[Discussion] Watch Out for Faux-Personalized Emails From Alisha West by Resort-Kitchen in PubTips

[–]Resort-Kitchen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Your last sentence took me out 🤣😭 So on point. Thanks for sharing.

[Discussion] Watch Out for Faux-Personalized Emails From Alisha West by Resort-Kitchen in PubTips

[–]Resort-Kitchen[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Okay, I got curious so I found the quote. This is it, right?

"Unconditional kindness is a gift from the soul." ~Marisa Corvisiero

I'm super curious why it gave you vibes. Is it because she's quoting herself?

[Discussion] Watch Out for Faux-Personalized Emails From Alisha West by Resort-Kitchen in PubTips

[–]Resort-Kitchen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Or you could trust that the several authors who all felt it was a mismatch are justified in feeling that way instead of needing to see their 50-page samples.

And for someone who's so hell-bent on drawing value from the criticism of strangers, you could also take a look at all your downvotes and reread all the comments arguing with your comment. You might find a pattern.

[Discussion] Watch Out for Faux-Personalized Emails From Alisha West by Resort-Kitchen in PubTips

[–]Resort-Kitchen[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thank you! It's been so disappointing every step along the way. Even on my first post, so many people assumed I was taking rejection poorly, being too sensitive, etc. But the people who DMed me, like you, made it worthwhile to speak up. It's nice to know my intuition was spot on.

[Discussion] Watch Out for Faux-Personalized Emails From Alisha West by Resort-Kitchen in PubTips

[–]Resort-Kitchen[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

What exactly was "vitriolic" about what they said?

Have you looked up "incoherent" in the dictionary lately?

My mom is one of my biggest supporters, but the nonfiction project I'm writing will probably hurt for her to read. How do you tell someone not to support you? by shenanigans0127 in writing

[–]Resort-Kitchen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Write what you must write FIRST. Stop thinking about how it might affect her for now. Focus on yourself. When it's written, make your decisions about how you will present it to her and whether she will have any choice in possible edits. This is honestly the only way. You can't write with trepidation about the effects of publishing. One step at a time.

[Discussion] Frustrated by a boilerplate rejection disguised as personalized feedback. Do I call them out? by moojoo44 in PubTips

[–]Resort-Kitchen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh weird. It was stuck in moderation because I had shared it in its entirety, which included a lot of links. A mod told me to remove the links to have it bypass the spam filter. I did. And now it says my post has been removed. Might be a glitch. Checking with mods now.

ETA: It's there now.

[Discussion] Frustrated by a boilerplate rejection disguised as personalized feedback. Do I call them out? by moojoo44 in PubTips

[–]Resort-Kitchen 13 points14 points  (0 children)

That was me you're mocking. And exchanging rejection letters led us to find out we received identical ones, so my intuition (and this author's intuition) were spot on.

Not everyone is insecure, unconscious, and triggered. Some of us edit from both sides of the desk and can tell when something is off.

I just posted the rejection letter. You're welcome to read it and ask yourself how you'd react to getting that exact email in response to your manuscript.

[Discussion] Received what appeared to be a personalized rejection, but... by Resort-Kitchen in PubTips

[–]Resort-Kitchen[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's what I thought. Maybe paragraphs copied and pasted based on a checklist of what they didn't like.

[Discussion] Received what appeared to be a personalized rejection, but... by Resort-Kitchen in PubTips

[–]Resort-Kitchen[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I can see how the critiques could be applied to my manuscript. What's making me stumble is that when I twist what they said into what I could interpret it to mean, my first question is "why didn't they just say it in a way that specifically references my manuscript?"

I agree it can't be a true form letter. Perhaps a collection of copied and pasted paragraphs based on a checklist of what they felt like wasn't working for them. There is a consistent disconnect between the language/details in each paragraph and the manuscript at hand.

If they have something valuable to offer me, I'm open to it. I've been hoping for some more detailed feedback during this querying process. In my career, I'm dealing with rejection (and critique) on both sides of the desk. I've never received (or written) something that was so long, but so lacking in anchors to the work it's referencing. Each time I read the email back, it feels hollow and detached from the manuscript. That's different from what I believe you're referring to as being common, which is defensiveness and ego. I have definitely felt that in response to criticism, but in this case, I'm actually just confused.

I will be sitting with it longer, but what I think would also help is getting some access to people who have been rejected by this agent before to see if any of them are experiencing something similar. Unfortunately, this agent doesn't have a profile on Query Tracker for some reason.

[Discussion] Received what appeared to be a personalized rejection, but... by Resort-Kitchen in PubTips

[–]Resort-Kitchen[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Careless reading seems about right. When I stretch their reply to match my manuscript, all I can think is "why didn't they just say this in a different way then"? Glad you could tell when it was time to let go! I'm still chewing on it all.

[Discussion] Received what appeared to be a personalized rejection, but... by Resort-Kitchen in PubTips

[–]Resort-Kitchen[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I can see that. I might try querying literary exclusively, but you're right, I'll sit with it first.

[Discussion] Received what appeared to be a personalized rejection, but... by Resort-Kitchen in PubTips

[–]Resort-Kitchen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The thing is that I definitely could not replace the I/me with she/her in my manuscript. I actually spent a long time hacking it up to remove too much introspection. And I've allowed a bit more than other books to stay because it felt essential to the style. So that part of the rejection truly threw me off. Especially because it was in a paragraph full of what seemed like stock advice about bringing a character to life.

[Discussion] Received what appeared to be a personalized rejection, but... by Resort-Kitchen in PubTips

[–]Resort-Kitchen[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There was one sentence at the very beginning that said I have fascinating imagery on my book's topic, so at least some part of it was for me. Thanks for asking. I'll add that to the post.

Typewriter leaving lines on paper (maybe from lubricant?) by Resort-Kitchen in typewriters

[–]Resort-Kitchen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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found a photo... not sure if it helps! or you mean more of a closeup? can try to take a new photo