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?

There's a whole day at the beginning of the fair for writers.

Do you avoid querying agents close to LBF? I've read varying things!

@FancyKeyboard I've definitely heard it's best not to query in the run-up to LBF as they'll really have no time!

Does anyone know - if you're approaching more agents with queries - how you mention your full requests, or if to do so at all? Feels like it's something I'd want to mention but I'm not sure how without it looking obvious that this agent I'm now querying wasn't in my first round of emails?! Thanks!

Amazing news! Congratulations 😍

Eek my message above was meant for @splothersdog on her publication day! But equally rooting for you on your outstanding fulls, hoping for offers to come soon!

Just got my first personalised rejection, I'm quite happy! That's a definite improvement compared to the form rejection, as there were a few good points listed in the email.

The only downside I guess is that now I can't do anything but wait for more feedback! As at this stage there's nothing I need to change.

I personally will hold off sending more submissions through at this point, and just wait for LBF to be done and dusted. That should tally with the 'deadlines' of the agents I've queried so far, so I will know for certain that there's nothing else for me to wait for, and start anew.

Oh no, sorry to hear that but as you say, it’s great that you got personalised feedback. Good dust! Onward!

Well done @TinySmallSteps that is definitely a positive milestone. Most of the time we just get silence for queries (at least I do!) so take it as a sign that you are on the right track.

I've got 8 queries out but half are two agents who hardly ever respond, so four I can really track. Not quite time for me to get a response yet but still the silence makes me nervous.

I will also hold off on more until after LBF.

Hi everyone, I hope you don’t mind me jumping on. I am a long-time MN lurker (pom bear OG era!) but a new scroller of the Creative Writing board.

Am currently waiting on answers to four full reads, and have one offer of rep on the table (which I’ve let the others know about, so that should hurry them up, hopefully).
I’ve been querying since September, when I had two quick full requests which resulted in one swift, polite no and one rather dismal ghosting - and then absolute tumbleweeds.
I was just about ready to give up when I got a little wave of fulls (with a newer version of the MS - I now see that my original sub was undercooked), and one agent jumped in with an offer less than a week later.
Feeling thrilled about that - I have found the querying process to be one of the most disheartening things I’ve been through, and I thought I was good at rejection!
In truth, nobody else jumping on board at this point would make the decision easier - the others are ‘bigger’ agencies but this offering agent is the one who’s clearly responded quickly and emotionally with the work, so I’m tempted to believe that passion overrides ‘name’ recognition. Any thoughts on this?

Just to add for those in the querying trenches, I stupidly put off sending my MS to any beta readers in the misguided belief that I knew what I was doing and what was best for my story - but when I finally bit the bullet, their feedback (good, bad and ugly) is what shaped the MS into the stronger version it is now.
In short - do not be a wimp like me and be too scared or pig-headed to send it to readers. Other people’s opinions are worth their weight in gold! Oh, and pay back the favour, even if it costs you a week or more of ‘your’ writing time. I was silly to put it off for so long.

Hello @CloudyWasTheWeather and thank you so much for joining the thread. Your querying story is so interesting and inspiring. Huge congrats on the fulls and the offer of rep. I’m coming from a place of utter ignorance as I’m still in the trenches with my debut (started querying end of November, one full and a polite rejection and now revising) — but I’d say go for it with an agent who loves your project, 100%. Are you tempted by the idea of a bigger agency? What’s your genre?

Hi @ferntwist, that’s awesome to have got a full right off the bat, congratulations! How many did you send out in the first tranche?

I did about 6 queries at a time with varying degrees of success (four tranches in the end) - a couple of fulls at the start and then five at the end, and absolute crickets in between.

I know it’s right to go with the agent who shows the most passion for the story. I suppose my head was turned by the bigger places currently reading - but there have been no counter-offers so at least that makes the decision a lot easier!
My genre (I think) is women’s fiction/book-club leaning. To be honest I find trying to pin it down to a genre quite confusing, I’d like someone else to tell me what it is!

What genre is yours? And have you found it easy to choose which agents to query? I found it mentally exhausting and v confusing at times.
Good luck with the revising x

Congratulations on your offer, @CloudyWasTheWeather! I think that if the agent showed passion for your work, you're in good hands. I guess just wait for the deadline and if no last minute counter-offer, you're good to go!

What I personally find most confusing about choosing the right agent is that the books that I deem closest/most similar to mine are represented by an agent who then has totally different genres/books in their list. So my reference looks more like an exception than the norm. At that point, I feel stuck and don't know whether to query or find someone else with more similar titles than just the one I preferred. So difficult!

Thank you @TinySmallSteps! I know what you mean about the closest books not actually matching what the agent has on their wishlist, or I find they represent so many varied genres it just feels like a stab in the dark.

What’s your plan with the feedback you received - are you going to implement it and start querying again?
I only ever got one tiny bit of feedback in a rejection. I’d naively thought there’d be far fewer form rejections or CNRs than I got. However the tiny note from that agent did make me reconsider my opening pages, so I am grateful that she bothered to write it at all!

@CloudyWasTheWeather wow, I bet it was super useful that they gave you feedback on the opening pages! I think it's great that you got that, it meant you could do something about it.

