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Original poster

How do you stay sane while querying agents?

877 replies

CakeRage · 09/05/2019 20:03

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 Confused

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!)

OP posts:
NormaJeanne · 08/07/2019 20:24

Has anyone had a request for a full more than a couple of days after making a submission? I'm still plugging away but all my full requests came within 24 hours so I tend to write off agencies if I don't hear within that time.

Original poster
CakeRage · 08/07/2019 21:20

I had a full request after 2.5 weeks. I also had an agent who had the full from the off (it was part of their submission guidelines) who contacted me to say she was halfway through and enjoying it. I think it depends a lot on their process and how busy they are at any particular time.

That said, I also tend to assume it’s bad news if I haven’t heard anything for a week or two. Even though my own experience should have shown me that isn’t the case!

OP posts:
NormaJeanne · 08/07/2019 22:53

Thanks Cake, that's encouraging. I won't completely give up hope then!

DisputedChair · 08/07/2019 23:20

I just signed with an agent, but it was the one I nudged after I got another offer. From talking to her, it sounds as if reading new submissions is something she has to cram in around the edges, on flights and on trains, on top of a demanding full-time job representing existing authors, so I can’t see there being any hard and fast rule about reading within a few days?

Original poster
CakeRage · 09/07/2019 08:13

I obviously missed the crucial part of that story out, which was that the agent who had the full from the off contacted me after SIX weeks to tell me she was halfway through Grin

Obviously she hasn’t contacted me since, and it’s been another 8 weeks, so it’s not looking great, but maybe she just takes ages to do anything? Could be v busy? Ok, I’m probably clutching at straws here.

OP posts:
DisputedChair · 09/07/2019 08:19

I would nudge, @CakeRage.

Original poster
CakeRage · 09/07/2019 09:23

I’m a bit scared to, Disputed, in case it turns into a definite no! At the moment it’s a bit like Schrödinger’s full, and as long as I don’t open the box, it’s both Grin

OP posts:
PreparingForDisappointment · 09/07/2019 11:17

I would probably feel the same, Cake.

No news from me. I am still pondering my next move - send out more of the same (which did, at least, get me one full) or completely rewrite pitch and/or change title.

PeachBlack · 09/07/2019 15:44

Cake (and everyone), it is gutting. My first agent turned out to have never sold a book in the UK before; she kept that little gem from me, and I didn’t even think to ask because she was from a well known ‘high profile’ agency. My second (after I’d gone through a couple of edits and she was ready to submit the book to editors, or so she said) told me a month ago that she was leaving agenting because she had MH issues. I felt sorry for her, but then angry because I think I had the right to know that, given that it was impacting her ability to do her job. I’d sensed something was off. She then offered to rep the book on a freelance basis. I don’t know if that’s a thing, but I said no thanks.

She sent me the submission letter when we split (I hate the word ‘submission’!!!), which I thought was crap, not even an accurate description of the book, and a list of five editors she was planning to send it to. So in a way I suppose I had a lucky escape, but it was very disheartening. I’ve since rewritten and retitled the book (had issues with some of her editinf suggestions) and feel it is even better now, but I can’t face starting to pitch agents again.

Good luck to all of you, anyway.

PeachBlack · 09/07/2019 15:51

And a friend of mine had an agent who told her he was going to submit her book ‘next week’. She heard nothing for months, but didn’t dare contact him because us humble writers know agents are sooo busy and don’t have enough hours in their agent days. Just as she was gearing up to impose on his precious time she got an email from someone who said she was his assistant, saying ‘we’re just about to send out your book, can you tell me which year it’s set in?’

He didn’t even respond to her telling him he was dumped, she had to send a registered letter to make sure it had been received and she was free to start querying again.

Original poster
CakeRage · 09/07/2019 18:03

Oof, Peach, both experiences sound really frustrating! I hope you both have more luck soon.

I know I’m guilty of seeing the getting of an agent as the finish line, when in reality it’s just the beginning of a new race. It must be tough to have to start again.

OP posts:
PeachBlack · 09/07/2019 18:59

Thanks, Cake. You’re not guilty of anything, b.t.w. I will start again and, like I said, think I had a lucky escape. You’ve done brilliantly to get a ‘full’ request and the encouraging comments, so I’m sure you’re on the right track. Keep buggering on.

And I’m sure you won’t do what I once did: had a query letter I kept messing with, trying to make it brilliant. One day (trying to stay sane while querying agents!) for a laugh I wrote ‘Dear Fanny Face.’ You can guess what I forgot to remove next time I pasted that letter into the body of a query email.
No reply!

Daphnesmate · 09/07/2019 20:07

One day (trying to stay sane while querying agents!) for a laugh I wrote ‘Dear Fanny Face.’ You can guess what I forgot to remove next time I pasted that letter into the body of a query email.

