Yesterday I got this lovely rejection letter from Burning Chair Publishing.
I submitted DOG LEAP STAIRS to them last May and had assumed I'd already had a rejection from them. Apparently not - and here it is. Such kind people. I can't reply to the email to thank them - so I'm thanking them here.
Thanks Pete & Si at Burning Chair - I'm sure you would have been wonderful to work with.
Query Reply from
Burning Chair Publishing
DOG LEAP STAIRS | (This E-Mail address is not monitored. Please do not reply to this E-Mail. You message will not be read.)
Dear Barbara
We're writing in response to the book you submitted to us last year: DOG LEAP STAIRS.
As you may have guessed, we’ve been inundated over the past months with not only an unexpectedly large number of submissions but also a rather punishing publishing schedule – hence the reason why it’s taken so long to get back to you. We can only apologise – we totally appreciate how frustrating it is to wait on agents and publishers for their responses (if they ever arrive!) and while we have always challenged ourselves to respond to submissions in a sensible timescale, we do appreciate that we’ve fallen short on this occasion.
We have now had a chance to consider, and we’re sorry to advise that we’re not in a position to take on your book at this time. This was not an easy decision for us, which is credit to you and your submission – the fact that it’s taken so long to respond, rather than a straight and quick “no thank you”, shows that yours is one of the ones we’ve agonised over, for all the right reasons.
However, having discussed this at length, and taking into consideration our overflowing workloads, we have regretfully had to make some tough decisions as to what we do and do not take on for the time being. The fact is that we’ve essentially filled up our release schedules for the next 2 years+, and we’ve had to (reluctantly) face up to the fact that taking on new authors at this time would mean stretching ourselves so thin that we wouldn’t be able to do our existing authors justice, and certainly wouldn’t be able to dedicate sufficient time and attention to the new ones. As for how long it will be until we open up to new submissions from new authors, frankly at the moment we’re not sure, so we feel it’s only fair to give you a definitive answer rather than keep you hanging on indefinitely.
Again, we are sorry to have taken so long to get back to you on this, and doubly sorry that the answer is a “no”. We would like to wish you every success with your book and your writing career, and hopefully at some point we will be able to work together. If not, and you find success with another publisher, we will be cheering you from the metaphorical sidelines!
All the best and warm regards
Pete & Si
Burning Chair |
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