The Creative is taking an in-depth look at the steps I go through in composing a piece of music, from first ideas clear through the end of the publishing process. Realize this is only my process -- this may or may not work for you, so use it only as a guide. This is the seventh post in the series.
This week, we look at two sides of the same coin: rejection and acceptance. By now, you've planted your seed of an idea and watched it bloom, then nurtured it into a beautiful piece of music before sending it out into the world to see how it is received. The answer is: either it is accepted or it is rejected.
We'd love to think our creation is so perfect, so amazingly wonderful that anybody in his or her right mind would snap at the chance to take our work and share it with the world. The truth of the matter, sadly, is that the beautiful flower that is our creation is but a single flower in a garden of other flowers, many equally beautiful and magnificent. The image (sadly for us as Creatives) is all too apt. Can you imagine coming upon a field of tulips, all of them a sight to behold, and choosing but one? How do you choose? Which do you choose? What of the ones you didn't choose?
There is always the possibility that the piece you wrote just wasn't good enough. If you're new to the field you're writing for, this is even more possible, but fortunately, it's something that will get better with time. I generally don't jump to this conclusion the first time a piece is rejected, but after the third of fourth rejection, I'll go back and look at a piece and see if I've done something glaringly stupid. I'll also play through the piece and see if I still like it. Sometimes I let a piece go and it frankly just wasn't ready. Often I can clean it up and make it presentable, then send it on its merry way again.
Sadly, most rejections come down to a numbers game. There are a limited number of pieces of music in any particular medium that will be released each year, and for each piece released, there are anywhere from tens to hundreds submitted. There are other publishing matters to take into consideration, as well. What this amounts to, fortunately for us Creatives, is that usually the fact our pieces are rejected has nothing to do with the quality or craftsmanship of the piece itself. This can be a very comforting thought, though it takes some practice to see this in the wake of a rejection.
So why was my piece rejected? There are a few possible reasons:
No room in the catalog -- I'll talk handbell publishing, because that's what I know best. There are six or eight big handbell publishers who put out a release in spring and one in the fall, and another six or eight main publishers who put out one release a year. Add it up, and there are probably no more than 150 or so handbell pieces released in any given year. When those slots are filled, there's nothing else that will be published -- end of story.
Many publishers -- even the ones that take unsolicited manuscripts -- have a "stable" of composers they go to time and time again. You can tell these composers because any release form a given publisher will have at least one -- and often more than one -- title from them. Why do they stick with the same composers year after year? Probably sales -- if you get a composer who sells well on one piece, odds are he'll sell well on other pieces. Think of a rose bush: if you find one rose bush that always gives perfect roses that last for weeks before dying, you'll keep returning to that bush for your roses, even though many other equally lovely (though untested) roses are out there. Sad, but true.
For those new composers who aren't part of the "stable" of a particular publisher, there are only a limited number of slots left. Of those original theoretical 150 spots, there are maybe only 40 or 50 left once the "regulars" have their pieces in. Suddenly, the odds just got worse. All you can do is submit and hope for the best.
Not right for the catalog -- This one's a little trickier but no less important. Each publisher has a certain "sound" in what they release. Some are more artistic, some are more utilitarian. Some are simpler, some are more complex. Some are very rhythmic, others are more interested in complex harmonies and melodies. It's entirely possible that a piece gets rejected because it's just not a good fit in the catalog. If you're looking for red roses, you'd never take a rose from a bush with white roses -- it's just not the right type of flower. Again, it doesn't mean the piece is bad -- you were just hoping to fit a square peg in a round hole.
Something similar in the catalog -- This one really burns, and it's happened to me on more than one occasion. You submit a piece and the publisher responds: They love the piece, but they just released/are about to release/have an old good-selling favorite that's very similar and they don't want them to compete. The worst was a handbell arrangement I submitted where I was told that the editor had accepted an arrangement of the same tune just a week before. There's nothing else to say here except it's pure dumb luck.
BUT -- if you get this sort of rejection, it does mean that your piece has merit and is well done, so your odds of having it accepted elsewhere just went up.
Rejection hurts -- don't get me wrong. But remember, when they reject a piece, they're rejecting the piece, not the composer. Your worth lies in your ability to create beautiful pieces of music, not whether a particular publisher likes/has room for/wants to publish your piece. Take your rejections with a grain of salt, then turn around and resubmit your piece. My rule with my compositions is that I don't let a piece sit with me for more than twenty-four hours: if I receive a rejection, I turn right around and send it back out, often times within minutes (thanks to the joy of electronic submissions). The number of times this strategy has resulted in an acceptance is huge. In fact, nearly half my handbell pieces in print and accepted for publication were first rejected by at least one publisher, and often multiple publishers.
So enjoy your rejections -- you're just one step closer to having your piece published. On Sunday, we'll look at the other side of this coin: getting a piece accepted. Until then, keep on creating!
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