- Joined
- Apr 11, 2012
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I have a question for people on here about what I should do given my current agent situation.
I signed with an agent about a year and a half ago for my first novel. At the time, the agent said she loved the book, thought it was incredible and said we’d just do a quick edit and then she’d start pitching to publishers within just a week or two. Needless to say, I was very excited.
Well, a week or two quickly turned into a month or two and soon the quick edit turned into a much longer edit. I was told that she had read the novel a few times and had decided that it would benefit from a more thorough edit due to the tone and depth of the story. She said “this one is worth getting perfect” and told me that she doesn’t usually spend this much effort on edits, but really felt this one would benefit from the careful treatment. This agent, mind you, was an editor for a top publishing house for many years before becoming an agent, so she’s well qualified to be doing such a thorough edit. And, though disappointed it would be taking much longer than I originally thought, I felt honored to be getting such feedback—and for free at that. But because this agent is the head of the agency, she is very busy and doesn’t have a great deal of spare time to be devoting to this edit. Because of this, it has been slow going. There has been forward movement, but it seems like the times between feedback keep growing longer and longer and I’m starting to become very frustrated and hopeless.
I sent her my last revision in December and was told I’d have more feedback by the end of February. Contacted her in March when I hadn’t heard anything, and was told mid-March would be when to expect more. It’s now almost mid-April. I sent her two emails last week and haven’t heard back. I tried to call her office, but she’s out of town for the next week and a half.
I can appreciate that a thorough edit can take a while, and I can appreciate that she’s very busy and it’s difficult for her to find the time to devote to it, but we aren’t even halfway through the book as far as edits go and it’s been well over a year already. I’ve written an entire sequel novel in the meantime and am starting a third novel. I do not know what to do or expect. I have expressed my frustration with how long it is taking in the past, but was mostly met with defensive justifications and made to feel like my impatience was entirely unreasonable. I can’t tell if it is or isn’t. All I know is I’ve been waiting for quite some time now for this to happen. My writing career is in her hands and I feel like there is nothing I can do but wait, with no end in sight. I’ll keep writing in the meantime, but I’ve already created a backlog.
Is this situation reasonable and I should stop my complaining and stick it out?
I signed with an agent about a year and a half ago for my first novel. At the time, the agent said she loved the book, thought it was incredible and said we’d just do a quick edit and then she’d start pitching to publishers within just a week or two. Needless to say, I was very excited.
Well, a week or two quickly turned into a month or two and soon the quick edit turned into a much longer edit. I was told that she had read the novel a few times and had decided that it would benefit from a more thorough edit due to the tone and depth of the story. She said “this one is worth getting perfect” and told me that she doesn’t usually spend this much effort on edits, but really felt this one would benefit from the careful treatment. This agent, mind you, was an editor for a top publishing house for many years before becoming an agent, so she’s well qualified to be doing such a thorough edit. And, though disappointed it would be taking much longer than I originally thought, I felt honored to be getting such feedback—and for free at that. But because this agent is the head of the agency, she is very busy and doesn’t have a great deal of spare time to be devoting to this edit. Because of this, it has been slow going. There has been forward movement, but it seems like the times between feedback keep growing longer and longer and I’m starting to become very frustrated and hopeless.
I sent her my last revision in December and was told I’d have more feedback by the end of February. Contacted her in March when I hadn’t heard anything, and was told mid-March would be when to expect more. It’s now almost mid-April. I sent her two emails last week and haven’t heard back. I tried to call her office, but she’s out of town for the next week and a half.
I can appreciate that a thorough edit can take a while, and I can appreciate that she’s very busy and it’s difficult for her to find the time to devote to it, but we aren’t even halfway through the book as far as edits go and it’s been well over a year already. I’ve written an entire sequel novel in the meantime and am starting a third novel. I do not know what to do or expect. I have expressed my frustration with how long it is taking in the past, but was mostly met with defensive justifications and made to feel like my impatience was entirely unreasonable. I can’t tell if it is or isn’t. All I know is I’ve been waiting for quite some time now for this to happen. My writing career is in her hands and I feel like there is nothing I can do but wait, with no end in sight. I’ll keep writing in the meantime, but I’ve already created a backlog.
Is this situation reasonable and I should stop my complaining and stick it out?