Dear Sir(s),
Thank you for submitting your manuscript The New Testament for our review. Please know that we read your story about the life of Christ with great interest. However, while we are impressed by the popularity of your previous books, and are also strongly drawn to the idea of publishing a series, we do not believe that a market truly exists for your current story. We also feel that your claim that your proposed series will “become the most popular international book of all time” is somewhat of a stretch. At the current time, we are primarily seeking books about gladiators or sea-based warfare, which are very hot topics at the moment. As such, we do not feel that your work would be a good fit for our catalog.
Thank you once again for considering our publishing house. Best of luck with your future writing endeavors. Also, have you considered the option of self-publishing?
Sincerely,
Marcus Titus
PublishRome & Associates
June 3, CLX
I just watched an interview with Stewart Lee, a massively talented English comedian and writer. He was at the BBC pitching a series he had written and the head of the station told him him that his series wasn’t what they were looking for at that particular moment in time. He asked what they were looking for and was given an example of a show that the station had just commissioned. He shook hands with the head of the station and walked out without telling her that he was in fact, one of the four writers of that show!
Popularity is not always predictable. I always remember how, years ago, we showed my daughter a Cabbage Patch doll when it first came out (in the summer). She was NOT interested at all! But a few months later, when the ad campaign hit for Christmas, she HAD to have one. So we paid at least twice what they were selling for earlier. You can even sell rocks with the right ad campaign!
I bet Marcus Titus is kicking himself over this one!
Yes, the big oops.