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The real reason editors reject good books.
As the owner of an international publishing company I evaluate hundreds and even thousands of books every year. I love looking at art and I make time out of my extremely busy schedule to personally review every single manuscript that is submitted to our publishing house (even when we have open call jurors to curate the hundreds of entries). The privilege of previewing excellent work by amazing authors from over 50 countries have given me some insight into the selection process.
The first and most obvious thing I check is the quality of the proposal. This can be subjective, but here is what I am and am not looking for:
I don’t care about the premise.
Personally, I don’t care how catchy or click-baity the subject of your manuscript is. I have seen books with promising premises that are horribly dry and books with benign premises that truly captivate. One of my recent books Sandy Ass Cheerios has the ridiculous premise of two best friends dancing on the beach. The value in the book is the process of being initiated into the intimate relationship the two friends share, and the joy they bring each other.
