From Rejection to Representation – 6 Steps to Landing a Literary Agent | WritingMad

I've kept most of my rejections in a folder called Novel. (It should really be called Novels, since I've written three of the things.) There have been highs - being shortlisted for the Bristol Short Story Prize in 2014, for example, when writers and publishing bods including organiser Joe Melia said some lovely things about my work. (I tucked these away for dark days.) And there have been lows. At one point, five agents were reading a full manuscript, but all of them turned me down.

When I look back though, the extreme lows, the moments that hit me hardest were the turning points - not that I knew that then. My ego was battered purple, and just a tiny frazzle of hope remained - but I kept going and at the moment, I am so thankful that I did.

Here are my six wobbly steps to getting representation (I fell over several times):