“Which just goes to show that rejections aren't necessarily a reflection on the quality of your work. Not everyone will connect with your story or style, even if your book is sellable.”— Heidi Heilig, twitter.com
“The first yes, though, is the one you tell yourself. That one’s huge. It’s when you say, I will do this anyway. I will do it because it matters to me to make this attempt at the summit. You will not be perfect. No one is perfect. It will be hard. Everything is hard.”— Maria Dahvana Headley, twitter.com
“Let's say you write a book. You get an agent. Your agent thinks the book is flawless and requests no changes. She sells it to an editor. The editor thinks the book is flawless and requests no changes. THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. STOP IMAGINING IT. So if you want to be traditionall…”— Delilah S. Dawson, twitter.com
“"Almost publishable" is, unfortunately, a great pat on the head into which you can't read deeper meaning. It could mean the book, or it could mean you. But it's a good sign! I'd start writing the next book. And if you're still querying, keep querying.”— Delilah S. Dawson, twitter.com
“Talent, potential-- none of that matters. Literally the only thing that will get you published is writing the best book that you can and going through the right steps to get it published. Nobody pays for potential. They can't publish potential. They need an actual book.”— Delilah S. Dawson, twitter.com
“Every book can't be a bestseller, obviously, and they know that. Publishers buy plenty of books that are well written to fill out their lists. That's why we have midlisters and quiet books. That's why I have a career.”— Delilah S. Dawson, twitter.com
“So I'm going to take on two related editing questions: How do you know if your edits are improving your book, and how do you know when you're ready to query? The bad news: There is no surefire way to know. But I can give you some tips! So let's say you have a 1st draft. It's garbage, because all 1st…”— Delilah S. Dawson, twitter.com