A generic, non-personalized rejection letter from an agent or publisher that doesn't include specific feedback about your work.
A form rejection is the standard template response agents and publishers send when they decide to pass on a query or manuscript. It typically says something like "Thank you for your submission, but this project isn't right for me" without offering any specific reason why. These are not tailored to your book. The same letter goes to everyone who gets a no. Form rejections are by far the most common response you'll receive during the querying process, and getting them is a completely normal part of publishing. They don't mean your book is bad. They mean this particular agent, on this particular day, didn't connect with your pitch.
Form rejections can feel devastating when you're new to querying, but learning to see them clearly is essential for your sanity and your career. They are not a judgment of your talent. Agents form-reject for dozens of reasons that have nothing to do with quality: they already represent something similar, the market is saturated in your genre, they're not taking new clients, or they just weren't the right reader for your story. The faster you stop treating form rejections as verdicts and start treating them as data points, the healthier your querying experience will be.
Collect five form rejections you've received (or find examples online if you haven't queried yet). Read them side by side and notice how similar they are. Then write yourself a brief note about what you actually learned from each one. If the answer is 'nothing specific,' that's fine. That's the nature of form rejections. Now draft a plan: what will you adjust in your next round of queries? Focus on what you can control.