How do you stay sane while querying agents?

[CakeRage]

I finished my first book earlier this year (after saying for years I was going to write it), and started submitting to agents 3 weeks ago.

I’ve had a couple of replies, both really encouraging, but ultimately both rejections, and I feel like I’m losing my marbles. How do you keep it together while waiting? Not sure I can take the emotional rollercoaster

The first agent replied within hours to ask for the full manuscript, emailed again the following day to say she was halfway through and absolutely blown away by it, then a few days later to say she did love it, but thought it needed a few changes making. I revised the whole thing (10,000 extra words of work), then she replied just to say it wasn’t working, and she wouldn’t be taking it further.

To be honest I’ve been pretty gutted by it. How do you stop the little judgy voice in your head which tells you you were an idiot for getting your hopes up?

The second agent replied to say she was really impressed by my writing, but didn’t feel I was a good fit for her list at the moment, and recommended another agent (different agency) who she thought would like it. I handled that one much better, even though I guess it was more of an abrupt no.

Please tell me how you cope with this stage - or come commiserate with me at its horribleness!

(Sorry for my crazed rambling - feeling all my feelings this week!)

Who knows?! It’s definitely frustrating, though. A couple of friends of mine who are writers (in other industries) have read my ms, and they both keep sending me pictures of books they’ve read with a comment along the lines of ‘your book is better than this one’, and I know they’re trying to be supportive but it just makes me want to weep a little.

On a related note, got a form rejection this morning. Must be the week for it!

Thanks for reminding me, @NormaJeanne. I am definitely joining the Society of Authors. Sorry about the form rejections. They are disheartening. All you can do is think ‘Fuck you very much, universe’ and keep sending it out. Or at least, I’ve not found any other way. (And start something new?)

No, I’m actually away for work and very busy, @CakeRage, so I won’t talk to the offering agent till next week. I wanted the time and headspace to have a proper conversation, rather than something rushed and half distracted. Plus it gives the other agent with the full time to figure out if she’s in. I suspect not, but anyway...

Disputed the one who's made the offer sounds a lot keener. Keep us posted!

I now have 18 rejections, 1 full still out, and waiting to hear from 11, but I'm not expecting anything other than rejections as all my full requests came in very quickly. So probably should do some more submissions.

I think despite what we're told, success is really about marketability, not quality. If people like your books and keep buying them the supermarkets will keep stocking them however uninspired and derivative they are.

I'm delurking to say I've been following this thread for the past few weeks but, as I've only just finished the first draft of my novel, I haven't much to add to it. But thank you to all contributors, you've given me a lot to think about in terms of how to approach submitting the manuscript - if and when I get to a stage where I feel happy with it. Good luck to everyone and hope to get through the rewrites fairly swiftly so I can join you on the waiting bench .

Welcome to the thread, everything.

My tally: 4 rejections (3 form, 1 of full)

9 still out (all bar 2 on brink of expiry)

Inspired by Cake I'm going to have a think about my pitch and title. My novel had a completely different 'working title' but I felt it wasn't right for the market, and it was the sort of title that wouldn't make sense until you'd read the book. I need to send another batch of submissions out, so I might experiment with something different.

Norma - Based on your theory, perhaps I should try this pitch

' "Name Of Book" is an uninspired and derivative novel. It's exactly like 20 others on the shelves at Tesco, so it will appeal to 90% of the population. Do let me know if you'd like to read the full MS.'

Good luck everythingcrossed! It’s definitely a learning curve, but I’ve really appreciated this thread and the company

My tally today is 8 rejections, 2 fulls still out, 1 no reply but passed the time so assumed rejection and 17 yet to reply.

Another form rejection this afternoon - Friday inbox clear out, obviously.

I had one this afternoon, too. It might as well have said ‘Blah blah yawn blah.’

I’ve been doing research into titles, and the thing which keeps being said everywhere is to be consistent with your genre, so that a reader can see the title and immediately know what type of book it is and if they’ll like it.

So I went on a mission trawling bookshelves this week and I have discovered that 90% of current women’s fic titles seem to use the same formula. Twee place name plus some kind of alliteration. So maybe I need to be more ‘The Writing Club at Willy Wonka’s Wig Shop’ and less trying to be clever? I may try it on a couple of submissions and see if I have any better luck.

If I’ve learned anything from twenty years in marketing it’s that you don’t need to change the product to change people’s perception of the product!

People have probably said this way back up the thread, but what genres are you working in, those who are querying agents at the moment, or already have novels out?

I'm literary fiction.

Women’s fiction towards the upmarket end but still pretty commercial here!

I don't think your suggested title will sway opinion either way. They tend to bloody change even the most perfect of them!

Let me know if you want me to look at a covering letter anyone for jazzing up purposes. (I've just got my mate in with my agent, and feel on a roll...)

