Feedback, Thank You

I got feedback from an agent today. Those of you who are in the business of querying agents know that there is an art to rejection letters--some are total form letters (Dear Author) with no attempt at soul, others are kindly meant (I choose to believe) form letters that at least express some respect and understanding, others seem to be personal rejections, at least they mention the title of the manuscript or even reference some other specific that allows one to assume the rejection was carefully, lovingly crafted for you and only you. None of these rejections contain any feedback.

However, today I got a short e-mail from an agent who was specific about why my manuscript doesn't work for her, and while that makes the rejection harder to take in some ways, it is the most respectful and certainly the most helpful rejection I've received. Of course, one should be cautious about assuming that one agent's concerns are all agents' concerns, but it is in any case useful to have some concrete criticism to move forward with.

And I've just been revising my first chapter, which I knew wasn't completely perfect a la George Eliot but which I had felt was pretty dang good. Now, I am able to see some places I can improve. It probably took that agent less than five minutes to write up her response to my book, and now I am able to make the book better. Aside from this (I hope) increasing my chances of finding an agent who wants to represent me, this simply helps me be a better writer, and isn't that really the idea?