Average number of ms submissions before acceptance?

[FolkloreFanatic]

Sort of similar to the last post, but not the same. I'm really curious to average out how long it's taken for some of you published authors to get a yes instead of a no the the first time. Honesty helps here! I certainly won't disparage anyone, since I am as of yet unknown and unpublished myself.

Just wondering...

[Susan Gable]

I sold my second ms, and had a total of three rejections (two on just query letters, one on a partial submission) before I sold - and actually I sold the first thing I submitting to the line I'm working with. The rejections were from other lines - I hadn't found the right niche for my writing at that point.

But - I get rejections on ideas and proposals now, so don't think I get off totally easy. <G>

Susan G.

[victoriastrauss]

It took 8 years to sell my first novel (I never counted the rejections, but I'm sure they were well up in the double digits), and 3 months to sell my fourth, to the first publisher that looked at it (I was switching genres with this book, so it was almost, though not quite, like submitting for the first time). You just never know.

- Victoria

[maestrowork]

10 months for my first ms. 65 rejections.

[azbikergirl]

About 30 agent query rejections. My novel won a contest, so the only publisher to see it is publishing it, 10 months after I began querying. I don't expect my next one to be so easy!

[PattiTheWicked]

My kids' book I sent out eight query letters, beginning back in December of last year. I got four rejections and then a sale in April. Never heard back from the other three publishers, and one of my rejections was actually a really great one from Elizabeth VanHouten at Bloomsbury, who said that she had really liked it (laugh-out-loud funny, she called it) but just didn't think it was quite what they wanted.

My young adult novel I sent out to nine publishers, beginning in May 2004. I got several rejections, and then in April of this year I got an acceptance. However, for a variety of reasons I withdrew my sub from the company that was interested, and re-pitched it to a couple of other places. I heard last week that the publisher who is doing my kids' book wants my YA novel too -- along with its two sequels.

My romantic suspense (adult) was something I shopped around for a year to about fifty publishers and agents. Then I did some serious revamping, changed a lot, and basically rewrote the entire ms from the ground up. I began querying agents in July, and a couple of them have it in review. I'm not bothering to approach publishers directly with this one, so hopefully an agent will offer to rep me eventually.

[Cathy C]

Three rejections on the first ms., which remains in the filing cabinet. The first query sold the second book, and the same with the subsequent ones.

[cwfgal]

I gave up on my first novel after 50 rejections, most of those from agents, though I did query a couple of publishers. My second novel, the first one I sold, was rejected by 29 agents before one took me on. She then sold the book within weeks. Two more novels followed before I was let go by my publisher and I'm now back in the querying game. The current ms has been rejected 7 times so far.

Beth

[Jamesaritchie]

I started off well. I sold my first short story first time out, landed an agent on my first query, who sold my first novel to the first pubisher she sent it to.

My rejections have all come well after I started selling. I had a novel rejected because the publisher folded the book line it was for, and one short story can draw twenty-five rejections all by itself, if no one wants it. My first "big" thousand dollar short story sale came after the story had been rejected well over a dozen times. One big short story sale came after fourteen rejections, and another came after eighteen rejections.

I stopped keeping a running count a few years ago, but I write a lot of short stories and articles, so I've had somewhere between 250-300 rejections, all told. Maybe a few more. I'll have to go through my submission records to get an exact count.

[JustinoXXV]

I recently wrote my first book. If you count query letter rejections, I'm sure I have at least 10. Several agents asked me to send it over, so they're reading it now. Hopefully I gain representation and a sale soon.

[OneTeam OneDream]

27 agent query rejections

5 agent partial/full requests
(I only sent 1)

1 agent offer


12 publisher query rejections

4 publisher partial/full requests

2 publisher partial/full rejections

2 publisher offers

I signed with the agent, because I wasn't convinced the publishers were "for me". They were queried and sent to before I had an idea of what was "good or not".

I'm thrilled with the agent.

[blacbird]

Nine years and counting, 50+ novel ms rejections from agencies (I've lost exact count), most of those form rejects of the query, and three or four small publishers. For short fiction, God knows how many over roughly that same period. Total acceptances: Zero.

bird

[LightShadow]

J A Konrath went through 9 manuscripts with his agent and hundreds of rejections. Now he's sitting pretty with a 3 book deal (Jack Daniels Mysteries - - Whiskey Sour and Bloody Mary so far) Doesn't matter how long or how many rejections, just as long as you get there!

[jerseykat]

I think its different fro everyone. I started sending things out when I was 15. I recieved rejections for both - one on a query and one on a partial. I felt statisifed at that age knowing I almost got there and waited years before I began again. However, luck is not kind this time. My newest novel has had 10 rejections, 1 acceptance, and 1 still out there.

[maestrowork]

My newest novel has had 10 rejections, 1 acceptance, and 1 still out there.

What's wrong with that "acceptance"?

[Christine N.]

Let's see... about 15 or 20 agent rejections. I sent it to two publishers, both asked to see more - one the whole thing, one a partial. One publisher got back with a yes before the other finished reading it.

The new book is with my current publisher for review (per contract) and a partial with an agent, and one query out with another agent. I'm shooting for the moon with this one.

[jerseykat]

It was from a seedy publishing house. I wasn't aware how crappy they were until I inquired in a writers.net forum about them.

[Garpy]

my 1st ms (see my tagline below) was accepted by the first publisher it was sent to. Which frankly was obscenely easy. However, that said, I spent five years before that banging out screenplays that were largely rejected out of hand....so I'd like to think I'm not one of those nauseously lucky people who struck gold with their first half-arsed attempt.

I will say this though...it was easy for me because it is a very commercial ms. It was always intended to be exceedingly commercial and not artsy in anyway. Although I think I am a good writer, I am not a great writer. The ms sold effortlessly because the core concept hit the mark. So I guess what I'm saying is, get the IDEA/CONCEPT right first throwing many hundreds of hours of bic time at it....and then experiencing months or years of heart ache.

[TLHines]

Hey, nice to see I wasn't the only one to get a lot of rejections before getting "The Call." I was rejected by more than 80 agents before getting a yes.