That's interesting, Helmet. In your experience, does the title play much part in grabbing the agent's attention in the first place?

Not in my - fairly limited - experience, no. Publishers love to name the books and most of us authors don't really get much say.

If its an extraordinarily brilliant title, I'd say yes it helps, but if, like most of them, its pretty average, I would say it makes no difference.

That is interesting, Helmet! Maybe I’m just looking for the magic formula to make them notice me? Sad, no?

I know intellectually that my pitch and my book can’t be awful, because there are still two agents reading the full, and some of my previous responses have been positive, but it doesn’t stop the nagging feeling of doubt seeping in. At the start of this process I was really proud of my book, and now I just feel like maybe I thought a bit too much of myself

On the bright side (small bright side today), I just noticed that for one of my submissions that has gone 2 weeks past its sell-by date they actually do say they will reply to everyone, they just aim to do it in 6 weeks, so I changed them back to no fill on my spreadsheet with glee! It’s probably still not great, but every little helps, right?

I think I'm looking for the magic formula too! My full request came from a submission that wasn't tailored at all (no high hopes of agent, submitted very much as 'worth a try'). My carefully tailored ones are getting me nowhere.

If you're books are commercial, have you thought about sending them straight to digital publishers - eg. HQ digital or Bookouture.

There's also a writing comp on Gransnet for 1st time authors/protagonists over 40.

Cakerage, yeah, I think you're doing everything right. Luck and timing has an incredible role in the industry -and there's just less risk-taking and less money going round at the moment.

Keep going. I eventually got an agent with my book (after about 20 subs?) We couldn't get that book published though. I was in the doldrums for a while. (A long while) Wrote next book, but couldn't get it published...then finally the last one on the list said yes. And that changed everything.

Yes - mine is commercial - a whodunnit (I fondly think, an upmarket one ) I had a look at the Harlequin link upthread and it might be a fit; I will check out the others you've mentioned, Helmet. I feel I might as well exhaust my list of agents first.

Just looked at Gransnet comp T&C, thanks for the tip. I'm over 40 and so is the female villain of my book (one of the two narrators) - the main narrator is only 37, though, and dates/ages are quite important to the plot so I can't age her by three years without a heck of a rewrite. Gransnet say 'leading character' so hopefully being one of the narrators might count. Plenty of time to consider that one as closing date isn't till 30 September.

First time I’ve wished I was over 40 - I’m still a year away! One of my main characters (and my favourite character) is in her sixties, and in fact most of my characters are older. The youngsters are 35!

I have actually submitted to a couple of those digital imprints. I’ll look into more if I don’t get anywhere. I figured the odds were much better as they say they look to publish 10 books a month, rather than an agent taking on a handful of books a year.

I eventually got an agent with my book (after about 20 subs?) We couldn't get that book published though. I was in the doldrums for a while. (A long while) Wrote next book, but couldn't get it published...then finally the last one on the list said yes. And that changed everything.

That's very interesting, @Helmetbymidnight. What did it in the end? Was the third book much better -- had writing the other two taught you a lot? Or just a better coincidence of editor, market forces, and an MS you think was no better than the first two? Did you ever publish the two previous novels? And did your agent continue to believe in the books all the way to the successful one?

Watching this thread with interest as I hope to make submissions at the beginning of September.
I've just looked at the competition entry rules on gransnet - one of the rules say that the finished article must be at least 85,000 words whereas mine is just over 70,000. Is 85,000 the norm? I'm not going to enter the competition because my main female protagonist is just a bit too young but as anyone else written a novel of around the 70,000 word mark?

Mine's 80,000 - it was originally 90,000 before cuts, so could be re-expanded to meet an 85k word count if needed!

My understanding is 80,000 is average for commercial fiction. Lit fic can be shorter. Fantasy and sagas can be 100-120k. I should think 70,000 words would be fine.

Mine’s just under 90,000, but I was under the understanding that 70-90k was pretty standard (for commercial fiction, at least), so 85k as a minimum does seem quite high.

85 k does seem on the higher end, I agree.

Disputed, having an agent made a huge difference to my writing - I finally took it very seriously, and I think my approach changed to one more professional/more commercial. I probably should have had that attitude previously but somehow I didn't. It was a great boost confidence wise too.
Persistence and luck are huge factors in getting picked up. You get lucky the more you persist, but if the timings not right, the markets not right, there's nothing much you can do except to write another one...

I'd also recommend people have a look at the Romantic Novelists New Writers scheme. The RNA isn't as fuddy duddy as it may sound - it encompasses all kinds of fiction, and the new writers scheme is a fab chance to get professionals behind your work - without paying a fortune.

I’ve just got an extremely polite form rejection from an agency! I almost wanted to thank them for not liking my submission, their manners were so impeccable.

Part of me wishes I could send it to some of the others to show them how it’s done