Deciphering Cryptic Literary Agent Rejection Letters (With Examples!)
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You've waited weeks, maybe even months, and finally you see a literary agent's response pop up in your inbox. You probably feel a mix of excitement and nerves as you open that email to see if they liked your query – or not.
If their response includes a request to read your full manuscript, then congratulations! A request for a full manuscript is an incredible opportunity to potentially move forward with that agent.
But the reality of the querying process is that most likely, that agent has rejected your query.
First, I want to reassure you again that literary agent rejection letters are a completely normal part of the traditional publishing process. You should not feel awful when getting a rejection of any kind from an agent, because at the end of the day, finding an agent is like dating–you're not going to be a perfect match for everyone. Plus, like dating, it only takes one agent to connect with!
If you receive a rejection, you might find yourself scouring over every word and phrase used, trying to decipher why they didn't respond positively to your query and potentially what their thought process was in rejecting it. How can you tell if they even read your sample pages? Or was it the pitch that threw them off?
In this article, I want to help you cut through the polite speech and decipher what these different literary agent rejection letters might look like and mean. After all, once you understand why an agent rejected your query, you can better understand which parts of your query package to tweak, whether it's the letter itself or the sample pages.
As someone who used to work at a literary agency and managed many of the responses to queries, I know firsthand how confusing they can be, but also where agents are coming from on the other end of the table.
By demystifying some of the common phrasing seen in rejection emails, you’ll be able to identify a generic form rejection from a personalized rejection that is offering constructive feedback.
Spotting Form vs. Personalized Rejections
Before I get into the specific examples of literary agent rejection letters, we first need to talk about the difference between a form rejection and a personalized rejection.
A form rejection means a standard rejection. The language it uses is like a templated email, one that the agent will send to anyone if they have decided not to move forward with that query. I know it sucks to receive an impersonal letter like this, but the reason agents have to use form rejections is because at any given time, agents have hundreds of queries unread in their inbox. To get through them in an effective matter of time, sometimes they just have to use that form rejection because they can't write everyone an individual note.
A personalized rejection, on the other hand, is actually something exciting to get from a literary agent. Of course a rejection sucks no matter which way you twist it, but a personalized rejection is much more helpful and encouraging than a form rejection.
It means the agent has given you some indication of why they are not able to offer representation, and it typically means they have taken a serious look at your query and heavily considered it before sending along the rejection. Sometimes the feedback and constructive critique they offer can help you revisit either your query letter or your sample pages to strengthen your next batch of queries.
So how do you tell the difference between a form rejection and a personalized rejection? To be honest, it can be very subtle. That's why I'm going to decipher some of the phrasing that literary agents commonly use so you can be on the lookout for it in your own responses.
“It’s Not a Fit for Me”
When an agent says something along the lines of “it's not a fit for me,” they're trying to indicate that you are not a match for their list or not a good fit for one reason or another. Here are some examples of how this might look in a rejection letter:
“Thank you so much for sharing your story, but unfortunately, it's just not the right fit for me or my list.”
“I enjoyed reviewing your pages, but unfortunately, I'm not the right match to champion this.”
You'll see the term “champion” used pretty frequently in agent responses because that's how they see themselves: they are the champions of your story because they are the ones who have to present the story to publishers, and to do that effectively, they have to be very passionate about it and truly believe in its potential.
The overarching sentiment of these statements is that you're not a match and you're not a fit. Notice here that the agent is not giving any particular feedback as to why you are not a match or a fit for them. Because of that lack of detail, I would generally consider this a form rejection.
I understand that this type of response can be disheartening, because of course you researched that agent and thought you were a good fit. It can be confusing or upsetting to see that they're saying you're not a good fit, but keep in mind that this is a typical formulaic response they use and it's not personal.
Don't dwell on this type of response, as ultimately there isn't much you can do here. The agent isn't giving you constructive feedback and their reasoning is vague, so these are the types of rejections you just have to brush off and frankly try to forget about.
“I Didn’t Connect”
The next type of literary agent rejection letter you might see is when agents refer to the story not particularly resonating with them or not feeling compelling to them personally.
Here is some phrasing they might use:
“Unfortunately I am going to have to pass on this, as I didn't connect with the story on a deep enough level.”
“Thank you for sharing your work but I didn't find myself as drawn into the story as I need to be to offer representation.”
This type of rejection has a tad of personalization because the agent is giving you a reason for not moving forward, which is that they didn’t “connect” with the story. Admittedly, this is still a vague reason, so I understand why this type of phrasing feels cryptic.
I consider this a situation where the agent did consider the premise and the plot blurb that you outlined interesting, so they continued to read your sample pages, but they just didn't get pulled into the story enough to want to read more. Maybe they couldn’t pinpoint exactly why they couldn’t get drawn in, or didn’t have time to sit down and write up why they couldn’t connect with the story.
So again, I actually wouldn't change anything if you get a response like this. It doesn't give you any specific feedback and frankly there isn't anything you can do if the agent or even a reader down the line doesn't connect with the story. Remember, this industry is a subjective one, so your story is not going to connect with everyone. And that is completely okay! After all, it just has to connect with the right agent and then the right readers, so just keep your head up and stay optimistic.
“I liked [X] but didn’t like [Y]”
The most common structure for a personalized rejection is where the agent describes what they enjoyed about the query letter or sample pages and then explains why they did not offer representation.
This could look like the following examples:
“Thank you so much for allowing me to read your pages. While your writing is strong, I couldn't quite understand the protagonist's motivations.”
“I appreciate your patience as I reviewed your materials. While your premise is compelling, the narrator's voice felt a bit melodramatic.”
These are the types of rejections I recommend paying the most attention to, because the latter portion can offer insights that will help you edit your query letter or sample pages.
Of course, you don't have to agree with the constructive feedback the agent gives. After all, you don't know this person and they don't want to work with you, so you do not have to listen to them if it doesn't feel right.
However, especially if multiple agents are giving you similar personalized feedback, then I definitely recommend considering it.
Additionally, sometimes the element that an agent mentions disliking in their response might be something another agent or a beta reader or editor you worked with complimented and enjoyed. In the end, writing is subjective, so take every piece of feedback with a grain of salt. I always recommend only moving forward with the feedback that actually resonates with you and makes sense to you as the author and visionary of the story.
Say that the feedback did make sense to you and you wanted to potentially revise your materials accordingly. In the first example mentioned above, the agent says they couldn't understand your protagonist's motivations. In this case, within your sample pages, you might consider adding a little exposition or adjust a situation so that the protagonist’s inner motivations are more clearly revealed. That way, you can entice future agents into feeling invested in the protagonist.
In the second example, the agent said the premise was compelling but the narrator's voice felt a bit melodramatic. This could be a situation where there is a high-stakes or action-driven opening scene and the narrator is, in first-person perspective, reacting quite exuberantly. Maybe there are a lot of exclamation points or all caps, which are visual signals that can come across as over the top to readers. It’s also easy to tone that down to see if that results in more positive responses from agents.
When it comes to the personalized rejection, know that agents do not do this for all queries. So while it can be disappointing or even annoying to receive a rejection with feedback you didn’t ask for, just keep in mind that it does mean they seriously considered your query, enough to take the time to send you a note. From this perspective, a personalized rejection can be encouraging.
I hope these tips and examples help you identify what might be a form rejection versus a personalized rejection, and how to handle and think about literary agent rejection letters as you embark on the querying journey.
Thanks for reading, and happy querying!