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 all for that last push. It's done; fingers like jelly; back to the waiting game. Better not forget to collect the kids now.

Keeping my fingers crossed for everyone else who is waiting on responses.

Hello! Also, good luck to all of us with our precious books out there - it's stomach churning, for the most part.

I have a question - I have been asked by the agent to make some editorial changes to the book - I agree with the ideas he has and he has been very positive about it as a whole. I have had at least two more requests for full manuscripts from other agents in the last week - do I tell them I am now represented? Nothing has been signed although he said we could meet in a week when I have made changes and has indicated that he wants exclusivity. I'm just aware that it is still very precarious and he could still drop me if we don't work well together. Is there an etiquette here?

Hustle, this is something I feel very strongly about.

I have an agent now and she says you should never make changes unless you are signed.

Before I met her, there was someone who was interested in representing me (those words were not spoken, but implied) and she made me make changes. I disagreed with some and that's when we parted ways.

Before then I had another book which an agent sent out to publishers without any edits and without a contract - it was rejected and since then I haven't been able to do anything with it as publishers won't look again at a book they've rejected.

My agent now says there are some very unscrupulous people in publishing and you should never, ever do anything without being signed up.

Can you PM me the name of your agent? I wondered if it was the same agency I've had dealings with prior to this agent.

PM'd you Imperial, really appreciate your advice 💪

Just to let everyone still waiting on responses know that it is the London Book Fair next week so I would imagine radio silence from most agencies as they'll all be crazy busy those dates (12-14th)

Hustle, I imagine Imperial told you, but just in case, don't put the others off until you've actually signed the contract with agent (er so I've been told :))

London Book Fair sounds crazy. Has anyone here been?

Well done Joan, for sending the full mss out. Greenflame, Can'tfeel, Pirate and others - stop checking that in-box. I can see you.

And Bologna Children's Book Fair this week just gone, so if the agent you are subbing to is heavily into children's books they will likely have been there. And then catching up on all the stuff they have missed while they were away - it's a busy time.

Ah, that'll be why they're not jumping at representing my wonderful book. Clearly Helmet, you caught me in the act, I'm going to step away from the refresh button now For anyone else whose sent recently, if they are that busy I wonder if it might be an idea to resend in a few weeks to make sure it's been?( Or would that be badgering)

been seen

My agent said that she's got 100 meetings over four days next week (LBF) - back to back meetings. I know she won't have time to read new manuscripts and I imagine that's typical.

If anyone was thinking of sending something out, I'd wait a couple of weeks.

Don't resend. They will work through systematically when they have a chance, I am sure.

Oh no, don't re-send! They usually state that you might have to wait up to 12 weeks - some reply almost immediately and others make you wait the 12 weeks, but there's nothing you can do to make them read it faster, unless you write to tell them others are asking for the full MS - that usually gets them going.

Oh, ok. Thanks-I will spend the time perfecting more query letters and tidying the manuscript (again). Might even start another book, work and kids allowing. Good luck to everyone.

I'm joining the ranks too, I posted a seperate thread and then saw there was this long running one, duh!

I sent my full mss this morning - first request, rest have been (nice) rejections.

It's nail-biting.

Can I ask a question about how it works if you do manage to get an agent - do they then refer you to an editor, and do you have to pay for that? The agency who are looking at mine say that they work closely with authors and suggest editorial changes, (but don't mention any fees), is that normal practise? New to all this.

How is everyone else doing - any more news?

The editor is the person at the publishing house who buys the novel, madhairday. The agent should help the author polish up the book - she might suggest line edits (where she'll suggest commas, spellings, frequently used words etc should change) or she might say "I want to know more about this person's motivation" or "This bit isn't clear" or "This section slows down the action - get rid" or whatever. When the agent thinks the book is okay, she will send it around to a first round of editors. If one wants it, she tells the others and tries to get an auction going. If no-one from that round wants it, she sends it out to another round. She won't send it to absolutely everyone at the same time in case they all come back saying there's the same problem with the manuscript.

Well done Madhairday! How exciting I sent out some subs 3 weeks ago and just sitting around waiting for the first round of rejections now. I won't send the next batch off yet just in case there's something glaring that they point out to fix. I totally forgot about book fair la-di-dah which was on around the time I queried so am probably at the back of a very long queue!

Thanks, Imperial. So the main editorial work is done with the publisher rather than the agent but the agent does their utmost to get it up to a good standard to pitch it out.

