When I first started the submissions process the thing I found the hardest was the ‘silent’ rejections. These are not the explanatory-rejections that highlight specific flaws in your work, not the generic rejections which are copied and pasted to every unsuccessful applicant. No, these are the ones you never receive at all. The ones were months and months pass with no word, and so you must assume you’re not successful.

For a while, I found these hard to cope with, because a NO is still better than not knowing. But I don’t worry about it so much now, and if you are, here are some ways to cope with the silent rejections:

Remember it’s not personal
Agents are busy people. Super busy. Not all of them have assistants, but even those who do, their assistants are busy too. It’s not personal when you don’t get a response. Many agencies advise…