Received my first response from a publisher!

[pmmg]

Persistence and Attitude will win the day. We must persist, and approach with the attitude that you will make it. If not with this story, than the next one.

I would not give up on it, but I would keep the creating going. You never know when that first story may find its home.

 

[The Dark One]

Update: It's been 31 rejections and I have officially given up

Good god... after a measly 31 rejections?

I had at least 500 rejections across my first three novels until the fourth one was accepted - some 15 years after I started writing seriously.

Writing is is extremely difficult and unbelievably competitive. That's why I always encourage people to do it just for the love of it. If you don't love writing for its own sake then you probably won't have the resilience and determination to go on improving and gradually build your networks.

That's how you finally get a yes.

 

[The Dark One]

It was a "Your manuscript has many strengths, but..."

Well, that's a start.

After so many rejections we learn to scan across any opening praise looking for the BUT.

Imagine my surprise about a year ago when I got an email from one of my country's bigger agents which started with quite high praise. I had to read it three times before I fully realised that there was no but and, in fact, she was offering to represent me.

Happy days. Hasn't got me a big publisher yet but the big publishers are now realistically in my scope and it's nice to have such strong professional feedback and support.

I have had five novels published in the small press but this is a whole new level for me. And to the OP... I've been writing for 30 years. You have to keep turning up if you're serious about being a professional novelist.