I have already changed my opening pages after my first form rejection - not based on feedback, but on fear that they might be too 'strong'. Unfortunately, the personalised rejection wasn't useful in this sense, because it was down to their subjective taste (they didn't like the protagonist), so nothing I can do at this stage (but good to know the rest worked for them). I'll just wait for LBF which ties up with the 'deadlines' of the other agents I've queried and then start anew!

Is your offer deadline approaching? Are you ready to accept?

Deadline is next week, coinciding with a meeting at the agent’s office. Trying to figure out what questions to ask, what boxes to tick etc, but currently in the thick of half term and brain fog!

I'm querying agents too at the moment, and have two offers and still waiting on four who have confirmed they are reading, after I told them I had an offer.

Weirdly, one of the agents who requested the full on January 26th hasn't responded to me updating her about the offer.

I've spoken to one of the offering agents, and clicked with her immediately, and am speaking to the other after the weekend, but am keeping my options open for a further week before making a decision.

It is a dispiriting process, until it isn't. I've had some very nice passes, actually. Best wishes to everyone else in the trenches.

I asked the agent I've already spoken to about how she would work with me to do the revisions we'd both agreed are necessary, does she have a clear plan for where she would send it, would she handle US sales herself or via a subagent, has she a track record in placing debuts -- and we talked a lot about what work needed to be done to make it the best version of itself, and how she would approach that with me.

She's also offered to put me in touch with existing clients.

Must admit I'm feeling dispirited at the moment. Sent off eight last month and no replies whatsoever. QT suggests a couple must be up to or past mine at the moment.

I wouldn't mind a rejection or interest - it's this shouting into the void to no answer that I hate!

Also can't decide whether it means I need to brutally revise the first 3 chaps or not, or whether it takes more than 8 agents worth of silence to do that... Argh.

Well done to those with offers! Hope they go all the way!

@FancyKeyboard I'm in similar situation.
I've been told my first three chapters are good (not by friends, by people who should know, and got long-listed at one competition) and had a couple of responses of "deserves to be published, but I don't love it enough..." type, although sometimes I do wonder if they write that to everyone 😂

But typically I get the 8 week rejection at best - it was quite a treat to have a rejection in 3 days last week. 🤣

I'm trying to write a potentially more marketable story, but I'm not loving it in the way I did with this one, so feeling a bit frustrated. I'd just like 5 minutes with one of the people to ask if there is a reason why it's rejected - although at the same time I can totally understand why they don't give reasons. I'm sure if they give reasons they're opening up to dialogue with everyone telling them why they were wrong.

Currently I'd be thrilled with anyone asking to see the full!

@Hagstones Congratulations on the two offers, that’s a great position to be in. Will be stealing your questions/talking points, thank you! Is this your first rodeo, as it were? I don’t have a clue what to ask.

@FancyKeyboard I wouldn’t be disheartened or necessarily make any changes yet, some of my rejections came a good 8 + weeks after submission.
Some were faster (within a week or two), which a writer friend says means the query shot higher up the reading list. If there is anything you can put up high up in your query - courses taken, competition wins/shortlisting etc - anything that makes them go ‘ok I’ll look at that first’ - then use it.
But right now I wouldn’t say attack your opening pages, it might just be your query that could be stronger or more compelling.

For ref, I sent 27 queries in total. Got 7 rejections, 7 fulls, and 13 no replies

@MargaretThursday I’ve never had that comment in a rejection so it might be more personalised than you think! It’s so frustrating though, you just want to grab them and say ‘but whyyyyy?!’

I had a previous agent who wasn’t able to sell my novel, so not my first rodeo, no, alas. I decided I needed a new pair of hands for this one. My first agent was young and only starting to build a list. This time I’m going for more experienced. I’m excited about one of my current offers in particular.

Other stuff to ask — will they want you to have input into their submission to editors, indies or big imprints or both, how hands-on editorially are they, say something about how you see your next novel or the rest of your career eg would they feel if your next novel was in a different genre or mode? Even why do they want to represent you?

@CloudyWasTheWeather

Yes. "But why! Explain why!"

I spend ages thinking that I should just give up, but then I see the positive responses I've had, even if they are few and far between, and think that maybe, just maybe, if I send it to one more they might "connect" with it.

It feels like sending shots into the dark and hoping one lands.

I've sent 19 out in the last year in batches. Got 10 no answers, 6 that I reckon are their standard form and 3 minorly positive.
And then I've got 5 sent in the last month, one of which came back really quickly, but it was no!
I do find saying that I should be "proud that I finished writing a book" somewhat patronising though. I've had that in a couple of the standard replies. I mean, I've written "books" in Nanowrimo so I can write one in around 30 days, so it's not that much of an achievement - it's the editing I find challenging! 🤣

Oh well!

It’s incredibly glum, I agree. It’s like being a very small person shouting into a gale. Solidarity.

Thank you for sympathy - good to know we are not alone.

I have had short stories published in paying venues, but it's mentioned towards the bottom of the email in the sort of bio bit. I placed in an iaminprint comp too, but have left that out for now as it wasn't for this book!

I suspect the advances in AI mean that it's harder than ever to get noticed as agents must be inundated. At the same time, they're still looking for the next big thing, so there is some hope.