Baen finally speaks!

[annathepiper]

I suppose this lets me off the hook now for sending them that postcard asking them what's up with my submission, huh? *^_^*;; (Yeah yeah yeah I know I should have sent it before now, but well hey, y'know, cancer.)

Anyway, I got an email back from them tonight and they say no. However, it's another fairly positive rejection letter. Here's the money quote:

"This is a nice straight forward urban fantasy. We flat don't have room in the schedule for anything not extraordinary, and this doesn't quite reach that point. Shop it around to other publishers, though. Someone will want it."

Now I need to think about what to do about this, and to whom to query it next.

Elapsed turnaround time from submission to rejection: one year, three months, 25 days!

ETA 8:52pm: And, undaunted, our heroine fires off the novel to Juno, who sound like they may be a good fit for it as they are looking for "fantasy with a focus on the female". Fingers crossed.

Comments

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

It is a very good response. I am also not surprised that Baen isn't really actively acquiring.
Tough times at Baen.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, it's not surprising at all. And I'm not displeased with the response in general. I'll take "we have no room in our schedule, shop it around, someone else will want it". ;)

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

If that's not at other houses making a slush guest appearance perhaps you should agent shop it?

[annathepiper]

I'm about to fire it off to Juno, since that's one of the two other places I'm thinking about. The problem with shopping this particular book around to agents at this point is that I've already sent it a few places; it's been to Luna, it's been to Bantam, it's been to Tor, it's been to Baen. If Juno tells me no, it'll be going to Daw. So this cuts into the amount of work an agent could do for it, anyway.

I'm thinking that I'll probably emphasize querying interesting agents with Lament of the Dove and Queen of Souls, both of which IMO are better books. I suspect that if I sell anything at all, it'll be one of those books or something I complete after.

[angharads-house.livejournal.com]

Daw Penguin are busy self-destructing, though. Unless it appeals to their present target demographic of 14-year-old males.....

good luck, hey?

[annathepiper]

Self-destructing in what sense? (She asked, since Julie Czerneda publishes through Daw, and I'm pretty sure her target demographic is not 14-year-old males. ;) )

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

Oof. Long wait for a rejection, but at the same time it sounds like you're getting closer. Keep on it.

[annathepiper]

Real long, yeah, but I think this is what Baen gets for being arguably the biggest SF/F publisher that takes all electronic submissions, so they get hammered by everybody.

The plan next will be to send FB here. Tonight, in fact!

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping it's the one.

[annathepiper]

Here's hoping, indeed!

[pauldf.livejournal.com]

That does sound quite positive! yay!

Good luck with Juno!

[annathepiper]

Thanks! :)

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Too bad about Baen... but yay for firing it right back off! Mazel tov!

[annathepiper]

Yay indeed! I need something out there to hold the line until Lament and Queen of Souls are ready to join it!

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Go, you! That's a really excellent rejection (I mean, if you have to get rejected at all) and good for sending it right back out again.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, that's quite on par with the last one I got, so yeah, I'll take this. ^_^

And thanks!

[jessicac.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest the Ace imprint. They publish Patricia Briggs and Simon Green.

But I know a lot more about consuming novels than publishing them.

[annathepiper]

I'd totally submit to Ace, except that they're one of the imprints that you can't submit to unless you have an agent. Or, unless you actually get to query one of their editors in person at a conference, I suspect, like I did with Anne Groell at Bantam (they ordinarily don't take unsolicited manuscripts either). -.-

Thanks for chiming in, though! :) I have quite a few Ace imprint books on my shelf, including Briggs.

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's about as encouraging as a rejection could be! Congratulations and good luck!

[annathepiper]

Thanks! And yeah, that about ranks up there with that last one I got for Lament. I'm starting to garner a nice little assortment of good rejection letters. Which isn't nearly as fabulous as "OH DEAR GOD YES LET US PUBLISH YOUR BOOK PLZ", but it doesn't suck. :)

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I'm not at all displeased by the sorts of rejection letters I've been getting. Three different good rejection letters like this, and I begin to believe my writing actually may not suck. ;)

Now to see if Juno says anything interesting!

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

Hang in there--that's an excellent rejection letter!

Cathy

[annathepiper]

Thank you! I am not displeased with the rejection letters I've been getting, in the slightest.

Now to see if I can make Juno interested, and in the meantime, get back enough brain to start editing!

[poodlgrl.livejournal.com]

Very nice. Good!

[annathepiper]

Thanks! :)

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I mean, not so awesome as the actual sale, but as others have said, this is almost as positive as a pass can be (well, unless someone out there actually is saying "this is so awesome we're not good enough for it and it would make our other titles look bad so go somewhere else" or "one of the best books I've ever read but not quite right for our product line" and meaning it, which is doubtful)

Anyway, best of luck w/Juno!

[annathepiper]

I haven't gotten rejections quite that glowing, no. ;)

And I'm pretty sure no publisher in their right mind would ever go "this is so awesome we're not good enough for it!" (Though if one ever did, I'd really want to see the book they declined!)

Anyway, thank you very much!

[damara.livejournal.com]

I am amazed at how you continue, undaunted! Good luck!

[annathepiper]

Aw, thank you! *^_^*;;

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Excellent rejection. Everything crossed for the next submission.

[annathepiper]

Thank you very much! :)