No, no, don't say *that* in public!

I think this is photoshopped. Just a hunch.

Some rules of publishing are pretty flexible. But every now and then I see a writer breaking a serious rule and all I can think is they're shooting themselves in the foot.

Do not make your rejections public before you are published.

I know it hurts. I know you've worked so darn hard on the book and revisions and edits. You've possibly been working superhard with just one editor for six months. Maybe a year. Only to have them turn around and tell you they don't love it enough.

It hurts. It hurts so damn much.

I really do feel for you. But don't go public. Please, please, please don't go public.

You're hurting so much you need to let it all out.  BUT YOU CAN'T. And here's why:

1) Publicly sharing your rejection coats your unpublished novel in the stink of failure.
You want to present it in its best light. You want the next agent you send your manuscript to, to think of it as fresh and untouched.

2) Pretty much every author in the known history of literature was rejected at some point.
It's one of those 'givens' that apply to the industry. The same as how every painter at one point decorated their bedroom wall with something that wasn't paint. Every writer loves to write, and they get rejected.  You don't write, 'I love writing' in your proposal, because that's a given too. (Please tell me you don't do that?!)

3) It is impossible to please everyone.
Even though every single member of your crit group loves your writing, the agent you send it to might not. It's human nature. Everything is subjective.
They are also not 'missing out on the next Dan Brown' if they don't like the current Dan Brown in the first place.

4) Agents and publishers do check out the websites of potential authors when they have time. If you've sent them a deeply romantic manuscript that makes them swoon and fall in love with your characters, you don't want them coming to your blog and seeing you crying in public about how hurt you are that another agent has turned you down. It puts a dampener on everything. It also shows the agent that they were not your first choice. These days, agents do understand that you need to submit widely, but they like to think they're your first pick, right? It's important to maintain that illusion.

Rejection hurts like a papercut with lemonjuice and goes all the way down to the marrow. But for the sake of your long-term writing future, please, please keep your rejections private. For now. Later, much later, when you are published, THEN you can talk about it in hindsight. It's all in the past. You've earned your publication and your book is coated in success and sunshine.

But for now, step away from the keyboard.