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.

Well done you-how exciting! Can't imagine how you kept it together in Sainsburys. I'd have done some cartwheels town the aisle and jumped into a freezer or something. Do let us know what happens

Hustle that's wonderful (although no doubt you forgot what you'd gone to sainsburys for ;))

How fab! No agent has ever phoned me. I didn't know they even did phone calls!

I'm in same situation as before (3 full mss out there) but much less optimistic.

I enjoyed seeing jk Rawlings rejections on Twitter tho. That was heartening!

Hustle- that's fantastic news! Congratulations! Keep us posted!

Can I join this very inspiring thread? I'm currently editing/polishing/staring-in-hopeless-despair-at my first novel, hoping to have it ready to start submitting to agents in a month or so. This stage feels endless. Have identified five or six agents who I think might be a good fit for the book so am ready to attack once I get the damn MS into decent shape.

Congrats on all the success stories here! Very exciting to read about.

I pressed send-eek! Got an automated reply and then 10 minutes later an 'out of office reply' from an agent's named email( other than the one I had 'FAOed' it to.) Does this mean someone looked at it and forwarded it to him thinking it may be more up his street? Who knows...going to send to others this weekend-they want different stuff in their queries so actually quite a lot of work writing each one up...good luck to all xx

Cel982-second that-does feel endless. I've actually started sending queries in the hope that if by some miracle, one wants to read it-it'll get my behind into gear and I might get the final draft finished! It's only a few hours work but keep finding other stuff to do...

Great stuff Hustle! Nearly there.

Agent just rang again. He has looked at full mss and says he wants to work exclusively with me on the editorial to get it to publishing standard. I've got to write a full breakdown of plot and meet him in a week. I am not sure if that means I have representation yet but it is a good first step. There is still one more agent whose assistant loved it and has passed to agent - should hear from them this week. No guarantees though, and i am obvs a STATE. Good luck to all of you with manuscripts out there!

That's perfect, hustle, well done!

Is the agent in London? Are you nearby? How exciting!

I'm not at all jealous, no, no.

Wow- all of that sounds brilliant. You must be a nervous excited wreck. Have a glass of something nice tonight to celebrate this milestone

Well I've sent out my first query so it's now out there in the world and I'm filled with the requisite heavy angst now.

Yup, I recognise the heavy angst greenflame - in all honesty I'm not even going to be pretend I don't feel like I deserve this small success. It's been three years and at least four rewrites, one of them MAJOR. Now I need to do another, slightly smaller. I made a rookie mistake in the first instance and sent out a first, tediously long draft which everyone rejected, including both the agents showing an interest now. I had a good ten rejections before committing myself to the rewrites, and it made my work much leaner. And by sending your stuff out you're in the 3% of writers who have actually finished a novel. Three percent. That makes you extraordinary.

Also, see here to feel slightly better about yourself, your work, and the dreaded waiting on the email.

That's a great link Hustle. Cheered me up no end. Good to hear that even the greats had a drawer full of rejections.

I've just got an offer from an agent!!

But I'm too fecking besides myself to reply to her coherently!

It's the power of this thread I tell you!

Well done, Helmet! That's amazing. Can you give us the initials of the agency? Or PM?

Will pm!

Helmet that is excellent news!! I'm thrilled for you! You've been waiting a while, right? Fantastic! 💯💯💯

I'm in a state of nervous excitement/paranoia!

Yes, agent had it since mid Feb- hopefully they're not this slow about everything ;)

Omg!!!! Congratulations. Frickin brilliant

Congrats-so impressive! Maybe posting on this thread is an absolute essential if you want to get published

I'm waiting for two agents to get back to me. It's torture!

I sent out a batch to UK agents yesterday-I know it will be a while (if at all) so not sure why I keep checking my mail

Hi fellow waiters, and those who have moved on...can I join?! Kids are at holiday camp today and I'm supposed to be submitting a full MS to one agent who's requested it. But I'd rather procrastinate and also have a chance to take stock of where I am.

Congratulations to those who have had good news! It's really heartening to read.

I've submitted synopsis and 3 chapters to about 7 agents. One requested full MS, but then decided she didn't feel passionate about it, though said it was well-written and well executed. Another said it stood out from the pack, but again, she didn't feel sufficiently passionate about it. One short but kind rejection. There are three more that I haven't heard anything from (yet).

One kindly emailed back and said it sounded more like YA to her and asked me to send full MS to her colleague who deals with that. So I'm going through the MS now with that in mind to hone before sending it off. I can see why she suggested this; it makes a lot of sense and feels like a good path so I have fingers crossed.

I veer from thinking that I'm wasting my time and will never get anywhere, to hoping for a breakthrough! It's agonizing.

Joan12-you've got further than the vast majority of those pitching books and you sound close to a deal-how is that a waste of time? Good luck!

Joan, don't procrastinate! Send it off immediately! You've done really well so far - lots don't even reply and others just have a standard rejection.

Goodness yes, don't procrastinate! Are you scared it won't be good enough and you keep doing final tweaks? Because if so, nothing you do to it on this timescale will be the decider.