PLASHMILL PRESS
|
If You Receive a Qualified Rejection
No writer, or indeed any artist,
likes a rejection. We all think our work is as good as it can be. At
PlashMill Press we realise that this is a difficult moment and also
that there are many talented, exciting writers whose work we cannot
publish because of the writer’s inexperience or for some technical
reason. In circumstances like this most publishers will simply send
out a curt rejection slip, but we want to encourage more people to write,
so we have a different system.
A Qualified Rejection means that
we think the work may have merit but that at present it has too many
faults to be rectified with a simple edit. Say for example you have
had a fascinating career in an unusual or difficult profession, or have
gone through a moving experience that others may wish to read about,
but you have never written a book before. Your ideas may be vibrant
and fresh, but your writing may be incoherent or stiff. Or perhaps your
plot is simply too hard to follow or has illogical jumps. There are
many hurdles at which a new author can fall. It takes a very long time
to learn to be a good writer!
In circumstances like this we may
advise you to learn as much as you can about the craft of writing and
then to work meticulously through your manuscript, even starting afresh
if necessary. Join a writer’s club or an evening class in Creative
Writing or Journalism. Consider taking a Higher or “A” Level
English course and explain to the teacher what you’re up to. Most
teachers are very receptive to approaches like this and admire dedication.
As well as this, however, PlashMill
Press offers a Mentoring Scheme. This is NOT AVAILABLE TO THE GENERAL
PUBLIC. You MUST have a Qualified Rejection from us and a valid reference
number to apply for the Scheme, and acceptance onto it is strictly at
our discretion. If you don't have a reference number from us please
do NOT contact us regarding this Scheme, as your correspondence will
be ignored.
The way it works is this: if you
are eligible and we accept your application for the Mentoring Scheme,
we will put you in touch with a Mentor. This will be a published writer
or an editor. The Mentor will help you work through your manuscript
and detail the changes that are necessary and how to improve your work.
The fee for this is to be agreed between the author and the mentor and
all we take is an arrangement fee of £125. Please note that we
can only accept writers onto the Mentoring Scheme when there are places
available, and these places are competitive. However, once you have
successfully worked through your Mentoring Scheme the chances are that
we will be happy to publish your work and of course you will be at liberty
to offer the work to other publishers.
|
