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!)

I doubt she can write to 100 agents! They don't want multiple submissions at the same agency - if one agent knows her colleague would be a better fit, she'd pass it on.

Hearing the OPs situation, I'd like to pick up on something that a pp mentioned.

Is it unethical for an agent to suggest changes without signing you up??

I've been to many workshop evenings where agents are mentioned and thought suggesting changes was run of the mill.

However should this only be done AFTER a contract has been signed?

I think that if they take your manuscript and write on it, suggesting lots of changes, it's considered unethical because they haven't signed you up and are making you make changes in the hope they will. This happened to me (and the woman lost her job, though I didn't complain about her as I thought it was normal.) I was told afterwards by agents that that is considered unethical. She could have said, "I would like to represent you but only if you're willing to discuss changes" and that would've been OK.

Do you think I should contact the outstanding agents and tell them I’ve had a full request even though the request has since been rejected?

And yes, I would consider self publishing if I have no joy the traditional route. My original plan was to send out to about 25 agents, in batches of 5/6, and if no joy from any of them to self publish and try again with book 2. Don’t know if that’s a sound way to do it, it was just what was in my head!

Examples of the feedback that I didn’t totally know what to do with:
Exaggerate the MC to bring her off the page.
Give the whole story a boost of life.
Elevate the setting to give the story a point of difference.

I would definitely appreciate worldly wisdom on how to tackle any of the above points

Also, is there a way to look for agents other than the very clunky method I’ve been using, which is google ‘[genre] literary agent UK’ and read each individual agent’s bio until you find someone who seems like a good fit?

How do you know if they are reputable?

'Elevate the setting' probably means putting it in Italian wine country rather than Milton Keynes.

Hi, CakeRage.

If you're in the UK then I think the UK AAA (Association of Author's Agents - www.agentsassoc.co.uk) has most of the reputable agencies (oddly, the wikipedia page that lists agencies chronologically tends to have most of the reputable ones which tend to have survived). A review of each firm's website usually shows the individual agents, their areas of interest, whether their lists are open. If you want to invest the time, many individual agents have twitter accounts where you can get to know a little more about their interests (and shamelessly tweak a submission enquiry to target them better).

For what it's worth, my take on

Exaggerate the MC to bring her off the page.
Give the whole story a boost of life.
Elevate the setting to give the story a point of difference.

would be to magnify (sorry to use the same word as the feedback) here) aspects of the lead character, the setting and the plot to make the overall story (more) different.

To explain (and I don't think this is the case, just thinking of the easiest way to explain briefly), suppose Girl on the Train started as a story about someone coming to terms about being dumped. (Spoilers) After being given your agent's feedback, the author decided to have the protagonist sacked but continue to catch the train obsessively. They might have been a social drinker but the writer made them a problem drinker or alcoholic. The writer added the murder and the blackouts and so on. In effect, they exaggerated aspects of the character, setting and story. I'm not saying that the Paula Hawkins did that, just using that novel to try and illustrate my take on the feedback.

I suppose for The Miniaturist, the equivalent would have been to introduce the spooky elements of the Dollhouse, the trial and the pregnancy into a version of the story that just had a young provincial woman marry into a metropolitan family and which didn't originally include these.

Hope that's helpful and happy to be wrong about my take on the advice.

I'm not saying the advice is correct, I suppose you'll know your story well enough to know whether it is different enough from similar stories, it engages the reader and so on.

It must have had enough about it to interest the agent in the first place (again, well done).

You'll be able to judge whether the characters, setting and story could be amplified or whether the changes will make it too 'cartoony' or black and white and lose it's subtlety.

Joining thread as I've just had a request for a full - I'm absolutely petrified! I know it's not likely to be picked up, but it's the first time it's happened to me, so I'm in a state of mania.

My initial query is with another three agents who have yet to respond.

Do you think I should contact the outstanding agents and tell them I’ve had a full request even though the request has since been rejected?

I'm not planning to do this (though someone more experienced might come along and change my mind). I suppose my reasoning is that the agents wouldn't know whether I was telling the truth (I gather people will try anything to get their manuscripts read - I know from bitter experience how desperate you can feel) and it might put them off to know that someone else had rejected it.

If I had another full request while the first one was still out, I'd say so, though.

I'm hoping if it isn't taken further I will at least get some feedback on how I can improve the novel.

Thanks Zilla, that’s really helpful.

I like to think that’s kind of what I did, but apparently not in the way she was hoping for!

I’ve got a group of people who’ve been reading it for me. They’re not writers, but most read widely in my genre, and they loved it, so in terms of readers I’m pretty sure I’m on the right track. Ok, one was my mum, and she said it was the best book she’d ever read, but I ignored her feedback as thought it might be slightly biased

The only thing I didn’t change at all was my MC. The whole point of her is that she’s an everywoman, and I worried that exaggerating her would make it a bit too chick-lit. Like you said, the beauty is in the subtleties.

