Looking for the top reasons why editors and agents keep declining your book? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
There’s a lot of straight dope in here. Mike Nappa cuts through a lot of how-to fluff to give writers some inside info on what makes editors says no, and what makes then say yes.
Editor at Writer’s Market &
Guide to Literary Agents
Guide to Literary Agents
This is a great, practical book for those seeking publication in today’s market. 77 Reasons Why Your Book was Rejected is jammed with good, workable ideas to help every potential author.
Founder of MacGregor Literary
Former VP/Publisher at Hachette Book Group USA
Former VP/Publisher at Hachette Book Group USA
In this book, Mike Nappa lists every conceivable reason why a publisher would reject your book, as well as sage advice on what to do about it. Invaluable for both novice and experienced authors alike.
“America’s Top Copywriter”
Author of 80 Money-Making Writing Jobs
Author of 80 Money-Making Writing Jobs
For many years, Mike Nappa taught at writers’ conferences, revealing all the random reasons why publishers reject your books. The response was very heartening, so Mikey finally wrote it all down.
77 Reasons Why Your Book Was Rejected was published by Sourcebooks and became a handbook of insider knowledge about how books actually get selected for publication. (Spoiler alert: some reasons are actually petty and discouraging.)
The book went out of print a few years ago, so Mikey decided to share it all, for free, here on NappalandLiterary.com. That’s what this blog is: Literally, dozens of real-world reasons why publishers reject your books…
And what you can do about them.
All right writers.
Put on your big-kid pants and let’s get started.
- Read This First (77 Reasons Why Your Book Was Rejected)
It Takes Less Than A Minute To Reject Your Work. […] - Reason #01: Your Writing Is CrapAn Editorial Team reason for rejection All right yes, it’s […]
- Reason #02: You Lied To Me (The Honesty Problem)An Editorial Team reason for rejection Dear Mr. Nappa, I’m […]
- Reason #03: You Insulted Me Or My CompanyAn Editorial Team reason for rejection Imagine that I come […]
- Reason #04: We’re Already Publishing A Similar BookAn Editorial Team reason for rejection Honestly, this reason for […]
- Reason #05: Your Target Audience Is Too BigAn Editorial Team reason for rejection Here’s something you must […]
- Reason #06: Your Target Audience Is Too SmallAn Editorial Team reason for rejection Now, if you’ve just […]
- Reason #07: Your Target Audience Isn’t My Target AudienceAn Editorial Team reason for rejection If you look at […]
- Reason #08: Your Book Is Too ExtremeAn Editorial Team reason for rejection OK, I’m not making […]
- Reason #09: Your Ideas Conflict With My Values / Our Company ValuesAn Editorial Team reason for rejection It’s a free country, […]
- Reason #10: Your Book Tries To Do Too MuchAn Editorial Team reason for rejection This is another mistake […]
- Reason #11: Your Word Count Is Too Long Or Too ShortAn Editorial Team reason for rejection As the story goes, […]
- Reason #12: You Are Not Credible On The Topic You Want To Write AboutAn Editorial Team reason for rejection I remember once I […]
- Reason #13: You Didn’t Do Your HomeworkAn Editorial Team reason for rejection I’m looking at a […]
- Reason #14: You Are LazyAn Editorial Team reason for rejection Want to hear about […]
- Reason #15: You Didn’t Pass The “First Line Test”An Editorial Team reason for rejection “My grandfather, the knife […]
- Reason #16: My Publishing List Is Packed For The Next 18 MonthsAn Editorial Team reason for rejection If you have to […]
- Reason #17: I Had A Fight With My Spouse And/Or Children Just Before I Read Your ProposalAn Editorial Team reason for rejection I know. This seems […]
