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?

I’m about 75% through Book Two - but given that I sold Book One in late 2023, that doesn’t seem very much progress! There’s a long interval between signing the contract and the book actually appearing on the shelves, and I wish now that I’d made better use of that relatively quiet period to get more done on the next one. We live and learn!

As to the distinction between litfic and upmarket, I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule - ultimately it’s a marketing decision. Upmarket is definitely an easier sell, I think, in that there’s a much bigger potential market, and some very literary fiction risks being too ‘quiet’. My book has been variously categorised (on Amazon for example) as Literary Fiction, Women’s Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction… I really wouldn’t worry too much about the genre. If it’s well-written and has a good hook or is very high-concept, you’ve hit that sweet spot.

Enjoying the fact that I got a form rejection yesterday from an agent at [obviously I won't mention the well-regarded agency name] and then today, I got another form rejection, for the same submission, from the same bl**dy agent.

Thanks, guys! As if this isn't hard enough, why not rub it in!! 😂

Hello everyone, I'd like to join this agonising wait! Can't really complain, I am essentially a newbie. First manuscript and first round of queries barely two weeks ago.

I am fairly confident there is still a lot I don't know about this industry. About the process. About the best ways to give yourself the best chance to make it. I have been reading this thread and found so many terms and info I had no clue about (you write to US agents if you live in the UK, and vice versa?!), but I am willing to learn.

I have so many questions, I wouldn't even know where to start. I surely wonder where agents draw the line for a resubmission. How big of a change will they be willing to wait for, if they truly believe in a book?

I guess not hearing back so far is nothing I should read into. Still, part of me was hoping for even the tiniest acknowledgement.

I hope 2026 will bring all of us some good news. I have always written stories but this is the first time I consider writing professionally.

I would ask for emotional damage compensation! I'm hoping at least it was in the same wording and they just forgot they had sent it already, instead of adding new reasons for rejecting it. Imagine that?! 😂

I liked the answer over on the live AMA at the moment where the author just said she sent it to every agent she could find rather than a few at a time.

Thank you for sharing this, heartening to read Harriet took 7 years to get an agent. I had 8 full requests and 4 rejections on my second manuscript - still waiting on 4 more responses and writing my new project but not feeling good about shelving this manuscript if I get no takers. Might go to a small press or self publish.... I do want this story to see the light of day 🥲

Yes, there's something about Harriet's tenacity that's incredibly inspiring!

Is anyone else querying US agents as well? I just sent a couple of queries over the weekend.

I didn't even know it was a thing! Do you change your query documents for US agents? Do they want different stuff in general in their package?

I hadn't thought of it before but it just occurred to me and I think you can query them as well! I just looked at the agent wish lists and tailored my query letter according to their likes and dislikes. I don't think there was much of a difference in terms of the requirements.

I seem to remember that query letters in US typically have more on the story than ours do, but I may be wrong.

What US agents want in a query letter is quite different from the UK - and usually (if they want pages at all!) they’ll just ask for the first 5 pages of your manuscript. Others will just want the query letter initially and only request pages if they like your pitch. There’s a podcast called The Shit No One Tells You About Writing which critiques query letters in the US/Canada - worth a listen to get a sense of what they’re looking for.

Yes I had 4 US agents request fulls, another full request from a UK agent last night bringing me up to 9 total (waiting on 5 responses, had 4 rejections 🥲) . One agent who offered me an R&R is from the US so they're definitely interested in UK clients - someone I know online through writing is in the US and got a UK based agent.

Looking at stats on Reddit r/pub gives me some hope so I'll send more queries out when I can. I've sent 70ish right now but the people who get agents on there seem to have sent to about 150ish on average.

Thanks, that's really interesting!

Well, got my first rejection this morning, so I'm officially in the game!

Starting to rethink everything, from the query letter all the way to the title of the book 😂Will probably do some minor tweaks but leave it a few days so I don't panic-change everything.

I'm always amazed at the amount of possible submissions. How many agencies are out there? I started with 5 only because I was worried they would soon end!

Hello all! I’m a few months in now. One full but the agent ultimately said lots of nice things then passed 😐 Two rejections, one of which was personal, and one was from a referral and surprisingly cold 😬. Eight outstanding but, as more than 3 months have passed, I’m listing them all as closed, no response. One of those is with an agent who appears to have left the agency (?!), so I’m wondering whether I could reasonably try another (new) agent there?

All submissions go to the agent’s submissions inbox, rather than a generic email. I’m sure the agents all have people sifting for them, but I’m not sure what the etiquette is here!

I am starting to wonder who's filling these agents inboxes and what they're writing. I mean, Mumsnet is a pretty popular forum in the UK, to say the least, and those of us who've found our way here aren't hearing anything back...so who are the agents reading? Who are they responding to?

I'm finding it all a bit baffling tbh. The only explanation might be that they're just really, really busy with their existing clients AND they get hundreds of submissions in their inboxes from the US too, and have to wade through all that?

Or I might be completely wrong and clueless...I just don't know! I'm starting (cynically) to suspect that who you know matters more than how good your novel is.

@Anniethesurfer, in fairness to them, I think they genuinely do receive an awful lot of submissions from all over. Most of which are likely total dross, but (if they have them, and most big agencies do) their readers have to wade through that to find the ones that might stand a chance. Readers/assistants may also err on the side of caution when progressing queries to agents because they don’t want to risk allowing something the agent might’ve loved to slip through the cracks. So, between that onslaught and the workload of managing a list, I think it’s a priority for them to be as efficient as possible, even if it’s not necessarily courteous to leave us all on read!

Also, they often don’t reply even to reject because that can open up a dialogue they don’t have the time or the inclination to enter into. There are a fair few weirdos out there as well, which no doubt puts them off.

I’ll admit I’m someone who’s lucky enough to ‘know’ a few people, but if my book is shit it’s not getting picked up regardless. In my case I’ve sort of accepted what I’ve written is probably a very hard sell right now. 🤷‍♀️

@SnugSheep, I think you're absolutely right and that's a very reasonable and fair summary of where they're at. I think the workload of managing a list must be absolutely enormous, too, and not to be under-estimated – agreed!

@SnugSheep I think you have a fairly genuine reason for submitting to another agent if the one you'd picked left! I'd go for it. Even if they did distribute this agent's emails when they left, I would still think it reasonable for you not to leave it to chance.

Also, hard agree on the fact that knowing people doesn't mean getting published. Why would the whole company take a gamble if they can't see the manuscript to work? This is no climate to just take economic risks.

By the way, as I was thinking about agents not wanting to open a dialogue with their form rejections, I didn't even reply to mine. That's okay, right? Wouldn't want to be set aside one faraway day, when I'm rich and famous (😂) and being told 'Ah yes you were very rude, you didn't reply to our rejection' 😂

Oh I definitely wouldn’t reply to a form rejection either. It’s not necessary and it just clogs up their inboxes further. I send a quick note of appreciation to a personalised rejection, and I responded with thanks to the agent who passed on my full ms, but that’s about it. No need to worry there!

Thanks! The agency does ask you not to submit to another agent as they’ll pass anything on to the right person, but I do think there’s a slight risk of getting lost in this case. I’ll do it and take any consequences if it’s a faux pas!

Exactly. I've heard stories where subs got lost and the agent had not left, just missed it in the pile - imagine the risk in this scenario! Saying you were worried your submission got lost feels totally legitimate to me. Worth trying at least!

Knowing people doesn't mean you'll get published, but I'd say it means you'll gets seriously considered, and given the benefit of the doubt. I know someone who has a parent who is a very successful author, and they seemed to find it very easy to find an agent and then fairly easy to find a publisher.