Waiting on agents

[Hazelwood63]

Hello. I'm just looking for company on this long waiting game. Anyone else waiting to hear back from agents at the moment? I sent out five initial submissions at the end of January. So far I've received a really encouraging rejection and two requests for the full. Nothing from the other two so far. It's coming up to a month since I sent off the first full ms, and just over three weeks for the other one. Has anyone else waited over a month for a response to a full and been offered representation, or is it maybe time to think of moving on?

@SnugSheep my first manuscript was YA dystopia back in 2023 and most agencies were saying dystopia was over leaving me incredibly disheartened. I shelved that manuscript very quickly (and I think that was the right move) but then the market had a huge shift towards YA dystopia this year and last so I think it's tricky to predict where the market is going to go!

I write gothic romance and generally write stories with very dark themes, so I totally get this, lol. I have a horrible feeling that despite gothic/dark academia being very popular at the moment, I've probably entered the game too late, or missed the mark in some way. It's hard when you want to write what you love.

I've had a full manuscript request from an agent I queried this morning! I can't believe it!! The response was so quick I thought for sure it was a rejection. Yay! I'm already doing so much better than my first querying experience over a year ago.

Congratulations @NewWriter! I hope it leads to an offer for you. Was it an agent high on your list?

I’ve just realised that a few of my query emails contained dodgy formatting. Talk about looking like an amateur. They looked bloody fine when I sent them! Hopefully readers will see past it but I feel pretty pessimistic about my chances. 😱

@SnugSheep It was an agent I hadn't heard of before today - but I looked them up on Query Tracker and Publisher's Marketplace and they seem very impressive and work in the same genre I write in. I've just nudged a couple of the agents who replied asking me to tell them if I get a full manuscript request from any other agents.

Ah email formatting always messes up! I think some of mine have too but I think in general the pages of your writing are the most important bit and they'll overlook formatting errors in the email if they like your pages (one published author told me the email she sent to her agent that got her signed had formatting all over the place if that makes you feel any better!)

Thanks @NewWriter! I have my fingers crossed the formatting madness won’t kill my queries.

Query Tracker has been useful to me, too, for finding agents I’d never heard of. It’s been especially helpful because so few agents seem to enthusiastically rep ‘literary fiction,’ never mind what I actually do, and all of those seem clustered in a few very exclusive agencies. With the etiquette being that you don’t (or aren’t permitted) to query more than one agent at the same agency with the same project, it’s been hard to find new ones!

Have your nudges worked to spark more interest yet?

@SnugSheep that is tricky re: finding agents but glad Query Tracker is helping you too!

Sadly no response from the two nudges I sent to the agents that asked to be nudged if I got full requests. Scared it means they're definite Nos and they're figuring out how to tell me - which is ridiculous I know because why they don't even know me so it's more likely they just haven't got around to reading it yet.

Also freaking myself out thinking that agents think that there's no market for this book. But I know that there is - it's literally listed all across MSWL on loads on publisher pages. But you need an agent to get your work in front of them... I think it's because I got another personalised rejection last night from an agent who said they loved my pages, the title, the plot (and she named a book it reminded her of) but didn't think the romance plot was unique enough to sell to a publisher :(

Good luck to everyone on this awful querying journey, hope we get more (positive!!) responses soon!!

It’s Frankfurt Book Fair next month, most agents are gearing up for that so will be even slower than usual at replying.

@NewWriter It’s so easy to psyche ourselves out in this process. I would take the personalised rejections as a very positive sign and the question of whether a plot is unique ‘enough’ sounds to me like it comes down to a matter of opinion. Aren’t there only supposed to be seven truly original plots in existence anyway? 😉

@LouisaMayAlcott, good point. I think I’ll send one or two queries tomorrow then give it a rest until after the Fair.

I'm in the frustrating situation that I've had my manuscript looked at by various professionals and they've all come back with that it's publishable, even should get published, but I get almost invariably no answer at all.
The last time I had someone look at it, I said that I wanted to concentrate on the query letter and synopsis, because I thought that was putting people off, and they said very quickly that no they were good, and then made suggestions to the story that contradicted what I'd got from others!

I sent out 8 queries in June and have got one back - what I'd describe positive, but not gushing; "find an agent as it deserves" was one phrase which sounds good to me anyway! On the basis how rarely I get anything back, I'll take what I can get! 😂

And I've been trying to read through (Middle grade) books that have recently been published, from agents I'm looking at and, on the whole I haven't been impressed with the writing, but they've all got a diversity tick for the main character, which mine hasn't.

One I just read, it comments a few times that the main character has ASD, but there's nothing in the character that brings that out, so I'm wondering if the author shoved that in to get past the slush pile. Although actually this is one of the stories I've read that was really good, so I may be being cynical.

