Episode 14 - Good rejections, bad rejections, and submissions in general
05/25/24 • 62 min
Rejections are par for the course for all writers, whether they’ve been published or not. Even once you have a publisher they may reject your next idea - or readers may reject your book by not reading it! Both Rachael Johns and Sophie Green have been rejected - multiple times (and both of us by Mills & Boon, which we talk about in this episode).
As a publisher, and when she was an agent, Sophie does some rejecting, and she also sees a lot of submissions, so she has some things to say about where writers go wrong in the submission process. (She made a ten-minute TikTok about how to write a submission letter and that is linked below.)
Therefore, if you are a writer - or engaged in any creative pursuit - and want to here us chat about being rejected, how to deal with rejection, what leads to manuscripts being rejected, and who knows what else we have in there, this is the episode for you.
How to write a query/submission letter (TikTok video)
https://www.tiktok.com/@sophiegreenbooks/video/7360218814610443538?_t=8mdflLRbf5G&_r=1
For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
Rachael's latest book is The Other Bridget
Her next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)
For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com
Sophie's latest book is Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening Society
Her next book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (to be published in August 2024)
For more information about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
For more informationabout Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.com
Subscribe on Spotify
Subscribe on Apple
Subscribe on YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Rejections are par for the course for all writers, whether they’ve been published or not. Even once you have a publisher they may reject your next idea - or readers may reject your book by not reading it! Both Rachael Johns and Sophie Green have been rejected - multiple times (and both of us by Mills & Boon, which we talk about in this episode).
As a publisher, and when she was an agent, Sophie does some rejecting, and she also sees a lot of submissions, so she has some things to say about where writers go wrong in the submission process. (She made a ten-minute TikTok about how to write a submission letter and that is linked below.)
Therefore, if you are a writer - or engaged in any creative pursuit - and want to here us chat about being rejected, how to deal with rejection, what leads to manuscripts being rejected, and who knows what else we have in there, this is the episode for you.
How to write a query/submission letter (TikTok video)
https://www.tiktok.com/@sophiegreenbooks/video/7360218814610443538?_t=8mdflLRbf5G&_r=1
For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
Rachael's latest book is The Other Bridget
Her next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)
For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com
Sophie's latest book is Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening Society
Her next book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (to be published in August 2024)
For more information about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
For more informationabout Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.com
Subscribe on Spotify
Subscribe on Apple
Subscribe on YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Previous Episode
Episode 13 - Retirement energy (with special guest Fiona Palmer)
A little while ago Rachael Johns suggested we do an episode on ‘retirement energy’ after one of her favourites, Elin Hildebrand, announced she was stepping back from her regular writing pace. Writers obviously don’t have the same working structures as those in other careers and the decision to step back or retire can happen for a variety of reasons. Rach also suggested that we chat to fellow Western Australian author Fiona Palmer about her decision not to write novels for the foreseeable future (her last published book is The Wrong Sister from 2022).
Books mentioned:
Regeneration by Pat Barker
The Tea Ladies by Amanda Hampson
Jackie by Dawn Tripp
Expiration Dates by Rebecca Searle
We are releasing out of our recording sequence so please forgive us for little anomalies like saying Fiona is our third guest when we’ve had some other guests on!
If you have a question for us, please email [email protected] and put ‘Dear Rach & Soph’ in the subject line.
And if you’d like to actually be in the podcast with us while we answer your question, please let us know in the email.
For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
Rachael's latest book is The Other Bridget
Her next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)
For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com
Sophie's latest book is Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening Society
Her next book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (to be published in August 2024)
For more information about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
For more informationabout Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.com
Subscribe on Spotify
Subscribe on Apple
Subscribe on YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Next Episode
Episode 15 - Fitting it all in (with special guest Ashleigh Barton)
**NB This episode was recorded in April so our intro chat will be out of sync with recent episodes.**
This week we have a wonderful guest: children’s author Ashleigh Barton, who has written several CBCA Notable and Shortlist titles including What Do You Call Your Grandpa? and What Do You Call Your Grandma? (more information below).
Ashleigh’s latest book is the picture book Dinosaur in My Pocket and on 26 June she’ll release two Freddie Spector, Fact Collector titles: Go for Gold and Space Cadet.
Ashleigh writes for a range of ages of children and is endlessly creative. We talk to her about where she gets her ideas, how she manages writing while running a household and family, and her path to publication.
ABOUT ASHLEIGH BARTON
Ashleigh Barton is a children's author and copywriter. Before writing full time, she pursued her love of books (children's books especially) by working in some of Australia's biggest publishing houses, running marketing and publicity campaigns for globally renowned authors and illustrators. Ashleigh has previously published five successful and highly acclaimed picture books and a junior fiction series. She lives in Sydney with her husband, three children and their dog.
For more about Ashleigh: https://www.ashleighbarton.com/
For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
Rachael's latest book is The Other Bridget
Her next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)
For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com
Sophie's latest book is Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening Society
Her next book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (to be published in August 2024)
For more information about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
For more informationabout Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.com
Subscribe on Spotify
Subscribe on Apple
Subscribe on YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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