I've had a hard day and this has put a smile on my face x

PeachBlack · 10/07/2019 13:51

Thanks, Daphnesmate, I’m glad. Hope today is better for you. xxx

Original poster
CakeRage · 10/07/2019 18:26

Fanny Face, OMG! I’m crying. That is definitely something I’d do! I hope the agent had a chuckle, anyway. I’m sure they’ll have realised it was an accident Grin

OP posts:
Sickofphd · 11/07/2019 10:04

I had a huge chuckle reading the above Grin

Complete radio silence for me this week. At this stage a rejection would be welcome! It's the endless waiting I can't stand...how is everyone else going?

PreparingForDisappointment · 11/07/2019 10:24

Radio silence here too.

MercifulHour · 11/07/2019 13:10

My sense is that things close down quite a lot at agencies during August, so maybe either get it out now or hold off on the next round of submisions if you were thinking of sending anything again?

Original poster
CakeRage · 11/07/2019 14:34

After my flurry of rejections last week I’m back to silence too!

I have 8 agents left on my list, so not sure whether to submit to all of them now, and if it’s a no-go from everyone I can crack on with book 2 over the summer and hopefully start again with that in the autumn, or to hold off and hope there’s some useful feedback coming my way that I can use to tweak the final submissions.

My book would also make a good summer read, so if I wanted to self-publish it, the end of July would be the perfect time... I mean, who even knows anymore Confused

OP posts:
PeachBlack · 11/07/2019 14:52

Merciful Hour, yes, my last agent (okay, I now don’t know if I could trust a single word she said) did tell me she never submitted books to editors in August because that was a dead month in publishing. And that it wasn’t a great idea for authors to pitch agents in August or around the time of the big book fairs (London, Frankfurt), or Christmas.

Cake, why not send out to just a couple of agents on your list and see what happens? Maybe get a draft of book 2, then look again at the current book you want to pitch (it’s amazing what leaps out at you after putting it away for a while), then hone and fine tune ms/query and pitch in September? And give yourself time in August to relax and do fun stuff. You have to stay sane, remember!

Don’t self-publish yet, please! It’s way too soon to be thinking about that.

Original poster
CakeRage · 11/07/2019 20:06

After reading through the other thread with the OP who works in publishing I’m back to thinking I need to change my synopsis before I submit any more, but I’m not sure how to do it.

My synopsis at the moment just outlines the main plot, and loses all the side stories and supporting characters which make it quirky and diverse, plus you don’t meet any of them until about chapter 7, so they don’t appear in the sample chapters either. I’m worried it just appears to be ‘girl meets boy, they hook up, they fall out, they make up, the end’, when actually the love story is just the mechanism which helps me tell everyone else’s story, if you know what I mean?

Not sure how to get around it in 300-500 words though Confused

OP posts:
Zilla1 · 11/07/2019 21:40

"What appears to be the core love story is also a vehicle to tell a range of linked narratives forming a whole that is more than the sum of the parts" seems like something you could put in your 500 word synopsis without describing each of the side stories. Could you perhaps describe the most interesting side story in a sentience to entice the agent and show there is some substance there?

Helmetbymidnight · 12/07/2019 09:04

Cake - don't hate me - why don't you meet them until chap 7?

Original poster
CakeRage · 12/07/2019 11:30

Lol, I won’t hate you!

It’s because that’s the point my MC leaves her old life in the city and moves in with her crazy aunt in the village where most of the other characters live. My MC visits briefly in chapter three, actually, so we’ve met a couple of them or heard their names by then, but no actual back story comes out until the end of chapter 6.

OP posts:
LurkingElle · 15/07/2019 17:38

Am unlurking to join those of you waiting.
I submitted my manuscript to 12 agents in Jan/ Feb. Got 5 full requests, 1 nice personalised rejection, a couple of form rejections and no response from the others. I’ve had rejections from 3 of the 5 who requested the full and the other two haven’t got back to me yet but am really sure, given how long they’ve had the manuscript, that they aren’t interested. No concrete feedback from the 3 who rejected the full.
This weekend I’ve (probably stupidly) queried another 6 agents without changing the manuscript any further because while I’m sure that a lot’s wrong with it I’m not sure what changes to make due to lack of feedback...
Does anyone have any advice on how soon (probably now??) I should accept that while my query and first three chapters might be okay the full manuscript clearly isn’t and needs work?? If 5 out of 5 fulls are rejected does that mean that the full isn’t matching up to the partial and I should stop submitting until I’ve made some big changes?
Also, when submitting now should I say that 2 other agents have the full or does that just sound really rude because makes it sound as though new submissions weren’t first choice (not necessarily the case obviously as like everyone I didn’t go for all my ideal-world-top-choices at once).
Thank you and hope that some others have heard something - agent silence, while understandable given how busy they are, is excruciating.