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.

Thank you! will let you know if it's good news. Good luck to you, too - it's such a roller coaster ride, isn't it - and it seems to get worse the longer you stay on it.

Hope it's good news wasinah

That is positive Cel - wanting to see future work is a good sign. Sorry the full was rejected though. It's so hard isn't it, but you have to keep going... You have positive feedback which is more than a lot of people get at all. Hope you hear something soon from the others.

Hello, hello.

Helmet here (Mumsnet forced me into an old user name! Very bizarre)

Sounds like lots of excited waiting going on!

Wasnin, I could never do what you're doing! - That's willpower for you!

Wordassociation, exciting stuff! Let us know how things progress.

So, after my woes - (no publisher picked up my mss)- I feel very positive. I still have lovely agent, and its really changed my approach somehow. I feel almost like a professional rather than a phoney: I'm treating my writing with much more respect and I can see it is becoming more and more fluent as a result...

Still no book deal though.

I'm now waiting for agent to get back to me on draft of next novel that I'm working on - if she says no go, then I'll ditch it, and save myself a year and a half of writing the wrong thing! Result!

Anyway, keep at it all!

After sending my current stuff to all the agents I could find who were interested in my type of thing, no luck. I've just gone through the list of publishers in the Children's Writers' handbook and sent the same things to all of the very few who were willing to look at it. After that, I don't know. More writing I suppose.

Just keep on improving, Tiggy. Keep writing but also read books on how to write, or sign up to a course. Join SCWBI if you haven't already. Get together with friends also writing your genre and swap critiques. You'll get there - people do, it's normal for it to take time. Be one of the people who stay in the game rather than one of the ones who drop out. Plan to send off another batch in six months that is twice as good as your last lot.

That's tough Tiggy, but yes, I agree with Countess. Keep going, keep getting better. Why not start a thread here and get people to critique?

That's good advice Countess. I've been losing heart lately. What is SCWBI?

Sorry Tiggy and birdy hope you get some better news soon.

Hi all, good to hear everyone's updates and positive thought - hope those waiting get some good news soon.

Have currently got full with an agent. She sounded really positive about the sample I sent and then emailed to say she was halfway through the full (again sounding positive) and hoped to get back to me next week with thoughts. This would have been last week though and still not heard anything. Not looking great but I would have hoped she would have got back to me as she said one way or another - wondered what people think about contacting her again or just wait a bit longer?? Advice appreciated!

Oh that's really good don'trock. I wouldn't get in touch yet, they are usually super-busy, and it sounds positive so...if you haven't heard by middle of next week maybe?!?

Madhair, how's your course going? I did a writing MA once, it was fab.

Thanks birdy, was thinking next week too - just a bit frustrating!

Good luck with the draft of your new novel - hope your agent likes it!

No news for me, darn it. It's all sooooo slow. (A bit like the novel itself I suspect!)

Oh well, it's nice to know agents can be slow getting back even when you are actually signed! Hope you hear soon ...

Birdy - I hope you hear good stuff soon.

Your 24th Nov post was so positive and wise and has helped me through my own ms not being picked up by the first 10 editors my agent submitted to. It will go to 6 more in the New Year and I'm trying not to get too attached to the outcome. Whatever happens. I finished my first novel - Woo hoo.

Don'trock, fingers crossed for you.

I've been waiting since October for a response after I sent back a revised version of my picture book ms. The waiting is so frustrating. I have started a middle grade novel, it's nice to try something a bit different amidst the tumble weeds / rejections .

Hope it's ok for me to jump in :) I'm toying with the idea of submitting my non-fiction work for an agent, but at the moment I'm focusing on helping my DP secure representation for YA fiction so it's nice to find a thread where lots of people are doing similar :)

My first ever middle grade ms is out with the first batch of agents.... from reading here it seems like if there is going to be interest, you tend to hear quite quickly? Is that true in people's experience? I've had two rejections (standard letters but very kind ones) which were quite quick turn arounds, and am not sure how long to wait for the other agents in this batch, knowing many just will not reply if not interested, before trying the next batch.

Good luck rumbling! I'm not sure about timing - on agent who requested a full from me took about 3 months initially, I'd given up on her! (She didn't take it up in the end sadly...) however I have heard that agents often reply quickly when they are really interested. It depends on all sorts of things; time of year, what's in their inbox, what they're looking for etc.

I think I sent another batch after about 6 weeks, but no harm to do it sooner.

Hope you hear something soon!

How's everyone else getting on - any good news?

That's very kind of you to share Mad I won't panic and send out the next batch quite yet then!

Got a couple of stories ready to send out, but then I get the jitters. Before I send stuff out it has the potential to be great. After 20 rejections I know it needs shelving. Sometimes I feel like holding on to a book for ages and ages as the longer I have it finished but unseen, the longer I have a book with the possibility of being accepted. Anybody else get the same?

I do get that, Tiggy. This rejection business is dispiriting and it can feel somehow safer to hang on to our previous babies!!

What do you all think about these digital imprint publishers like Carina UK and bookoutre? They don't require agents and will look at any ms, and it doesn't seem like they're vanity press ie take any money for marketing or publishing services. As far as I can see they basically use ebooks and POD so shorter overheads. Was quite impressed by the authors on the bookoutre site, have read quite a few and liked them. Any thoughts?

I do pre-school books, so they need pictures. Those digital things are no good for me.

Hi all, and welcome Hohoho and Rumbling.

Well after several weeks of waiting over Christmas, a phone call and a meeting I have got an agent! It feels quite surreal. She wants to work on some revisions to my manuscript, which we talked through so still a long way and a lot of work to go - but at least a positive start to the year! I have to say that Imperial blether's advice on approaching the right agents was invaluable!

Rumbling, from my experience the length of time agents take to reply reflects quite a lot of factors including what is going on in the publishing world - book fair times etc so don't think there is any rule. A couple I heard back from who requested my full manuscript took a while. It is a bit frustrating though!

Birdy, hope you have heard back from your agent about your draft, and word association good luck with the editors (seems that getting an agent is just one step in a long process). Good luck to everyone else too.

That's brilliant news dontrock- you must be so excited! Really pleased for you. Has agent given you any ideas of timescale for working on your ms?

Remind me what genre you write in?

Well done!

Thanks madhairday. It's kind of literary fiction, for want of a better description. She hasn't given a particular deadline but she knows I have to fit it round work/ kids etc. Guess I should give myself a deadline - it feels very unreal still takes a huge leap of imagination to imagine it actually published ( and still various hurdles to overcome, finding a publisher etc...,)

Brilliant news, Dontrock - well done you!!