- Reason #18: You Didn’t Eschew ObfuscationAn Editorial Team reason for rejection Reading, in my view, […]
- Reason #19: You Pitched Me Two Awful Ideas In A Row (Bad Reputation)An Editorial Team reason for rejection Dear Mike, Look at […]
- Reason #20: Your Agent Pitched Me Two Awful Ideas In A RowAn Editorial Team reason for rejection Honestly, this reason for […]
- Reason #21: You Don’t Have an AgentAn Editorial Team reason for rejection I know I should […]
- Reason #22: You Didn’t Give Me Enough Writing SamplesAn Editorial Team reason for rejection When I’m shooting for […]
- Reason #23: I Already Rejected This Book BeforeAn Editorial Team reason for rejection A few years ago […]
- Reason #24: You Are Clueless about Copyright LawAn Editorial Team reason for rejection In 1951, J.D. Salinger […]
- Reason #25: Your Book is BoringAn Editorial Team reason for rejection There’s no law against […]
- Reason #26: You Took the D-TrainAn Editorial Team reason for rejection D-Train writing is a […]
- Reason #27: Your Project Is UnoriginalAn Editorial Team reason for rejection As I write this […]
- Reason #28: Your Cover Letter/Email Was Too LongAn Editorial Team reason for rejection Yes, I know, this […]
- Reason #29: You Stink At Grammar And SpellingAn Editorial Team reason for rejection In 1631 Robert Barker […]
- Reason #30: You Didn’t Give Me A Complete ProposalAn Editorial Team reason for rejection Imagine that you and […]
- Reason #31: Bottom Line—You Didn’t Do Enough Of My Job For MeAn Editorial Team reason for rejection Yes, this is a […]
- Reason #32: You Have No Idea What It Means to Market a BookA Marketing Team reason for rejection In this context I’m […]
- Reason #33: You Have No Legitimate Platform to Promote a BookA Marketing Team reason for rejection What we’re talking about […]
- Reason #34: You Don’t Understand The Difference Between Features And BenefitsA Marketing Team reason for rejection Let’s suppose you’ve got […]
- Reason #35: You Have No PR-Worthy AccomplishmentsA Marketing Team reason for rejection On May 12, 2010, […]
- Reason #36: You Are Not Able To Run A Grassroots Publicity Campaign For YourselfA Marketing Team reason for rejection In the movie, Bowfinger, […]
- Reason #37: Amazon.com Reviewers Don’t Like YouA Marketing Team reason for rejection Here’s a dirty little […]
- Reason #38: You Have No Online PresenceA Marketing Team reason for rejection OK, let’s look at […]
- Reason #39: Your Internet Presence Is Shoddy and UnprofessionalA Marketing Team reason for rejection Now that I’ve badgered […]
- Reason #40: You Are Not Engaged / Poorly Engaged In Social MediaA Marketing Team reason for rejection In 2008, barely one […]
- Reason #41: Your Title StinksA Marketing Team reason for rejection If you bought this […]
- Reason #42: Your Introduction Is UselessA Marketing Team reason for rejection I’m going to tell […]
- Reason #43: Your Personal Image Looks UnprofessionalA Marketing Team reason for rejection This reason for rejection […]
- Reason #44: You Are An Uninspiring SpokespersonA Marketing Team reason for rejection Let’s start by calling […]
- Reason #45: You Demonstrate No Knowledge / Faulty Knowledge Of Your CompetitionA Marketing Team reason for rejection Here’s a tip: If […]
- Reason #46: There’s Too Much Competition For Your BookA Marketing Team reason for rejection Back in Reason #45 […]
- Reason #47: You Aren’t Able To Significantly Differentiate Your Book From The CompetitionA Marketing Team reason for rejection I learned this lesson […]
- Reason #48: You Can’t Quickly Evoke The Right Emotions When Talking About Your BookA Marketing Team reason for rejection “For sale: baby shoes, […]
- Reason #49: You Can’t Provide Impactful Endorsements For Your WorkA Marketing Team reason for rejection All right, first I’m […]
