3 Surprising Benefits of a Nonfiction Book Proposal Rejection

by Lori Hatcher @LoriHatcher2

Let’s be honest. Writers, like most human beings, hate rejection. Especially when we’ve put so much work into a project. We refine our purpose, target our audience, and select our best chapters. We agonize over our hook and drive everyone around us crazy by testing alternate book titles on them. Anyone who’s ever written a book proposal will agree—completing one is like birthing a porcupine—with no epidural. 

It’s no surprise, then, that we experience disappointment and sadness when our proposal is rejected. Once we put some distance between the rejection and the project, however, we can usually learn from it. If we apply the lessons to our next proposal, we’ll increase our chances of receiving a yes instead of another heartbreaking no.

Here are three surprising benefits of a book proposal rejection:

1. It helps us realize our book idea isn’t fully developed or focused. Most publishers provide little more than a standard, Thank you, but this doesn’t meet our publishing needs at this time, response, but occasionally we might hear feedback like, “This seems like a collection of unrelated chapters lacking a central theme,” or “The writing is good, but the target audience isn’t specific enough.” Clues like this can help us develop a laser-focused concept that is timely, unique, and marketable.

2. It reveals our writing samples don’t support the premise of our book. Whatever unique angle you’ve chosen to write about, every chapter must support it. If your theme is Lessons I’ve Learned from the Sea, resist the urge to include that devotion about the dog you rescued from the shelter or the one about spending the night at Grandma’s house (unless Grandma lived at the beach). Every chapter (and every writing sample in your proposal) must reinforce and support your theme. 

3. We discover we weren’t that passionate about writing the book. My agent (the amazing Bob Hostetler) pitched a recent book proposal to an editor who passed on it, but asked for more information about an alternate idea I had included in the proposal. I wrote a new proposal, but was relieved when the editor rejected it, too. When I examined my feelings, I discovered I just wasn’t passionate about that book idea. (Apparently neither was the publisher.) Passion is crucial, because writing and marketing a book is all consuming. Do we really want our lives to be consumed by a project we don’t love?

Receiving a book proposal rejection, like being passed over for the last dance at the prom, is painful and discouraging. While not all books are rejected because of the issues I’ve discussed, many of them are. If we’re working for the Lord, our goal, like the publishers’, should be to produce the best book possible for God’s glory. Examining our work in light of rejection will help us do just that. 

May God grant you to the ability to create the book a publisher is dying to say yes to.

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3 Surprising benefits of a nonfiction book proposal rejection - @LoriHatcher2 on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Receiving a book proposal rejection is painful but it can have bring positive results - @LoriHatcher2 on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)