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Friday, March 21, 2008

The House of No

Here's the rejection from Tin House Books, as promised in yesterday's post. As far as rejection encouragement goes, it's a pretty good one. It says: "Dear Writer, Rejected: Thank you for letting us take a look at [title of book of creative nonfiction]. Many of us here, including Lee, read your manuscript with interest. The writing is lively, and the subject matter is intriguing. Unfortunately, we don't feel the manuscript is right for Tin House Books. While we did find the book to be "viable" we are focusing our attention on literary fiction as we begin to make a name for ourselves. I wish you the best of luck placing [title] with another publisher, and strongly encourage you to try us again with future projects." Anyone out there want a lively, intriguing, "viable" work of personal, literary nonfiction?

1 comment:

z said...

Gee, there was a time when "creative nonfiction" looked like the next hot property. I guess Lauren Slater ruined that market with her fantasy book about the lives of famous psychologist that solidified her the reputation of pathological liar on top of her previous books, despite being Lee Gutkind's protegee. I loved her writing, but hated her blurring of fact and fiction in a self-aggrandizing way. Sick woman with tons of talent. Your only alternative: call it memoir and just get the historical facts correct and they'll love it.