- Reason #50: My Marketing Team Tried To Promote A Similar Book In The Past, And It FailedA Marketing Team reason for rejection One of the hard […]
- Reason #51: My Marketing VP Is Unfairly Prejudiced Against YouA Marketing Team reason for rejection Let’s see…for this one […]
- Reason #52: My Marketing VP Doesn’t Care About Your Topic—And Doesn’t Think Anyone Else Will EitherA Marketing Team reason for rejection Elizabeth Gilbert has made […]
- Reason #53: Bottom Line—You Weren’t Good to MamaA Marketing Team reason for rejection In the hit movie […]
- Reason #54: You Are Not A CelebrityA Sales Team reason for rejection Wow, this reason for […]
- Reason #55: There Is No “Brandwagon” Trend You Can Latch OntoA Sales Team reason for rejection Were you around back […]
- Reason #56: You Have No Sales History To Speak OfA Sales Team reason for rejection Every time my Sales […]
- Reason #57: You Have A Sales History, And It SucksA Sales Team reason for rejection It’s tempting, sometimes, to […]
- Reason #58: You Self-Published Yourself Into OblivionA Sales Team reason for rejection These words of noted […]
- Reason #59: Women Just Aren’t That Into YouA Sales Team reason for rejection A few years ago, […]
- Reason #60: My Sales VP Thinks Of You As An Unknown (The “No-Froofies” Rule)A Sales Team reason for rejection Ah, the curse of […]
- Reason #61: My Sales VP Feels Hostile Toward Me Or My Editorial VP, And Is Sabotaging Our Careers By Undervaluing The Proposals We Bring To Publishing BoardA Sales Team reason for rejection I’d love to tell […]
- Reason #62: My Sales VP Can’t (Or Won’t) See The FutureA Sales Team reason for rejection The publishing business would […]
- Reason #63: You Are The Wrong GenderA Sales Team reason for rejection I know an author—let’s […]
- Reason #64: You Have Unrealistic Expectations About Your Publishing PotentialA Sales Team reason for rejection I always laugh when […]
- Reason #65: You Don’t Know Why People Buy BooksA Sales Team reason for rejection Here’s a pop quiz […]
- Reason #66: Other Books We’ve Done Similar To Yours Didn’t Sell According To ExpectationsA Sales Team reason for rejection In my first acquisitions […]
- Reason #67: You Can’t Identify Specific Sales Channels Through Which Your Book Will SellA Sales Team reason for rejection Let me ask you […]
- Reason #68: Your Book Costs Too Much To MakeA Sales Team reason for rejection Try this little experiment. […]
- Reason #69: You Want Too Much MoneyA Sales Team reason for rejection Looking back on it […]
- Reason #70: Your Novel is not “Romance”A Sales Team reason for rejection Look, it’s not that […]
- Reason #71: My Sales Team is Struggling to Sell Our Current Line of BooksA Sales Team reason for rejection Imagine that you and […]
- Reason #72: There’s No Real Sequel Potential for Your BookA Sales Team reason for rejection Megan Tingley, senior vice-president […]
- Reason #73: My Sales VP asked a Spouse / Friend / Babysitter if They Would Buy Your Book, and the Response Was UnenthusiasticA Sales Team reason for rejection Think about the last […]
- Reason #74: My Sales Team Asked a Few Key Book Buyers if They Would Stock Your Book, and Their Response Was UnenthusiasticA Sales Team reason for rejection This is actually a […]
- Reason #75: Nothing Similar to Your Book Shows Up on Industry Bestseller ListsA Sales Team reason for rejection Here’s an acronym that’s […]
- Reason #76: Your Book Failed a Focus GroupA Sales Team reason for rejection In the summer of […]
- Reason #77: Bottom Line–Not Enough Profit PotentialA Sales Team reason for rejection People who write books […]
- 77 Reasons: AfterwordCongratulations. If you made it to the end of this […]
- Recommended Resources for WritersNote: These resources for writers were current at the time […]
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