How exciting, PreparingFor! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.

I know what you mean about the rush when you get the full request. I felt like I was walking on air for days. Just wish it had ended better!

I though the same about agents thinking you might be lying about the full. And would they ask who it was? I’m worried the fact it ended in rejection would be off putting.

Good luck to everyone on the thread waiting for replies. I'm writing a synopsis and query letter ready to send mine out. Any useful tips on synopsis writing/letters from those who've had some exciting responses? Clearly you're doing something right!

Ooh, good luck ComicSans. I agonised for days over my synopsis and letter.

I googled loads for advice on both. For the synopsis, the ones I went with were - write in the present tense, pick out the most crucial points in the plot and connect them economically but with a little of the personality of your book. And have a few versions - I’ve submitted to agencies who have variably asked for 300, 500, 800 and 1,500 word synopses, and it would have been helpful if I were ready for that up front rather than editing between submissions.

The cover letter is similar. I made it formal but with a taste of my personality. And pretty concise. Sometimes the submission guidelines will tell you exactly what to write, but generally I had a paragraph about my mss, a paragraph about me, one about why I was submitting to that particular agent, and one about my writing experience and ambitions. Don’t know how successful that with turn out to be, but there you have it!

I wrote saying, "I sent you the first three chapters of X on (date.) Just thought you might like to know that another agent has asked for the full ms. I'm more than happy to send you the same if you'd like it." Every single one asked for it, but didn't ask who the other agent was. I would never lie, though.

CakeRage,

Are you sure you didn't write an email like HollowTalk's suggestion in the period between receiving the request from the agent and them telling you it wasn't for them but your emails got stuck in your outbox?

That’s definitely a possibility, isn’t it?

My email server can be terribly unreliable.

In other news, while I decided that I am going to take the advice to write outlines and synopses for both new books, I’m going to actually start writing the unrelated one that I’m more excited about.

It makes sense, right? If I’m more into that one, it’s probably for a reason.

Yes, I think you should always write the one that excites you the most. Good idea!

I got another rejection today, but from the agent who already rejected me with the nice note and recommendation of the other agent! This one was much less pleasant, lol. Not sure what’s happening there, but they didn’t have to rub it in.

I’ve also emailed a couple to tell them about the full request - just the ones who had it when I actually did get the request and haven’t replied yet. I felt a bit dishonest sending it to the agents I submitted to after the full was rejected. I tried, but just couldn’t go through with it. Daft, maybe. I just don’t want to disrupt karma!

Do you think the first agent was right in her suggestions? Do you think her suggestions improved the book?

The people who have it now - do they have version 1 or version 2?

I think the suggestions were fair, and I think they did improve the book, but I also think they changed it a little, for better or worse.

The first six agents I sent it to have the old version, the next batch have the new. Both are almost identical for the first 3 chapters, anyway, so it didn’t really affect the initial submissions.

Of the agents I contacted the other day to tell them the other agent had requested the full, one replied to say thanks, but she had it anyway (I forgot their submissions called for the full up front), but that she was already half way through and enjoying it, and would get back to me when she’d finished. One other sent a reply to say I was in the pile still being considered and they would reply to me in due course and two haven’t replied at all. Don’t know if that’s a good or bad result. Definitely no flurry of activity at this end though!

That sounds really positive, CakeRage. Fingers crossed for you.

All quiet for me - nothing back yet on my full and no response from the other three agents who have my initial submission.

I'm fighting the urge to approach more agents, as my original plan was to set the novel aside completely for a couple of months while I waited to hear from the first four agents - I'd been tinkering with it almost non-stop and was losing the ability to see it clearly.

I wish I could make myself forget about it, but I keep looking at my emails hoping to hear something. I'm driving myself insane!

I know how you feel Preparing! I’m getting a bit better at not refreshing my emails every 30 seconds - I’ve now put a distinctive tone on my email notification so I know when an email comes through, but it always ends up just being Groupon or something!

Did you contact the other three to tell them you’d had a full request? It didn’t work any magic for me, but at least I know where I am with two more now. It didn’t seem to do any harm, anyway. I half worried they’d read it quickly and then just reply saying ‘no thanks’.

Hope you get some positive news soon

No, I haven't tried that yet - I'm nervous about coming across as pushy. I know I am probably being ridiculous and over thinking things - I feel as though every approach to an agent has to be minutely choreographed, and I'm terrified of taking a wrong step.

It's helpful to hear that it didn't do you any harm. I might wait until Monday and then try contacting them (I read somewhere that agents often attack their slush-piles over the weekend).

I'm trying to press on with my next novel, but I'm struggling to get back into first draft mode. I have spent so long editing and polishing the completed novel, that it's difficult to let go and just write again, not worrying about using too many adverbs or whether my syntax is as sharp as it could be or whether x paragraph would fit better in y place.