Still on tenterhooks here, trying not to think on it as it could be weeks or never.

Cantfeel, do hope you hear something very soon - the waiting game isn't fun. Is this your first lot of submissions? Hope you get some good news.

Hello everyone, I thought I'd join your thread.
I'm just finishing up the final re-write of my novel and am getting ready to send it out to agents. Torture! I sent it off a year ago and got some good responses with several full requests and lots of nice personalised rejections - one agent in particular was very keen but said the book needed more work.

At that point I sent my ms off to TLC and had a very useful report from them. I can't recommend them more highly. I've spent the last year working on what theurecommended anf I'm really pleased with what I have. Still, who knows! I just entered the Bath Novel Award and didn't get on the longlist and while I know these things are ultra competitive and lots of people who do well in them seem to have done an MA, there's still a part of my brain which goes, 'well if I'm good enough to get published, I should have come somewhere.' I get demoralised far too easily. I am so interested to see what response I'm going to get with agents this time, anyway.

Mad, with regard to the other part of your question - no, you should never have to pay for editing or any other part of the publication process. If any agent or publisher tries to bill you for anything, run a mile.

(There are, of course, literary agencies that offer editorial help for a fee, and that's perfectly legit. But that's completely separate from the publication process.)

'there's still a part of my brain which goes, 'well if I'm good enough to get published, I should have come somewhere'

I recently accepted a good offer from a big publisher for my novel. I have never got anywhere in a novel competition (several attempts with three different novels) despite doing consistently well in short story competitions.

I know someone who has done very well in more than one prestigious novel competition, but can't get an agent to take her on. Competition success depends on you impressing one person/one small group of people. It's very different to the submission process.

Yes, Madhairday-first lot, so terrifying for me!

Anaicechoc-I'd feel very positive in your shoes. To have been told that there was promise and then, having fixed it with professional advice, I reckon you'll have a great chance. It's a reminder to everyone going through this that it can be a long drawn out process getting the book up to scratch and not to give up...

I have been starting to think that entering competitions is not actually the best thing for new writers to put their attention into. You see these threads on Mumsnet when there is a new competition and people get very excited about it and the funny thing is, they talk as if the only way to get published is by entering competitions, as if agents don't exist and aren't actively looking for good work. And then when they lose they get miserable.
But actually the odds are probably far worse of winning, even if your book is publishable, than your odds are of getting an agent through the normal channel, and in fact you can increase the odds with the agent thing by researching the agents carefully and finding out who is likely to like the kind of thing you do.
I think it's connected to the myth that publishing is a closed shop and is about who you know rather than what you have written-- and those of us who got agents through the perfectly standard process of sending work in following the instructions on the agency website, with no existing contacts of any kind, know that is really not the case.
Now, obviously, the more subs you send in of any kind the better, and if you get inspired to write because of a competition that's all to the good, but I think what often happens is people enter a competition and lose and then pin too much on losing, and get disheartened, because it is simple human nature to be affected by rejections even though our rational brain knows that it's luck as well as quality.

Anicechocolatecake - best of luck! I bet your book is streets ahead of most of the others that get submitted.

Thank you. I feel very heartened by what you've all written. Competitions are so subjective, I know that deep down.

If I forget the competition I do feel very positive indeed in that I've never worked on anything harder in my life and I'm passionate about my subject matter. I haven't picked out agents yet but will put time into doing that so it gets seen by the right people. I came so close last time it would be wonderful to make it this time.

It's so lovely to hear from people on here who have agents and book deals so huge well done to those who have. I dream of that moment I've already planned what type of chocolate cake I'll bake if I get there

Hi again everyone. Great to see such activity on the thread and interesting discussions about competitions, etc. I never have any luck in competitions either, although I've published a bit elsewhere.
OK so nothing much to report here - still no reply from the query I sent about 4 weeks ago, maybe the bookfair stuff is holding that up a bit too. I have a question - do any of you use Scrivener? (I know this has been discussed before.) I've tried before and got fed up with the masses of tutorial info, and have been trying again this afternoon to set it up. I sense that it could be really great to work with once you're in a groove with it, but I'm finding it annoying right now and I think I might just keep using Word.

I bought scrivener and quickly realised that it was a bit of a gimmick. I write on a tablet now and it was tying me down to the PC it was on...a big waste of money for me personally as I just didnt use it.