Hi, been reading this post as I, too, am waiting on agents. It's awful! I've already published two novels, then through a series of unfortunate events have found myself agent-less for no.3 and am going through the slush pile again. I find all the uncertainty of this industry so, so difficult! In two weeks, I've had a couple of 'thanks, I'll read' and nothing else...

I’m finally joining the waiting queue! Sent my first set of queries out this evening. Already planned the next batch for after Christmas if I have no luck.

Good luck! Feel it's a bit of a slow time at moment cos of Frankfurt round the corner etc. so think probably agents will take longer to come back. Doesn't make it any less nerve-wracking tho!

@SnugSheep that's very kind of you to say! And totally true of course!

@LouisaMayAlcott ah yes, good flag on Frankfurt!

I've been super busy at work which has been an absolute blessing because it's kept me completely distracted from all the queries I sent out a few weeks ago. But I just got my second full request today, woohoo! So happy I was dancing around the house with my husband!! I wanted to update the thread because I feel like my fellow querying writers will understand how huge this is. I think I'll send some more queries out after Christmas maybe depending on how the next couple of weeks go. But so happy to get that email this morning!

That is such great news @NewWriter And, yes, I think it does take a fellow writer to really understand the particular joy of a full request. It's always a triumph to receive one (or two!) but in the current market I'd say it's supremely well done. Whatever the outcome, it's a hugely positive sign!

Also, I keep hearing how massively important your hook is now. Agents are so snowed under, and the market is so tricky, that there's even more riding on the 'elevator pitch' than ever before.

@Hazelwood63 thank you! Yes I think if I told my lovely well meaning friends that I had two full manuscript requests they'd get excited and ask when my book is being published and I'd have to be like... Umm there's still several more stages to get through.

I've also heard the same on hook - I'm trying to make my next WIP have a much clearer hook. Which I think it does!

Well done @NewWriter that's amazing news. What genre do you write in, out of interest?

It's been a few weeks and it's still crickets for me, but I didn't expect anything else tbh lol. I've written in a genre that's fairly new and popular (and one the agents are specifically asking for) so I had dared hope I might get a full request or two, but so far there's just no response at all. Siiiigh.

@MorticiasMemoirs I write YA and this one is YA romcoms (my first manuscript was YA dystopia). I've got loads of queries with no response yet - for context I've now sent about 20, with 2 full requests from that. After getting very impatient I decided to query good agents that have quick response rates on query tracker, which definitely helped get some quick rejections (and also feedback!)

Fantastic news on the two fulls. Well done! I think at the moment, everyone/everywhere is so swamped with manuscripts, it's amazing to get past that first hurdle...

If it's any consolation, I submitted my ms to agents, it was crickets, literally nothing, no full requests, no bites, I felt really down in the dumps, then all of a sudden a flurry after one agent took a bite and that was it, I'd signed with someone else a couple of weeks after...I contacted one of the agents I initially submitted to let her know I'd been offered rep and it turned out she'd lost my ms ....so silence can be for many reasons...the waiting is tough, but it can all change in an instant!

@BobnBrenda thank you for sharing your story - gives me some hope!! Internet is full of stories of people getting loads of full requests instantly but that's not been my experience at all, sadly.

Hi all, I had a lovely rejection from an agent who had said no initially and I cheekily contacted to send her the full...she said she read it and while it reads well, she didn't fall in love with it. She thinks I should change the title to make it less enigmatic and to please send some pages of the next thing I write...so some positives!

@LydiaBennetsBonnet well done on sending her the full! I probably should have tried that with one of the especially nice (and long!) rejection notes I got - my husband told me to revise and resubmit without asking but I chickened out!

I got two more full manuscript requests today!! Both from agents who are basically dream agents for me at amazing agencies. I can't believe it!! I obviously really really hoped that they would want to read more of my work but I didn't expect a response because they get so many queries and rarely respond to any of them. Wooohooo! So now I have 4 full requests. Taking it as a win and enjoying this moment because I know there's still plenty more chances for my manuscript to die in the trenches!! Or on submission!!

@BobnBrenda thanks for sharing that! I needed to hear it, I think, because while I’m not down exactly, I have checked out a bit 🤷‍♀️

I’ve only queried 9 agents so far. I have received a nice rejection from one I met a while ago, but it was frustrating because I didn’t learn anything constructive from it. They just didn’t have the editorial vision for it apparently. Code for they didn’t like the story? Who knows, but to be honest I’m not surprised. I’ve said before I think I may have written a very hard sell. 😬

Congrats on the fulls @NewWriter! I hope it turns into an offer!

Am gearing up for another round of queries now Frankfurt is done. Wish me luck!