Thank you ma'am, may I have another!?

In yesterday's mail came two more rejection letters from Noo Yawk editors, forwarded by my agent. These included the hoped-for St. Martin's. Both editors included gnomic expressions of appreciation and ultimate rejection which my agent termed "sort of 'not for me' takes." Beyond that they aren't really worth parsing; neither had the "almost there" feeling I got from one or two previous rejections.

Curiously, with each rejection I appreciate my agent more and more. She's like Charlie Brown tearing down the field toward Lucy holding the football. This time for sure!

Meanwhile, there's a lot of wrinkled-forehead discussion in the news and in blogs about the state of publishing:
9 Dec 05 New York Times: Janet Maslin on "so-what" books
8 Dec 05 Galleycat: How novels are doing; also here
7 Dec 05 New York Times: How novels are doing

Previously: It's not you, it's me