Fed up with rejections? Fed up with not even hearing from an agent you submitted work to? Do you want to know how to get more acceptance letters? Then here’s how:

Get the look. The only way to get people to take you more seriously is to present yourself seriously. When you send your submissions in, keep it plain and simple. Don’t use colored paper; don’t get clever or witty in your query letter introduction; don’t add images of yourself to the manuscript. Make sure your work is correctly formatted and proofread. Be professional at all times.

Contact the right people. Don’t take a blanket approach and send a letter to all and sundry.  Do your homework and choose a few well-placed agents and make specific queries. Almost all well-targeted queries result in work being published so do your research!

Don’t be the hare; be the tortoise. Submissions should be a part of your writing habits but submitting odd bits of work here and there should not be. Be sustainable, be steady and you will win over someone who rushes in where few angels and even fewer agents fear to tread. Submit regularly and you stand a better chance of being published regularly. Even if 20 agents reject your work, don’t give up – submit to a minimum of a hundred! Create a submissions calendar and stick to it; I guarantee your publication rate will go up.

Be organized. Some people are very well organized naturally, others need to work at it. If you want the best return from your submissions, start tracking them. Note who you sent the work to, who liked it and who didn’t. Who rejected your work and why? Who wants you to submit more? It is a lot of work but it is well worth it; once you have a system in place it will all work quite seamlessly.

Keep your chin up. A good attitude will show through in your work. If you think negatively, if you let yourself get down about your rejections, if you believe that you are not worthy, then it will reflect in your attitude. When you get rejection after rejection (and you will), it can be hard to keep positive thoughts in your head. Instead of seeing rejection as a bad thing, start to see it as proof that you are devoted, dedicated, that you are awesome. Attitude is very often the one thing that separates a successful writer from a non-published nobody. Every single rejection will get you one step closer to acceptance so start chipping away at the numbers and submit regular work.

If you really struggle to sort out a submission strategy for yourself or you are seriously lacking in time, get some help. There are plenty of genuine online resources that you can tap into to get some help. Take advantage of them, even if you have to pay for them; it will be worth it in the long run. And, you get to focus your attention on what you do best – writing.