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Not receiving feedback from publishers, or receiving a rejection, does not tell you anything about the quality of your work at all. Publishers reject good books because they don't fit their catalog...
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#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34555 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
Not receiving feedback from publishers, or receiving a rejection, does not tell you anything about the quality of your work at all. Publishers reject good books because they don't fit their catalogue or because they don't see a market for that kind of book currently, and sometimes out of error (see the many rejections Rowling received for Harry Potter). So basically the reply (or lack thereof) of a publisher is meaningless. I have no experience with coverage services, but what I found extremely useful for myself was joining several critique groups on Facebook. There are also forums that have critique sections, sometimes they are non-public. I don't see the same problems you see with this option. 1. "you can only get feedback on the quality of the text (how well individual chapters are written), and not on such things as plot or emotional changes throughout the novel" 2. "I am not sure that I can trust the feedback I get. I don't know those people and have no idea about their qualification" 3. "in order to get feedback on one chapter of your book, you need to write three critiques of other people's works"