Why be in such a rush?
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Well, I'm not in a rush. I do it one day at a time, one agent at a time. I'm definately type B. Laid back, relaxed.
But I will admit I check my mail every day for a response even if I just sent it out yesterday.
But I will admit I check my mail every day for a response even if I just sent it out yesterday.
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I think Shadow said it well - different personalities. I'm more type A and want an answer NOW dammit! Or I think I'll be that way when I submit. 
I think it has a lot to do with finally releasing your baby to the world and wanting feedback.
I think it has a lot to do with finally releasing your baby to the world and wanting feedback.
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For me, I'd rather know sooner if it's a rejection. Then I can move on instead of simply waiting and feeling like I'm going nowhere.
In this business, what you want and what you get are two different things. I'd love an immediate answer one way or another because, well, why wouldn't I? It's all about moving toward the goal of publishing my novel. The faster the process moves, the closer I get to my goal.
I might want an immediate answer, but I won't get one. I have to sit and wait, patiently if possible, and crawl forward (sometimes taking a step backward) a bit at a time. No choice.
I might want an immediate answer, but I won't get one. I have to sit and wait, patiently if possible, and crawl forward (sometimes taking a step backward) a bit at a time. No choice.
I think the reason for the rush is that we're a generation of speed junkies. We're used to two-second sound bites, email, text messaging, cell phones, high-speed roads, online purchases, wikipedia research. We have instant gratification on many fronts, and yet the publishing industry is still working at read speed. You can't evaluate a novel by rushing through it. Book reading is one of those processes that does not lend itself to fast turnaround.
We've seen the pictures of submission stacks on some other threads here. What if those were bound books? Can you imagine wading through a six-foot stack of books in a weekend? I love to read, but I'm so not professional reader quality.
Maybe the fact that it takes three months or so is a good thing. It means the agent is giving your book every chance to be worthy of publication. I'd rather she took her time getting into my story than spit out a rejection slip at the first yawn.
We've seen the pictures of submission stacks on some other threads here. What if those were bound books? Can you imagine wading through a six-foot stack of books in a weekend? I love to read, but I'm so not professional reader quality.
Maybe the fact that it takes three months or so is a good thing. It means the agent is giving your book every chance to be worthy of publication. I'd rather she took her time getting into my story than spit out a rejection slip at the first yawn.
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Either that or they think its so horrible they don't want to subject any other agents to it so they sit on it for awhile.
LOL, I want immediate results, but a POD is out of the question. I'm just a terrible waiter
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I just had a friend NOT in the know saying how lucky I am to be writing in this day and age because it's so easy to self publish. After muttering to myself for days I politely wrote back for him to bite his tongue.
Your whole post said what I wanted to say, but I quote the above bit because it's true beyond this thread.
...
Personally, I really like that it takes time for them to look through my novel. I have nothing better to do than send my novels out to people? Gimme a break. If they keep my novel without word for six weeks....that's six weeks of writing time. Six weeks I don't have to worry about the silly thing.
The best thing I think about having an agent is having someone I can send a completed novel to, and then they can spend time shopping it around and *I* can go back to that thing I enjoy, which is not selling and marketing, it's writing, damn it...
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But I'm writing in either case. If it comes back quickly its simply a matter of a few minutes to send it off to the next agent I have on my list. Having quick responses or slow responses has no effect upon my writing time.
The only rush I feel is the fear/pressure/uncertainty of Will I or Won't I. I'm fairly convinced that once I land an agent, I'll be more able to sit back and relax and let her/him do the shopping and worrying. By nature, I'm not a patient person. When I decide I want something, I want it NOW!
But I recognize that as an issue, and something that shouldn't be, and isn't reasonable. So, I'm forced to try and learn patience, and relearn it, and learn it again. It's not so much a need for instant gratification, but rather that sense you'd get as a kid looking at the wrapped presents under the tree. There's this one big thing you want really, really badly, but you know it's expensive and you're pretty sure Mom and Dad got you socks and underwear instead, because that's the kind of parents they are. But still you hope, and you dream, and you stare at that package counting the days until you can open it up and see.
You still have to go to school, still have to do your chores, and know greed is a sin, so you feel bad about wanting to know right now - but part of you just can't help it.
Waiting for "it" is like having to see that wrapped present for a year, or five, while you continue to go about your chorse (writing the next twelve novels).
But I recognize that as an issue, and something that shouldn't be, and isn't reasonable. So, I'm forced to try and learn patience, and relearn it, and learn it again. It's not so much a need for instant gratification, but rather that sense you'd get as a kid looking at the wrapped presents under the tree. There's this one big thing you want really, really badly, but you know it's expensive and you're pretty sure Mom and Dad got you socks and underwear instead, because that's the kind of parents they are. But still you hope, and you dream, and you stare at that package counting the days until you can open it up and see.
