Sometimes there is no reason…

I was looking at websites today regarding publisher queries. There were several websites that talked about how to dissect a rejection letter from a publishing company. It was almost like reading Seventeen magazine. They took something that the publisher said and broke it down to the most minute detail. Now, as a publisher, I can honestly say that there are some people I respond to with a note stating why I wasn’t taking their submission, but many times, I just don’t have the time to respond to every request with a little something that says, hey I like your writing but it needs to be tightened up, or this particular subject has been beaten to death, brought back to life and beaten to death again. I often try to say something encouraging, but at some point, when you have to respond to a bunch of queries at a time, it gets hard to remember whose book was whose and you eventually send out form letters for both the accepted books and the rejected books. It’s not done to hurt any feelings, just done for the sake of time.