QM: 04-29-2024
FR: same day.

Commercial fiction 74K

Got the same form rejection that seemed personalized telling me to rework my query letter.

QF: 4/30/24
Dom susp. 100k
FR: 4/31/24
*prompt rejection — even included the revising of query. Probably more appropriate to give a form rejection without advice of revising query

Q: 18/04/2024
FR: 18/04/2024

Even though it is a form, I think the speed of the response is an indicator to what's wrong. Just my thoughts, but when I get a rejection the same day, I know it's not something this like or excites them.
Like they say to us, it's all subjective.

Paranormal romance, 72.5k
Submitted via QM 4/22, received rejection same day.

As others have said, the rejection was not actually personalized. It was identical to the others posted below.

If you get one of the form rejections that appears semi-personalized relating to your query needing to be reworked to make "plot points, obstacles, and character(s) attempts to overcome them" more clear, I wouldn't immediately dive into a complete rework of your query.

When I got that rejection I laughed and then ignored it because the same query verbatim has had immediate requests for fulls, including one from an agent in the industry for 30 years who has only made 14 requests in the past two years--and that request was on the strength of the letter alone with no sample.

Perhaps my query wasn't explicit enough for Kiana for some reason but I half wonder if she clicked the wrong form reject for mine. It doesn't matter either way since it's a rejection and it's fine if my book wasn't her cup of tea but I wanted to put my experience out there for those new to querying that one agent's form rejection (masquerading as personalized) should not be taken as gospel. I despise form rejections that give advice that seems personalized although at least they become easy to spot once you've been in the trenches long enough.