I like how every publisher assumes that they are the first person you've tried. I guess all that time rejecting people makes them feel pretty top-list. "Try a trade press!" Of course, I had no idea that a commercial press would be a better fit for a comedic character novel about computer games! I guess I just really thought that stuffy profs and MFA manufactured writers would really appreciate my hep, new-age, thinking outside of the canon style!

No, Game Quest is not scholarly (besides the fact that it covers issues such as mental health, creativity, the effects of a cut-throat monetary economy on creativity and culture, the role games play in our personal lives and more) but I sent it to their fiction department, not their 'Academic Textbook' department. I guess I take issue with the fact that it's 'not obviously Canadian'. You mean, besides the fact that it was written in Canada by a Canadian and, if you published it, would have a Canadian publisher and distributor? But if you don't like that, I can change it...PICTURE THIS!:

Why don't I set it in Toronto, change all the coffee and pastry references to beer and donuts, make the computer gaming company a small town hockey league instead, end every sentence with 'eh?', drop in fifty or so references to Canadian wildlife and landscapes, print the manuscript in maple syrup, dedicate the book to the Queen, start the thing off by quoting 'Oh Canada', slap a big ol' maple leaf on the cover, change the title to 'How to be Canadian' and write under the pseudonym 'Hoser McHowzitgoineh?' Would that be obviously Canadian?

Of course, the Canadiana requirement only exists because the govt granting agencies that keep the small press industry alive have no vision. Ultimately, they want a bunch of little flag-waving books that people buy only out of pity for literature and, furthermore, for their supposed national identity. We have no national identity because we invest it in beer-nationalism, ya hoons!

Considering that Game Quest is a 350 page novel entirely about the characters within it, I find the 'underdeveloped characters' critique somewhat odd. How much more development do they want? Or is this just their way of saying they want some character who's struggling with sexual abuse and another who's growing up gay in a small town or whatever character cliché du jour is hip in the hallowed halls of lit these days. Also, just a paragraph after they insinuate my book is more mainstream than academic/literary by suggesting a trade press...they tell me my 'hook' isn't strong enough? Ok...PICTURE THIS!:

Chapter 1: Rome. 1945. Enter several mysterious men in mustaches who explode the statue of David with dynamite. Next, enter Tom Cruise on a trip-wire...

My Rebuttal: This is actually a pretty decent rejection letter. They actually took the time to write a personal response and some feedback. I really, really appreciate that they told me what they thought. At least that lets me know WHY I've been declined. See publishing industry, two sentences, that wasn't so hard. Not only that, but they gave advice for where else to look. Considering the sorry state of publishing in these times, I appreciate they took the time to do this right. I'm not so sure they 'got' Game Quest, or are really clear on what they do want to publish, but kudos to them for a half-decent, useful rejection.