It is a truth universally acknowledged by writers everywhere: every success in publishing is built on stacks of rejection letters. Authors by Agents. Authors by Editors. Agents by Editors. Part of that success is about being agile and knowing when to pivot, whether away from a project on submission or away from a long-running series. Think about pivoting if:
You’re not getting traction.You’ve been pitching your manuscript and not getting any requests, or the rejections just keep coming.
How to pivot:
- Pitch. Think about your pitch first. Is there something about the story that you’re not playing up? Is there a better way to be positioning your work? Agents do this all the time. If a project doesn’t seem to be connecting, one of the first things we consider is how we’re positioning it. Switching up the pitch (playing up a relationship of note or an underlying mystery, for example) forces the reader to look for different elements in a story and opens up new avenues of connection.
- Manuscript. Are you getting consistent feedback that something isn’t working or that something isn’t coming across? This might be a tough one to unearth in the world of form rejection letters, but if you’re concerned that something isn’t connecting, make sure to get to the bottom of it. If you’re receiving standard form rejections, seek out other sources: editors at conferences, contests, or a new writing group can help.
You can’t see the forest for the trees. This is the story you very desperately want to write, but you’ve been reworking it for so long you’re not sure if you have critical distance to see if it’s working any longer. How to pivot:
- Clean slate. Sometimes the best inspiration comes when we put aside the unfixable and start from scratch. Most published authors got their agent with their third or fourth completed manuscript. Some of today’s bestsellers were the projects authors were working on while their agents were out on submission with something else. Try writing something completely different. It’s hard, especially when the idea in front of you has been with you for so long, but it’s worth it. You’re not letting the first one go, just giving it room to breathe.
Readership is dwindling. Series with recurring protagonists sound like bestseller gold, and they can be, but there is such a thing as jumping the shark in books. Typically, readership declines book to book in long-running series, and at some point it might be necessary to call it quits with a protagonist you’ve been writing into many books, but there are ways to keep your engaged audience coming back.
How to pivot:
- Keep it fresh. Just because you’re working with the same protagonist doesn’t mean you have to keep writing the same book. Consider switching up POV or narrative voice or locale for the next installment.
The market shifts. You’ve been writing (fill in the blank: dystopian, cozy mystery, spy thriller, etc.), and suddenly they tell you there’s no market for it. How to pivot:
- Rebrand. Market shifts happens all the time. A life-long career as an author is just that, life-long, so consider a lateral move to a different genre.
Creative Commons photo Credit: Ron Mader