Rejection Isn’t Always a Bad Thing

After spending the last year querying American publishers of Japanese books to no avail because they don’t want to touch fiction, I recently tried my first Canadian publisher. The advantage of Canadian publishers is that many have a mandate to publish Canadian authors, so there is less competition. The disadvantage of Canadian publishers is that many have a mandate to publish Canadian authors, so some readers shy away, reasoning that less competition means fewer quality books.

I was treated in a professional manner by the publisher from start to finish, including a personalized rejection letter. It included an encouraging comment “...we found your story to be interesting...,” but it was the setting that got me in the end. Since this particular publisher focuses on Canadian historical fiction, The Samurai Poet was out of bounds. So the manuscript is still a ronin without a home, and my job is to find a publisher interested in "Japanese historical fiction written in English by a Canadian." Sounds easy when I put it that way, doesn’t it?

[Edit: Good news. Since this post was written The Samurai Poet has been published. Learn more here.]