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?

For me it was because I had no idea if my novel was any good and as I work in a collaborative industry I was hoping for the same. The feedback on rejections has been useful for me in improving the manuscript so far and now I’m hoping to learn from an agent and editor down the line, which will help with future work. If I’d posted my manuscript on KDP last year when I first finished it wouldn’t have been as strong. That’s personal to me, but maybe others have a better sense of what they have

For me its about external validation and also I can't be bothered to do all the marketing/promo/sales stuff that self-publishing requires

Yes that marketing and tech side of it puts me off too as I fear it would take energy away from writing. I love the prospect of an agent sorting all the under the bonnet stuff so you can just write

Same, I hate marketing with all my heart. Wouldn't be able to deal with that completely on my own.

Day 9 of my full being out and the wait is killing me slowwwwly. I’ve queried a few more agents in the meantime. I feel like the longer it takes the more likely it is to be a no?! I think my timeline perception has been skewed by the agent requesting the full so quickly.

I was reading some posts recently where new authors said trad publishing companies weren’t really marketing their books and they still had to do it themselves to get seen! I’ve heard more than one writer say it.

If that’s true then trad publishing is the eorst of both worlds in many ways…

I completely understand why writers prefer to try trad publishing as there are other benefits. But I just wonder whether you’re going to still end up needing to do plenty of marketing/publicity yourself anyway (sorry 🫣)?

I’ve heard that too, it’s such a time of change

@MissJAG It’s an agonising time. Honestly, nine days is not long for a full. You’ve got the absolute best idea to query more agents while you’re waiting. As soon as you get another full request, send the agent who’s reading (and any others still outstanding) to let them know that another agent is now reading. I found that agents really move when they know others are interested. As soon as you get either a load of fulls or an offer of rep, the others will rush in

@MissJAG, if you flick back a bit up the thread, you will find my timeline of sending out, and exact dates for when I got nos or requests for fulls, which might help.

My only knowledge of UA is historical, and no one I know is represented by them any more, having left with their agents when their agents moved on (but that's not terribly unusual). Some big names certainly still there.

And full sympathy and fellow-feeling. It's agonising, waiting! (I did sign with someone and am now doing a big rewrite and enjoying it.)

Oh this is interesting as I’ve been agonising over my manuscript these past 9 days. I’m assuming you mean from editorial notes from your agent? I’ve seen stupid mistakes in my work (of course after I send it). Just minor like a stray speech mark, auto corrected word, a duplicated line or two (not sure how I managed that) and I’ve been kicking myself for it since. Did your agent give you a lot of edit notes to do?

I’ve been obsessively refreshing query tracker and just saw that another author’s full, that the agent requested the same day as mine, got rejected yesterday. So I’m guessing (hoping) mine is up next. 🫣

Mine is more like a virtual rewrite in response to notes, as in 'It's not clear why Y does X -- can you give it some backstory?' But it's (weirdly?) enjoyable, and becoming a much better novel.

I don't think anyone will pay the slightest attention to the odd typo!

Hey hey that sounds like a good sign. My experience is that when it comes to fulls, rejections come faster than offers

Can I ask how you know which agents to approach please?

I’ve always begun by looking up who represents writers whose work I think has some affinity with mine, and then checking whether their list is open and what they’re looking for, if so. It’s a good place to start at least.

That’s really helpful, thank you.

Sorry - should have added do you check if their list is open using query tracker? Thanks.

No, the only time I’ve ever used Query Tracker was for one agent who only accepted queries made via it. I just look at their page on the agency website.

I have just submitted for Hodders open subs. Closes tomorrow in case anyone is interested: https://www.hodder.co.uk/landing-page/hodder-stoughton-open-submissions/

You know when you love your novel so much, I just really hope they love it. I have so many rejections now, several full reqs but always the same thing: your novel is too niche and, while we love the writing, it's not what we are looking for right now. Why should we have to write for a wish list though?? I can't! I can only write what comes to me. I've been considering self publishing seriously so think that's what I'll do if nothing comes of this!!

@LydiaBennetsBonnet Don’t give up! I got my agent a few months ago after 3 years in the trenches and only a few requests. It’s such a tough ride but it only take one yes. I know self publishing can be the better option for many people, but personally I would find it hard to handle all the marketing on my own.

Go on and write something else. It might be that this isn’t the first thing you publish.

I got an agent for my first, which i considered superficial..
I wrote a second that I thought was frankly brilliant, nobody wanted it because "hard to place".
I wrote a third with a view to writing something "easy to place" and got an agent.