You may have been trying to submit a crime novel to publishers for months but you keep getting a rejection letter. You don't understand what is wrong with your book as publishers are not willing to take a chance on your novel. While you may not feel that you're the next James Patterson or Stephen King in your respective field, publishers don't feel that you are worth taking a chance on. So, what is going wrong in your publication process? There could be many issues with your book and publication companies may not be able to address the specific needs individually.
You may be left with a ton of questions as to why you're being rejected and why you're not getting any particular feedback at all.
It can be quite defeating to learn that your book will not be published by a publishing company even though you have put months and possibly even years into this project. It can be even more defeating to learn that your novel has been rejected without getting a reason as to why. You're left scrambling to find your own mistakes and it can be mentally draining to be so critical of yourself. However, there is a chance that you're not being published because your novel simply isn't meeting your genre's expectations.
Do you need to ramp it up?
Sometimes when we start writing a novel we have plenty of ideas in terms of how it is going to come together.
You have a strong set of characters, you have an enticing plot, and you know when everything is going to be revealed, but, when you start writing the novel, things slowly start to fall apart. You realize that you don't have a solid idea and you realize that you may not have known how hard it was going to be to actually craft the idea that you had in mind.
If you're writing a crime mystery or Thriller novel, you may end up with a book that simply isn't documenting a crime well, or with a thriller that doesn't give quite enough thrills.
You could also end up with a comedy that's not even funny or romantic novel that doesn't even highlight a romantic relationship. It's quite alright to change your novel as you go along but you may also need to change the genre.
If you are submitting a romantic novel without a love relationship, or criminal novel without an investigation, publishers may turn down the novel because you're not following the genre.
What can you do about this problem?
The reality is that literary fiction doesn't need to attempt to make a huge impact on the reader. The reality is you can't please everyone who is going to pick up your book. If you look at some of the biggest successes, there are readers who actually despise the mainstream novels and books that the majority of people love. You don't have to write the next best-seller, but you do need to deliver what you promise.
Have you ever written a novel that promises plenty of thrills but does not deliver any thrills at all?
