"Thank you for the manuscript... an interesting personal story... unfortunately, it doesn't fit into our publishing plans at this time... we wish you every success in your future work."
Overall, I was prepared for a rejection. I'd sat through several webinars, and the main point they all made was that a rejection isn't about you or your book. The reasons can be all kinds of things, and one they mentioned was that the editor might have simply had a bad day. That didn't exactly boost my optimism, but it's true — publishers receive hundreds of manuscripts, and an editor is a person too, who can have a rough day or be in a bad mood.
I was upset, but not for long. I'd sent my first manuscript to several publishers at once. I'd looked into which genres each one had planned for the current year beforehand, and only sent it where my genre fit. I got rejected everywhere.
But honestly, I hadn't pinned too much hope on the publishers to begin with. It's a huge lottery. I understood that my books weren't in a particularly popular genre, so I was prepared for this.
A publisher takes on a book because it's confident it can sell the print run. That confidence is built on a name, on genre, on trend. If you don't have a name, don't have a popular genre, and don't have proven demand — there's no reason for a publisher to take the risk. It's a business, not a charity.
In parallel, I started reading about self-publishing. About how independent publishing actually works in practice, what platforms exist, who does it successfully. I chose some platforms and uploaded my books.
When the path to promotion isn't clear, you need to answer one question for yourself: "Will I keep writing even if I never figure out how to promote my books?" If the answer is yes, then keep exploring your options. And keep writing.
Sometimes a "no" is just a signpost. Not to a dead end, but to a different road.