The Enormous Difference Between BUT and AND

I am thrilled to announce that I’ve signed a publishing deal with Wings ePress for my novel, The Godfather of Dance. As my long-term readers know, this has been a lengthy process. To celebrate, here’s a fun post about responses from publishers to submissions.

Over the years, I’ve clocked up my fair share of rejections from publishers. Short, sweet and utterly heart-wrenching, they usually go something like this:

Dear <insert authorname>,

Thank you for submitting <insert book title> for our consideration. It was <insert compliment. eg. an interesting concept, a pacy read, filled with vivid descriptions>, BUT <insert excuse. eg. we already have something similar on our list, I didn’t connect with the characters enough to take this on, I didn’t feel strongly enough about it to do the book justice.>
<insert best wishes/encouragement. eg. We hope you find another publisher, Publishing is a subjective business and we wish you all the best in finding another publisher, We would be interested in seeing your future works.>

Rejections are always a tough read. The uninitiated may make the grave mistake of reading the compliment and allowing a glorious moment of hope to blossom, only to be crushed by the subsequent rejection. The world-weary among us have learnt to put emotions on ice as we skim ahead in search of a dagger word: but, however or unfortunately.

One morning, I got up at 4:30a.m. to go to the bathroom, using my phone to cast light. I checked my emails. (And yes, I understand the perils of blue light at night, but when you’re waiting for the email that is going to change your life, that’s the price you pay.) I saw an email from a publisher and debated whether to open it – I’d had another rejection that day and wasn’t sure I was up to the double whammy – but I figured it was better to get the pain over with.

The email read something like this:

Dear Andrea,

Thank you for submitting THE GODFATHER OF DANCE for our consideration. It was <insert compliment.> (I braced for impact. So far, it read like any other rejection), AND (I stopped reading. AND? What was this madness?) we would like to make you a publishing offer…

That one simple conjunction made all the difference.

Fortunately, Andrew was awake – I swear I didn’t give him more than a gentle nudge – so I was able to say the magic words, “I have a publishing offer.”

Surprisingly, I went back to sleep. And when I woke up, I read that magnificent email all over again – and again – just to make sure it hadn’t been just a dream.

My debut novel, The Godfather of Dance, a Jade Riley mystery set in The Woodlands just out of Houston, Texas, will be published in January 2024 by Wings ePress. Stay tuned for more…

NB. Photo, by Matthew Barton, is me sending the signed contract back to Wings.

PS. (Dec, 2025) As luck would have it, after publishing two Jade Riley Mysteries with Wings – The Godfather of Dance and A Killer Among Friends – Wings announced they were closing shop. I have subsequently republished these novels with Next Chapter Publishing. For more about this devastating blow, see A dead end … not The End and Jade Riley is Back.

Next time: and interview with Timo on his IT Thriller, The Scaevola Conspiracy