I've just submitted my work

[user48675]

Well, I've gone and done it. I've been working for a number of years on my book and this evening I have just sent it to an agent (just one agent because then I lost my nerve). I can't believe that on this very evening, I pressed the send button. I know not what the agent will think. Most likely I will receive a thank you but no thank you. But, I have at the very least had the courage (I suffer from chronic anxiety) to do it. Nothing much else to say but I just wanted to tell someone.

Thanks TheMemory

I think the problem is, it is clearly very personal and tackles a certain issue that obviously won't affect everyone. If you experienced this issue, then great, I think the reader would get a lot out of it in terms of shared experience. However, I tried to make it more than that with the historical aspect (double protagonist), fantasy (a roaming spirit) and one or two quirky characters, not to mention a touch of romance so it is not totally a memoir (but does cross genres), so is a bit unusual.

I have had someone re-read it and they have mainly picked up on grammatical/factual errors which has been very useful. Not really indicated the need for a change in plot. I like the story. I think it is quite heart-rendering. One person who read it said they were in tears - and that's what a good story is designed to do - be emotive.

I think more and more, the idea of self publishing is the route to take. But I have told myself that I will submit my novel to one or two more agents. I was hoping for a bit of feedback but clearly these people, these agents, are very important people and overloaded with work to even think of taking the time to nurture someone else's dream. Why would they possibly think of doing a thing like that when there is money, money, money to be made and time after all, is money.

You remember what I said about all the agents in the library? The one you sent it to wasn't passionate about it. It doesn't mean the next one won't be. FWIW I would always take on board anything that an agent said - they are quick to find flaws and can give you really good feedback.

Don't worry about how quickly the agent responded - honestly when you've waited 12 weeks for someone to respond you are grateful when someone replies quickly. If they take months it doesn't mean they spent any longer reading it.

Agents will mostly be very busy right now in the build up to the London Book Fair so detailed feedback isn’t likely at this time of year. Most authors receive a lot of rejections before they get an agent. Look at lots of famous writers - I think J K Rowling had Harry Potter turned down twelve times? She’s posted some rejection slips/letters she received to encourage new authors to not give up.

Thanks Hollow. I think that was the other thing, they did not give any constructive feedback and I found this frustrating because of all the hours of work that had gone into it, they couldn't spend a few minutes giving more constructive feedback (which probably indicates, they took one look at it and didn't really read it).

Oh no, it looks like I've picked a really bad time to submit my work - with view to London Book Fair.

They very rarely give constructive criticism. They're not paid to do that. Authors send in their books and say, "Are you interested?" They say either "Yes!" or "We would need to talk about this" or "No."

They often get hundreds of unsolicited manuscripts a week - they simply can't give feedback to everyone.

That's why I said you need a thick skin!

It just might mean a longer delay in any response. An agent might get thousands - honestly, literally, thousands of submissions in a year and it can take time to hear back. Sometimes it will be a brief form rejection, sometimes there will be feedback. If a book is cross-genre and not easy to pigeonhole, it might be trickier because the publishing industry wants to be able to categorise books and pitch them very specifically. It’s helpful if you can sum up the book in a punchy hook and have some titles to compare it to when you submit. But if an agent loves crime thrillers and you send them a romcom for example, they might be very brief in their response because they haven’t got useful feedback to give as its not their area of interest. There can be a million reasons why your book isn’t right for a particular agent but it doesn’t mean that the right agent isn’t out there somewhere!

Captain, thanks for your response. The more and more I think about it, the less commercial my book probably is (but would be invaluable to some). Maybe self publishing is the route but I'm going to try a couple more agents first. It is wonderful, that writers can self publish so easily now, I can't imagine how it must have felt to write a book in the past and then get it blocked because of someone else's judgement. My book can still become a book, just a different route that's all. And actually some authors now prefer to self publish (and I'm not doing it for commercial gains so really don't have anything to lose).

But still, it would be lovely for someone to say that's interesting, that's very readable. I think we would all like that acknowledgement.

Check out The Empowered Author website; I’m sure there is quite a lot on self-publishing there. Good luck either way!

Hi OP have you thought about approaching The Literary Consultancy? They assess your completed manuscript and tell you exactly what you need to do before submitting to agents. They also give honest feedback whether it's got commercial potential. If they feel it's got potential they will link you up with an agent.

Best money I've ever spent! And takes away the anxiety of approaching agents directly.

literaryconsultancy.co.uk

Thanks Captain. I suppose, I always knew that self publishing was going to be the likely route BUT I think I had to at least chance my arm, otherwise I would have always been wondering. I will definitely take a look at that website, thank you.

