# So a publisher is reading your novel and they find...



## SinJinQLB (Feb 28, 2014)

I've heard this numerous times - a publisher (or someone reading at a publishing company) is reading your novel, and they get halfway through and decide not to publish. Or they get 2/3 of the way through and decide not to publish. Or they get through the whole book and decide not to!

So what could they possibly find, 2/3 of the way through your novel, that causes them to drop it? I'm just asking this out loud... maybe no one knows. But it seems strange right? I can certainly imagine a publisher hearing a concept and saying no. Or reading the first few paragraphs and saying no. Or even getting into the first few chapters, only to see that the story isn't going anywhere, or the spelling or prose is horrible. 

I mean is it possible for a publisher to like your idea and your writing style, like it enough to get through more than half the novel, but then come across one poorly written sentence and get completely turned off? You would think if they get more than half way through, then they obviously like it enough already.

So what really turns publishers off? Could it be one bad sentence in a sea of great ones? Could it be a second-act plot point that just really turns them off? Are the reasons usually pretty big (bad writing, uninteresting story/characters), or could one slip up ruin everything?


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## popsprocket (Feb 28, 2014)

A book can be good without being something that they think will sell.

If they've made it that far through then it's probably a problem of characters or plot. It sounded great in the query and the sample chapters were well written, but once they'd read half the story they discovered that it wasn't going to play out the way they thought it would. Perhaps your plot developments became too cliche. Or maybe it was an issue of characterisation. It's not immediately apparent when a character is going to be flat. But by half way through the book there is enough evidence to say 'this character isn't going anywhere'.


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## Sam (Feb 28, 2014)

If a publisher gets two-thirds of the way through your novel and is suddenly turned off, it's safe to say it wasn't because of a random spelling mistake or horrible sentence. It's probably one of maybe half a dozen things: the middle part needing strengthening, the end was anti-climactic or simply bad, it was becoming long-winded and word count presented as a problem, something happened that did not allow them to read the second half of the novel with the same urgency and enjoyment as the first, or the person did not connect with where the story went. 

It could also be two dozen other things. There is no definitive list of what turns a publisher off beyond bad writing and personal taste.


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## dale (Feb 28, 2014)

i think a lot of writers find themselves running out of steam after the 2/3s mark. i can tell i was when i read my novel now.
i can tell my spirit and passion were running pretty high up until the last 2 or 3 chapters, then it became like i was writing for
the sake of...."oh jeez. would this damn thing just please end." it probably happens a lot more in new writers than seasoned ones, though.
and i'd imagine the publisher or agent can feel that loss of passion.


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## Morkonan (Mar 1, 2014)

SinJinQLB said:


> ...So what could they possibly find, 2/3 of the way through your novel, that causes them to drop it? ...



The dreaded "Middle of the Book." 

It's hard. Most say that it's the hardest part to write. They know how they're starting off, since they've started off twenty times already. They also know where they're going, since they've envisioned the blockbuster ending just as many times. But, the Middle is dangerously unexplored ground, most of the time.

IMO, if an editor really gets through two-thirds of your book, they already see something worth publishing in it. They're not putting it down due to bad grammar or spelling, since that would have shown up by page two. What puts them off is probably the fact that the Middle doesn't carry very well. It may be that, amidst all the info-dumps and plot building, there's nothing there that's really interesting enough or novel enough to carry the Reader through all those necessities. By the time whatever blockbuster ending you have prepared actually shows up, it would have been too arduous a journey for the Reader.

It could start off with a bang, but fizzle out before the big finale. In that case, it's probably not easily salvageable. Think about it - You've got the work finished and what causes it to get dumped is the backbone of your story, not the nice flashy bits. You can't just _White-Out_ that sort of thing.


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## Cran (Mar 1, 2014)

SinJinQLB said:


> I've heard this numerous times - a publisher (or someone reading at a publishing company) is reading your novel, and they get halfway through and decide not to publish. Or they get 2/3 of the way through and decide not to publish. Or they get through the whole book and decide not to!
> 
> So what could they possibly find, 2/3 of the way through your novel, that causes them to drop it? ...


Might be less a case of what they did find and more of what they didn't find but hoped to find by halfway or two thirds or the end. 

Usually, the unwritten challenge from the publisher is, "surprise me"; this is over and above the absolute challenge, "entertain me". After reading a dozen, or a hundred, or five thousand technically well-written but almost identical stories, the rare treasure - and it's repeated time and again - is "originality": the different take, the unexpected turn, or achieving the definition of insanity (ie, doing the same thing but getting a different result).


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## krishan (Mar 3, 2014)

I've read books that I was very into at first, but that felt weak or directionless in the middle - or books that were great, but had a lazy ending. There's always a lot of focus on hooking a reader, or on polishing the first three chapters of a manuscript. The first few pages are, I suppose, what sells a book. But the way a brilliant opening continues and eventually resolves will generally determine whether I'll buy a given author's _next_ book.


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## stevesh (Mar 4, 2014)

It could also be that the publisher's reader didn't 'suddenly' decide not to publish it. I'd guess we've all read books that we didn't really like at first, but we kept slogging on, hoping it would get better, only to give up 2/3 oif the way through.


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## Robdemanc (Mar 5, 2014)

It could also be the tone of writing. Maybe you used a tone that wasn't appropriate for the story or characters.  Maybe you switched viewpoint at the wrong moment and failed to deliver a transformation that came to a particular character later on. There could also have been an issue with pace. As mentioned above the middle can sag and in many books I have read the middle can drone on too long and leave me impatient and have me skimming.


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