11. You aren’t special.
Many, many people want to be writers. Many of them actually write something, and many try to publish what they write. These are your competitors.
One of these is your book. How can a publisher tell?
Simple desire to get published won’t work. You have to distinguish yourself from everyone else. That isn’t automatic. There isn’t anything special about you beyond what you create. Not only must your work be distinguishable, but your presentation must be perfect. Query letters, synopsis, and any correspondence must be written expertly and without errors.
Without the ability to be presentable, you won’t get a look. It doesn’t matter how good your work is.
You, as a person, aren’t special and don’t matter. You aren’t a customer for the publishing companies. You are a resource that can be tapped at will.
If you get hurt or offended by being ignored, this is not the business for you. If you want to reply to rejection letters, don’t. You aren’t important, and you don’t matter. That’s how it is. There are plenty more writers where you came from.
This is very hard for many writers. For me, having a long background in customer service, it’s not a big deal. For anyone who is used to being comfortably at the top of a heap, it may be a real come-down.