Yes, another post about query letters. This one concerns the letters you might get.

Anytime a publisher replies, even if it is a rejection letter, and they give you something to work with pay attention to what they are saying. These are nuggets of gold as I call it. Be appreciative of the time they took to write you back. With all the letters they get this is not a luxury they have, time.

If any gives you any positive reinforcement be appreciate of that as well for the same reason. You can build off of this knowing you are heading in the right direction.

I submitted Jasper, Amazon Parrot: A Rainforest Adventure to quite a few publishers. I had one in the state reply to me. He stated that while he was saying no he gave me three points of what he felt I should do to make my manuscript stronger. Three. I was over the moon and floored. He was objective where I could not be. Plus he saw things my writer groups had missed. He didn’t have to tell me anything. He didn’t even have to reply. But he did.

I took the suggestions to heart and applied what he suggested immediately.. After having my editor fix the changes I added I resubmitted the book. Two publishers later someone accepted my query letter. That is how my first book was published by a traditional publishing house.

I was stoked. I was soooo stocked. I even included him in my acknowledgments of the book.

Again, I go back to authors who submit and give up easily. They also tend to not take a response with tips seriously. But they should. I have had publishers give me encouragements, give me points of what I was doing right and with my first book the lane to turn into to having it published.

If you are fortunate to get a positive reply from a publishing house, regardless if it is a rejection letter, pay attention. It may be the step you need to achieving the goal you are reaching for.