You still have to go to school, still have to do your chores, and know greed is a sin, so you feel bad about wanting to know right now - but part of you just can't help it.
Waiting for "it" is like having to see that wrapped present for a year, or five, while you continue to go about your chorse (writing the next twelve novels).
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Why am I in such a hurry?
Because in fifty or sixty years, I'll be dead. Sometimes that seems like the average response time for editors...
(Personally, and seriously, I'm at the point where I have been waiting for so long, it just seems like the law of averages ought to have caught up to me by now. I do have a fantastic agent, but it doesn't make the waiting any easier. And if I had patience, I would have finished covering my entire bedroom door with all those tiny rock t-shirt images I used to cut from the back pages of music mags back in the eighties and glue painstakingly one-by-one in neat little rows, and... what were we talking about again?)
Because in fifty or sixty years, I'll be dead. Sometimes that seems like the average response time for editors...
(Personally, and seriously, I'm at the point where I have been waiting for so long, it just seems like the law of averages ought to have caught up to me by now. I do have a fantastic agent, but it doesn't make the waiting any easier. And if I had patience, I would have finished covering my entire bedroom door with all those tiny rock t-shirt images I used to cut from the back pages of music mags back in the eighties and glue painstakingly one-by-one in neat little rows, and... what were we talking about again?)
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Nope.
She and I are BOTH drumming our fingers and pretending we're not counting the days the publisher's had the ms. Sure, I'm nearly halfway done with the next book. But the waiting is MADDENING...
I think Melaniehoo touches on the root of the problem: Most people (like me) who are unpublished tend to have a number of family/friends who know we are writing a book. As a result, we have people bugging us, asking the same old question over and over again: "When am I ever going to get my autographed copy of your book? What's taking so long?"
Because of this (and yes, I regret ever breathing a word about my wip to anyone who's not a writer), many of us are in a hurry just to get these folks off our backs! And, yes, it's our own darn fault.
JMHO
Because of this (and yes, I regret ever breathing a word about my wip to anyone who's not a writer), many of us are in a hurry just to get these folks off our backs! And, yes, it's our own darn fault.
JMHO
Ack! I just didn't have time to read this entire thread..
Gotta go and call the publisher.. *swoosh*
Gotta go and call the publisher.. *swoosh*
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The longer a publisher takes to look at my book, the better (in my opnion) read it's getting. (Or the bigger the pile--I try not to think about that) A quick rejection always bothers me because it is so quick. Then I go back and look at the opening chapters and try to figure out what I've done wrong.
Then again, I'm weird.
Then again, I'm weird.
Here's the thing. I don't think the agent is actually taking three months to look at a novel. I think it takes that long to go through the stack to get to the novel. I'm thinking that at the most, a novel gets five minutes. The agent reads the first page. if it sucks, maybe if he/she is in a good mood, he'll look at the second page. If it sucks too, then it's on the reject pile, headed for the shredder. If the first pages dont suck, the novel gets another five minutes while the agent reads the first chapter to see if it holds up. If it doesn't, it's on the shredder express. If the first chapter holds up, he'll read the next two. At any time, that novel is on its way to the shredder express.
THree months to consider your novel? Not ever. Even if he's requested the full, it'll only take him a weekend to read the thing. If he doesn't like it, off to the shredder. If he does, maybe he'll wait a few days to see if it doesn't fall apart after a few days of thought. Then he'll decide if he can sell it, then he'll call you. Total amount spent on your novel? One week. It just took him three months to get to that week.
THree months to consider your novel? Not ever. Even if he's requested the full, it'll only take him a weekend to read the thing. If he doesn't like it, off to the shredder. If he does, maybe he'll wait a few days to see if it doesn't fall apart after a few days of thought. Then he'll decide if he can sell it, then he'll call you. Total amount spent on your novel? One week. It just took him three months to get to that week.
Because waiting and uncertainty kill me in anything. I like to exactly where I am, always, and if I don't have it, I feel like a cat with tape over it's paws.
I can accept any no, but I have a very difficult time accepting maybe.
I can accept any no, but I have a very difficult time accepting maybe.
I think when one is still at the agent-fishing stage, the best model is "message in a bottle." Throw it into the ocean and go back to collecting coconuts. Chances of rescue from any one bottle floating out there.
Lawrence Block once suggested that the best way to overcome the sting of rejection was to keep so much material in circulation that rejection became something you expected to happen every day except Sunday.
Lawrence Block once suggested that the best way to overcome the sting of rejection was to keep so much material in circulation that rejection became something you expected to happen every day except Sunday.
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