtesy (and the time) to reply in this way – it wouldn’t be so discouraging for us newbies.
I got one reply (if you can call it that) which consisted of my submission letter dropped into my self addressed envelope. Not a word was writ upon it’s face, not even ‘no thanks’.
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Jul 27, 2012 @ 07:33:13
Yup, great rejection letter. This is not just a rejection letter, this is a special, personal rejection letter which he took the trouble to write. To you this was just a big thump as your ms landed on the mat, but don’t do what I do, which is sulk a bit, decide I am a terrible writer and my stuff is only fit for scrap.
This is encouraging stuff.
Glue it to the loo wall and rejoice.
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Jul 27, 2012 @ 16:45:12
Hi Pat
Thank you for your words of encouragement. I read your Valentine’s letter earlier and loved it! More! Now following your blog, so my name might pop up somewhere.
Nope, I wasn’t too discouraged – and the MS thump was purely electronic, so it didn’t affect my tinnitus one bit!
Now I just have to figure out what’s wrong with my characterisation and get on with it. Roll on the 13th Draft!!!
😀
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Jul 25, 2012 @ 14:44:43
Even though it was negative, it’s great that he took the time to explain why he was turning you down. And while it sucks that your story didn’t WOW him, like he says, that’s just personal taste. I wish I’d submitted to this guy. All the rejection letters I got were along the lines of “Thank you for submitting, but we unfortunately have too many submissions to be able to read them all …”
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Jul 25, 2012 @ 02:49:01
Well Andrew, this man took the time to really lay it out for you. How many do that? It comes down to personal taste and although you weren’t his, as he clearly pointed out that doesn’t mean you won’t be someone else’s. Keep going. You’ll get the right one.
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Jul 25, 2012 @ 01:46:01
It’s good that he spoke to you. He took the time. And he didn’t say you sucked. He just wasn’t right for you. I’ve had more of those than I can count. You will get there!
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Jul 25, 2012 @ 01:14:59
That is the best rejection letter ever! I’ve so often read that when you start to get personalized rejection letters it means you’re on the right track!
I’m new to your blog, what kind of book were you pitching?
And yeah, most replies are the one-liners. Especially if you’re just querying out of the blue. The only editors or agents I’ve gotten those kind of in-depth replies from are the ones I met at a writers conference.
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Jul 25, 2012 @ 23:01:03
Hi Emilia
The book I was pitching was a supernatural romance (no vampires in it – just angels) called ‘A Construct of Angels.’
This letter was waaay better than the scribbled comment I received a year ago from a different agency;
‘We cannot see any market for a supernatural romance.’
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