Sapphos - just taken a look at the consultancy website. It would cost several hundreds of pounds to pay someone to give professional feedback. I am a SAHM, I can't really justify it. Plus, my book is organic. It pleases me. Yes, some bits could probably be axed/cut/made more exciting whatever BUT then, it wouldn't be my book would it. I wrote it believing in its content and believing in its characters. I would rather pay someone a similar amount of money to copy edit it and provide a professional cover etc and make it into the book that I envisioned. I think I have just enough money to do that but not for someone to say what about this and that and that doesn't work very well etc. I think also, that if the agents saw any merit in it, they might want to support me - if one were to say, it's not quite right just needs x amendments, then I might consider it. But it looks like no-one is going to give it decent consideration in the first place, so this is unlikely to happen. S.L. is my baby and will be brought to life but on my terms. First and foremost it is a heirloom for my children. It is a nod to my late grandmother whose ambition it was, to write a novel but an ambition she never achieved. It is a nod to my late son, my suffering is there on the page, my sense of humour in spite of this is there too. Some of the characters represent people I have know in my life, one such character being my abusive estranged father. If anyone has been affected in a similar way, they will know, just by turning the pages what it is I'm trying to say. But they will also know there are lighter moments too. Moment of hope because in the end, something good happened to me too. Don't get me wrong this is not a direct memoir but it does pick up on the difficult times I have encountered throughout my life. Bitter sweet is how I would describe it.

Sorry, didn't plan to post such an epic!

Congratulations, OP! You've inspired me. I've got several short stories I've wanted to submit to literary journals but have come up with every excuse to not do so. For the love, if you can submit a book, I can submit a short story.

Hope you hear only good news.

But it looks like no-one is going to give it decent consideration in the first place, so this is unlikely to happen.

You can't reach that decision based on a single rejection - you really can't. There's a thread in this topic which is more or less dormant now but might well be worth you having a look at:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/creative_writing/3581699-How-do-you-stay-sane-while-querying-agents

I can't stress enough that multiple rejections are normal in this game.

Yes, some bits could probably be axed/cut/made more exciting whatever BUT then, it wouldn't be my book would it.

There's a phrase which I think is from the film industry but also applies to writing - 'kill the darlings'. You have to be prepared to cut parts from your book, even if you really like them, where they don't fit or engage or move the story forward. It's painful - it's wrenching when you have put your heart into something, but it has to be done. It's very unlikely that an agent or publisher would accept your manuscript as it stood.

Of course, if you self-publish it's up to you, but do think of your readers - if it could be made more exciting, make it more exciting.

I'm in the same boat as you - not a SAHM but as the main breadwinner in my household, I don't have hundreds of pounds spare to spend on professional editing. There are other things you can do, such as forums that have an exchange or points-based system for critiques from other writers (recommendations on the thread I have linked).

It's very difficult and I admit I probably have too thin a skin myself as my confidence plummets with every rejection. But your choice is to keep going, or to adapt your writing ambitions - accept that your writing is mainly for pleasure and self-published success would be a lovely bonus.

The main thing to keep in mind is that you have written a book. Many fail long before that - they mean to do it but don't get round to it, or can't think what to write about, or give up after a few thousand words. You have done it. You have written a book. No one can take that achievement away from you. You could amass a million rejections (believe me, I am getting there! ) but you'll still have your book.

Thanks Preparing. Have you submitted something recently? I'm intrigued...which genre is it?

You are absolutely right you know, we HAVE written a book. At 73,000 words I think my book is on the verge of just being long enough to qualify as a novel. If I started hacking bits out of it, I'm concerned I would have much left...lol!

I think the bit about decent consideration was more about how someone can just flick it to one side and send out a standard rejection letter. I'm a romantic at heart, I forget the aim of the game is to make money and twenty minutes or so extra is obviously time and money.

Preparing - just looked at the last page of that thread you posted. Blah, there's too much good news and a lot of back slapping. Can't go there, right now because although I'm pleased for people, I might just be a tad bit envious!

Have you submitted something recently?

I last submitted back in August. I've had one request for the full manuscript which was then rejected, and 16 form rejections or non responders. I decided when the August batch failed to put the novel aside for six months - not touch it at all - in the hope that reading it with fresh eyes would help me improve it.

I have thought of some improvements but stupidly, I'm scared to start reading/editing it again in case I feel it's embarrassingly bad. I've been trying to work up the courage to get it out again since the start of February. I will get there but it's like diving into the sea on a hot day - you know it'll be OK once you've done it, but it takes courage to work up to the initial shock.

Mine is a very commercial novel (at least, that was my aim) - it's a psychological suspense story. It's not my first novel - I've written four others (in various genres) but none of them got anywhere. My record 'fail' was circa 50 rejections (including one full request) for a fantasy novel I wrote in 2007.

And, I've read a few books recently that have supposedly had rave reviews and they have been awful (belong to a book group and with one of these books most of the group agreed, so not just me - most of us had given up on it quarter of the way through...we couldn't see what the agent could see but bought it off the back of hype). Also, there's a prolific writer of romcoms whose books at first, I adored reading. Now, it just feels like the same sort of stuff regurgitated and quite I'm bored by it, so no longer buy.

Start from the beginning of the thread, not the end - there's dejection aplenty!

Lots of admiration for your Prepare. Have you self published anything?
I don't think I've got masses of books in me, so to speak, so plan to self publish and work on an accompanying website (with the help of my nephew because I.T and me don't gel).

Yes, but it looks like lots of people have had happy endings and I don't want to face the possibility that I might not get mine. Entitled strop in the corner lol.

Yup - I think most writers aspiring to be published have had 'how can this have been printed when my book was rejected' moments. There's no accounting for taste, though!

I've only self-published fan fiction, which isn't commercial, obviously. It's always been well-received which gives me some hope that I'm not totally useless as a writer.