CHRIS ROERDEN

Manuscript Editor and Author


DON'T SABOTAGE YOUR SUBMISSION



Rejection is a daily reality in the publishing industry, but it can be overcome.
Luck may play a part, though few writers care to pin their hopes on being picked from fortune's fickle barrel. Most want to do everything they can to improve their manuscripts to survive that first, often only screen test, by a screener-outer who is the publishing police, judge, and executioner rolled into one.
Cruel? After years of rejecting manuscripts for the identical writing habits, even the kindest, most optimistic agents and acquisitions editors cannot help but feel cruelly treated by those who expect to enter a skilled profession without learning its craft.
With more self-improvement resources available today than ever before, publishing pros wonder how writers can remain oblivious to the many ways they sabotage their own submissions.
"We write all these books, how-to articles, and blogs," they groan. "We travel coast to coast giving workshops and telling writers what to do and what not to do. Are these efforts making a difference? No," they moan. "Our offices are still being flooded with the same kind of amateur submissions."
To deal with the deluge, agencies and publishers respond with brief form letters or postcards saying thanks-but-no-thanks, here's wishing you success... elsewhere.
If you receive one of those "elsewhere" advisories, you might feel like spending the rest of the day lying on your couch in a blue funk.
"How could they reject my story," you cry. "What do those people want?"

Let me tell you...

You can order Don't Sabotage Your Submission through your local independent bookseller (the publishing career you save may be your own) or through Barnes&Noble or Amazon. Just ask for ISBN 978-1-933523-31-6.

You can even read PART 1 right now, online for free, via this PDF file. The first twenty pages provide a big picture overview, while the table of contents maps out how you the writer, and I your advocate, will systematically tackle each troublesome technique.



DON'T MURDER YOUR MYSTERY



While Don't Sabotage Your Submission addresses the obstacles which face all genres, Don't Murder Your Mystery focuses on the genres surrounding Mystery: Detective Stories, Spy Thrillers, True Crime, etc.
Terrific characters and plot get you published - but ONLY IF manuscript screeners read far enough. They stop at the first clues of rejectable writing. Both of these books have the same goal: to help you learn to find and fix dead giveaways for rejection, from mechanical issues to categorical.
Sometimes the reason for rejection is akin to dialing a wrong phone number and not receiving the reply you were hoping for. Disregarding the stated preferences of agents and royalty publishers ensures that a submission will be dead on arrival.
More often, though, the reason for rejection is subtler. You've done everything precisely as instructed by the agent's or publisher's website, yet it still gets a "Not a good fit for me" response. Why? A common statement in boilerplate rejection letters is a lament about how subjective this industry is, followed by a wish for your success... again, somewhere else. Surely you'd be glad to make changes which would lead to acceptance, if only someone would take the time to help you identify the obstacle(s).

Let me help you solve the mystery...

You can order Don't Murder Your Mystery through your local independent bookseller (small businesses need our support, now more than ever) or through Barnes&Noble or Amazon. Just ask for ISBN 978-1-933523-13-2.


CHRIS ROERDEN


Chris Roerden has edited thousands of manuscripts over 50 years in publishing, including writers published by St. Martin's, Berkley Prime Crime, Harlequin, Rodale, Viking, Walker & Co., Tor-Forge, Intrigue, and Midnight Ink. She's written a game and 11 books, 7 of them commissioned. Her own books for writers are Don't Murder Your Mystery (Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction; shortlisted for 1 international and 2 national awards); and Don't Sabotage Your Submission (21st annual Benjamin Franklin Award, 2 Florida Writers' Ass'n. awards, and ForeWord Review's 2009 Writing Book of the Year Bronze Medal). A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Maine, Chris holds a Master's in English. She served as national scholarship chair for Mystery Writers of America, is past president of MAPA, a Midwest trade association of 250 commercial and university presses, taught at 3 universities and in 3 countries, and continues presenting workshops on the craft of writing.