Waiting on agents

[IceRoadDucker]

I'm a regular but frequent name changer, if that matters to anyone.

My first novel went out for query at the end of last month. So far I have a great success rate - 11 rejections, 3 partials and 1 full. The first partial only went out on 5 Feb but the wait is already killing me! I've been taking the rejections really, really well but I know a rejection on a partial or full will sting.

I'm trying to put my energy into writing my third novel - 48k words in - but I can't write continually and whenever I have a spare moment I'm impatiently drumming my fingers on any hard surface I can find.

No reason for posting this thread except that I need to keep my hands from refreshing Gmail every 10 seconds even though it's way too early to expect replies, I have desktop notifications AND it updates itself automatically.

Just popping in. I haven't heard anything in ages. I've sent off a couple more submissions but otherwise I'm just sitting on my hands, twiddling my thumbs. I'm sure it's mostly the time of year.

I have made a start on the research for a new novel, at least. Feeling very enthusiastic about it, so I suppose that's the main thing! It will be a good distraction from any further rejections I get.

Just sending off my latest 2 to the usual bunch of agents. (A "snub" of agents?)

Rory O'Grady

Alice And The Pink Head Teacher
My first non-rhyming book tackling the "pink" issue. First of a series. The second one where the children find a donkey and want to keep it. The third is me improving adapting McBeth to a nursery setting.

Hello again,

Any more news anyone?!

Two publishers shook off the August stupor and responded to my agent - yay!

With rejections - boo.
One because they are publishing something along similar lines (?!!) the other because they feel it's too 'niche'.

Ho hum. It was a disheartening end to the holidays.

I got one negative reply within minutes!

I've also realised that some haven't replied to my stuff from April and March. Might give up hope with those.

Helmet I'm sorry, that's so disappointing. How many more is it with? Hoping for good news soon.

It's all so dispiriting, this business, isn't it.

Sorry, Tiggy

I sent out 5 at the beginning of July. Nothing. Nadal. Zero.

Huh

Hope someone hears something soon.

Love that autocorrect fail. Wouldn't complain if I was sent Nadal, really

That's a shame tiggy and helmet :( . I'm waiting on an agent who got back to me the same day and said she'd get back to me properly in a week . Here's hoping it's good news .

About 20 more to go, I think.

Tbh, I'm so fucked off, I'd even turn down Nadal.

I'm so sorry, Helmet - how annoying. What kind of niche?

And sorry, Tiggy. I also sent out in March and April and there were a handful of agents I never heard back from - have written them off, too.

Fingers crossed, pinnochio.

I finally heard back from the agent I nudged - rejection. A nice one with loads of compliments that I know I should take heart from, but also the didn't-connect-with-the-main-characters enough and how there were problems with the plot and how commercial women's fiction is a tough market.

God it's all so dispiriting. Anyway, I sulked and ate a lot of chocolate, then decided to have a big old re-write, even though I'm still waiting for the responses of two agents who still have the full. Am fully expecting rejections from them too, so thought I might as well just press on and make those characters more connect-y and the plot less crappy!

Don't know what I'll do then. Send out more agent queries?

Hi all, just checking in - I have been a bit of a lurker but posted up thread. Have had six rejections so far for my novel, which I have been sending off over past few months and waiting on three but anticipating rejections from these too. Just wondering what people think about when to give up and move on to think about self publishing?

Hope everyone else is having better luck - some positive stories on this thread!

I think you have to be a certain type of person to do well at self-publishing - certainly you'd have to be pretty strong on social media/promotion/marketing.

I also think self-publishing works better when you have a particular audience in mind eg. A book about say, sailing, would be popular among sailors(?) whereas say, a contemporary romance, would be harder to sell.

You do hear of massive successes from self-publishing, but it's still fairly rare.

I'd keep going with the agents for now - take their feedback on board - and think if you're really tough enough not only to put your book out there - but really push your book, without having the might of editors, agents, industry behind you...(Im not!)

And in other news, I have no news :) which is good news, right!

Thanks Helmet - I am not that type of person either! In my case self publishing would mainly be with aim of having some actual books for me, family and friends and to be able to lay this one to rest and get on with the next one without endlessly redrafting the first - if that makes sense!

Think you said you have an agent - that's great, well done on the first step. Sounds like getting a publisher is also a frustrating process though, hope you hear something soon!

Well, my book didn't sell to any of the publishers it was submitted to so I'm back where I started. Very upset but just have to start again. The good thing is that at least I still have an agent, which does help, but as you can see, it's never a guarantee.

It's time to get on with book two!

You'll get there, MissB! You've written a great book and I'm sure it'll get picked up in the future. Dust yourself off and start again - I know it's hard but you can do it.

Thanks Imperial. A big, big thank you actually.

Oh dear Battle. or

'A learning process', etc. Remember what was praised and avoid what was criticized.

Good luck with number 2.

That sucks, Miss Battleaxe. I hope you are doing ok.

(I feel I am heading the same way with this one too.)

How disappointing - and not just for you - it really did sound right up mine and DD's street.

Are you going to stick with that theme for 2?

I'm so sorry Miss Battleaxe - the market is brutal and no reflection on your talent.

Thanks all, I really appreciate it from fellow writers in the same boat.

Helmet- I might stick to the same genre, but a different story and characters. I also have another book I'm keen on finishing in a different genre.

I waited such a long time and now I have to start all over again. However, I've had my mope and now I have to be strong and stubborn and get on with it.

MissBattleaxe. This was what happened to me as well. I think it's more common than it used to be.
Onwards and upwards!

Thank you Countess. I suppose it's part of the business and filters the sheep from the goats. But OUCH.

I think you're right, Countess, this has become more common. I read somewhere recently that agents used to be confident that they could sell any book they agreed to take on, but in recent years that's changed, and now they're only managing to sell about 75% of them.

It's really disappointing, MissBattleaxe; I can only imagine how hard it must be to work up the enthusiasm to get started on another project. It's great that you have an agent who clearly feels strongly about your work, though.

Hello there, I wondered if I could hang out with you guys . I'm in the fortunate position of having an agent, which happened just before the summer hols. She has just started to send out to editors and so I am enduring Submission Hell. Cor, it's hard! I deliberately didn't want to know exactly who she is submitting to so that I didn't start Twitter-stalking editors but I am, of course, refreshing my email every five minutes. My book is slightly different in that it's narrative non-fiction and so I have written half of it and it gets sent out with a proposal concerning the rest of it, synopsis, market etc. If everyone rejects it I have no idea what I'll do, as I've spent about three years researching, travelling, writing and building up a social media platform for it. No pressure then! [weeps and necks neat gin]

Good luck to everyone looking for an agent or publisher. Ugh, it's not pretty.

Hello Furrydowny. Good luck with your book.
I definitely agree it's best not to get too closely involved with the submissions process. I think the fact I hadn't been very aware of what was happening made it much easier to cope with the rejection, though hopefully that won't apply in your case.

Hello FurryDowny and welcome!

I wish you lots of luck and hope your manuscript hits the right desk at the right time and that you sell your book. Keep us posted!