How common is useful feedback on a full?

Prawn · Oct 23, 2008

I am querying my latest ms and my query is working because I have gotten a couple of requests for fulls. The requests got me so excited that I felt like querying the rest of my list immediately. Should I wait for feedback from the fulls first? I have never had an agent give me feedback on a rejection, only silence or generic form e-mails. Is it common to get useful feedback from a full?

Thanks!

Julie Worth · Oct 23, 2008

Prawn said:
I am querying my latest ms and my query is working because I have gotten a couple of requests for fulls. The requests got me so excited that I felt like querying the rest of my list immediately. Should I wait for feedback from the fulls first? I have never had an agent give me feedback on a rejection, only silence or generic form e-mails. Is it common to get useful feedback from a full?

Thanks!

Not in my experience, unless they're suggesting a rewrite.

RJK · Oct 23, 2008

My first novel got only one request for a full. Here is the agent's comments on what he read:

You write well, and the police procedure seems very credible. But after introducing an intriguing premise and getting off to a promising start, the story just didn't hold up for me...

A "No" is a no but I took the agent's comments to heart. It was my first try and I'm fairly sure my second novel is better. Hopefully my next one will be better than that.

To answer your question - Yes, very useful.

Red-Green · Oct 23, 2008

With various books queried, I've sent out about a dozen fulls and never gotten feedback that I could use in revisions. So...hard to say. If you've got several fulls out, I would be inclined to wait a bit before sending more queries.

ChaosTitan · Oct 23, 2008

I think it depends on how you define "useful" and how hard a decision it was for the agent. Most of my full rejections were along the lines of "DADA was good, but BLAH didn't work for me." Only BLAH was usually something too generic to really make heads or tails of.

If the agent is very interested in the book, they may offer something more substantial. Especially if they say they're open to reading it again after a revision.

The requests are exciting, but I'd suggest waiting. Give the agents who have it a chance to review the book. See what they have to say.

Feidb · Oct 23, 2008

Out of 600 rejections in 14 years, I've only got direct feedback five times. That is including all the fulls I sent out over the years (over two dozen). Of those five that gave me feedback, three of them were useful, one was useless, and the last one was such a negative slam, I was tempted to turn them in to Predators and Editors, but got lazy and didn't bother.

I'll still take the three good feedback letters. I just wish I had more of them. No... actually I wish I didn't have to worry about them because I got an agent! Dream on.

Adam Hammonds · Oct 23, 2008

ChaosTitan said:
Only BLAH was usually something too generic to really make heads or tails of.

Same here. A recent full rejection saw a couple of writing class cliches thrown my way. Perhaps the agent felt they were useful. To me they were only useful insofar as they cemented the fact that he and I weren't meant to be together. . .

Prawn · Oct 23, 2008

Feidb said:
Out of 600 rejections in 14 years

600? That's amazing! I am also amazed by the size of that 12 inch reflector.

Nateskate · Oct 23, 2008

Congrats on getting positive feedback. Agents are very busy. If they take the time to give feedback, that is generally a sign that they see potential.

Conventional wisdom, don't wait for feedback unless an agent asks for an exclusive. And then again, some will say don't wait until someone offers you a contract.

It just takes so long to hear back from busy people that waiting for one rejection at a time can eat up years.

Clio · Oct 23, 2008

Prawn said:
600? That's amazing! I am also amazed by the size of that 12 inch reflector.

You've taken the words right out of my mouth, Prawn - I was just about to rep him!

Seriously, whether you wait for feedback before querying others is very much up to you. Only you can decide if the time waiting on one agent's response is time well spent, when you could perhaps have sent out a full to someone else.

But I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.

JoNightshade · Oct 23, 2008

I wouldn't wait. The only helpful feedback I've ever gotten came with an invitation to resubmit, which I took. Other than that, I've only had two other detailed responses to a full: The first was glowing and apologetic that they couldn't take me on right now; the second was a nasty slam on my entire novel (in spite of the fact that they read the whole thing) which was clearly some sort of bizarre personal issue on the part of the agent.

Feidb · Oct 23, 2008

Prawn and Clio,

Thanks for the compliment, and it's a 16" reflector. Ground and polished the mirror myself in the mid 80's. I learned patience from making telescope mirrors. Maybe that's why I haven't given up trying to get published yet!

ishtar'sgate · Oct 23, 2008

Prawn said:
Is it common to get useful feedback from a full?

Thanks!

I don't know about common but I always got useful feedback. What was really odd though was that the publisher who eventually bought my book was interested in it for all the reasons the others didn't want it. Even negative comments aren't always a bad thing.

CharlieBabbitt · Oct 23, 2008

How many queries did you send? You might want to wait, if only a little while -- even if you don't get loads of useful feedback, if they all reject, that might be something right there. I'm always nervous to burn through all of the really "good" agents right away. Do you have a few "B" list agents you could send out to?

CrankItTo11 · Oct 23, 2008

Congrats on the full requests - that's a good sign!

Personally, I don't usually get a lot of good feedback with rejections. Of the 7 requests for a full I've had on my current book, only one provided me with useful feedback so far... and she was requesting revisions, not just rejecting and making suggestions.

I know you have some good energy going here, but I wouldn't query too many agents at once. (As in, not your entire list at once.) You may get feedback, but if you are anything like me you may find yourself revisiting and fine-tuning your query even after you are certain it is polished. I am a bit psychotic when it comes to query letters, though. They keep me up at night. Obviously, it is entirely up to you and what you are comfortable with. I try to not have more than 8-10 queries out at once so I can make revisions based on feedback or mailbox tumbleweed. That's just me, though.

Prawn · Oct 23, 2008

Thanks for all the replies! I have been querying about a month, and I have sent 17 (16 really, since one was to Nathan Bransford. I didn't think my book was his cup of tea; I just like the guy and wanted to query him).

Of the 17,

9 have not (yet, hopefully) replied.
4 have rejected it.
2 have requested partials (one of which was rejected)
2 have requested fulls.

I am not getting my hopes up. I had several full requests with my first novel too.

I like the agents I am querying, but in many cases I also like the agencies. If I don't hear back from them with in a month or two, I will query another agent at the same agency, assuming the agencies don't have a "rejected by one rejected by all" policy.

Twizzle · Oct 24, 2008

I only queried a tiny handful of agents-and did quite well. Until they read the full. :gone:

I did, however, get very useful feedback from the handful. Very. And am currently revising to resubmit to a few. I'll say this-I'm relieved I proceeded so cautiously and they were so generous in their responses. But, it's truly a crapshoot. Go with your gut.

Nakhlasmoke · Oct 24, 2008

I've had very good feedback from all my full requests except one or two.

The ones that didn't offer representation passed me on to other agents, so you never know what may happen.

How common is useful feedback on a full?

Prawn

Writing is finite,revising infinite

Julie Worth

What? I have a title?

RJK

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

Red-Green

KoalaKoalaKoala!

ChaosTitan

Around

Feidb

Been Here A While

Adam Hammonds

Prawn

Writing is finite,revising infinite

Nateskate

Clio

In the mind warp pavilion

JoNightshade

has finally arrived

Feidb

Been Here A While

ishtar'sgate

living in the past

CharlieBabbitt

Read. Write. Tivo.

CrankItTo11

Prawn

Writing is finite,revising infinite

Twizzle

Cluck that.

Nakhlasmoke

yes