Agent but will I ever have a deal?

[WriterRighter]

I know I’m so lucky to have signed with a brilliant book agent but so far all the publishers have said no to her. I know I have to keep my hopes alive but it’s so stressful. I spent quite a long time trying to secure an agent and I can’t help feeling maybe all the other agents were right. How long did people take to get a publisher once you had an agent?

I wish I had better news, @WriterRighter — but my agent wasn’t able to sell my first two novels. I’m about to send her my third.

Sorry you’re finding it stressful @WriterRighter - how many have you gone out to and how many more are you waiting to hear from? My agent has only just gone out with mine, but all I’ve read about going on submission sounds fairly awful!

What genre do you write?

Hi @PinkBlouse good luck with your third. Have you decided to do anything with the other two, or just park them for now?

Sad to say this happened to me too. Agent sent my novel to fourteen publishers and all bar one said they loved it but, for various reasons, couldn't take it on. Fingers crossed for you, OP.

Sorry to hear that - did you go out to any others afterwards?

I wish I could say different, but my agent couldn’t find a publisher for my first novel. It’s such a pain, I thought I’d finally made it when I signed with the agent, but alas the summit of the mountain was as far away as before. Keep on keeping on OP.

No, just the fourteen. I don't know if this is the usual amount?

I guess it depends on the genre and how many publishers you could reasonably approach - but I’d keep going till I’d run out! I’ve made a list of all the publishers in the uk and scored them from 1 to 5 (nerd!) so I think my agent is going for the top one to start

Sorry to hear others have struggled too. @PinkBlousewell done for persevering. Good luck with your third. Maybe once you’ve got that break you can sell the other two!
@DefiantlyDaringDunnock I’m so sorry things didn’t work out. What’s your plan now?
@SmugglersHaunt We’ve gone out to about ten so far and not all have replied so I guess I have to be patient. It’s actually non-fiction.

I’ve parked them. A few friends published revised versions of their early novels a bit later on, so I haven’t entirely given up on them… Have told my agent she will have my current MS by the end of November. But I’d be lying if I said I felt optimistic.

Thanks for the good wishes. And @WriterRighter too.

@StellaOlivetti hope the future holds something brighter for you too.

Hey @WriterRighter if it's any comfort, everyone in publishing is having a hard time right now. Except maybe Richard Osman.

I've been published, for a while there I thought I might be able to do it for a living. Sadly not, back to teaching now. It's a lesson in humility I suppose.

Hope yours sells

My fourth is out on sub at the moment but no one wants it, probably because the first three didn't meet expectations for sales.

@Authorperson well done for getting as far as you have and thank you for replying. Hope teaching and writing together make for a fulfilling career.

This was my experience too. I wrote a second novel which my agent didn't like so I am now agentless. We become so focused on getting an agent that we - well, I - forget there is a whole new level of frustration beyond that.

Oh wow this is such an eye-opening thread. @everythingcrossed so your agent dropped you? Goodness that seems very harsh.

For most of us, writing is a hobby/passion but, ultimately, publishing is a business. My agent couldn't sell my first book, she didn't believe in/think she could sell my second, she walked away. It's tough but she wants to make money.

@TopBunk @everythingcrossed
Mine dropped me too. I don’t think it’s that unusual! It’s a business for them, of course. My first novel was picked up and published eventually by a medium sized independent publisher and achieved exactly the kind of sales one would expect for a first novel by a complete unknown …. It’s a good job we love writing for its own sake, or no one would do it. I have to consciously try to separate the act of writing from the process of being published, or I would have gone mad before now. Would I write on a desert island, with no publishers/agents in existence? The answer is yes, so I carry on.