The Daily Rejection

[Carleree]

One of the very first agents I queried (oh, seven months ago now) I got an automatic response saying she was having personal issues and would not be timely in responding to queries. I never did get a response from her - would it be worth it, I wonder, to go ahead and query someone else at that agency under the assumption that she never got to it?

Sorry I'm all questions lately. My inbox remains empty, and I've been moving and trying to buy a house so admittedly I'm not sending things out as often as I'd like.

Another question - have you guys used the SYW forums? I rewrote my first chapter but I'm wondering if it would help to have a few more sets of eyes look at it.

Firstly, yes query someone else at that agent. Why would you want an agent so consummed with personal issues? What happens to the clients she already has? Has she put all those submissions on hold, too? Lose her and go for someone else.

The SYW forums can be really helpful. I put up the first two chapters in my first book--4 rewrites ago--and got some really great advice. Also, I found my first beta that way. And that beta still faithfully reads anything I write. It can be an incredible way to find a crit partner. So definitely check it out.

Good luck with the move and the house buying!

 

[Hathor]

Kandybar,

Have you looked on the AW thread for this agency or the comment section on QueryTracker for this particular agent? You may be able to see if the agent is still responding the same way to queries.

Or you could query again. If you get the same auto response, I think it would be fine to query someone else. Do you other folks agree with me on this?

Nope, never tried SYW. I suppose I'll have to do that once I finish and revise my WIP. Right now I'm in the "no doubt writing crap but at least I'm getting the story blocked out" stage.

 

[Sydneyd]

Gosh I am such a hypocrite! I complain and whine about how empty my inbox is, then I get three rejections in three days and get depressed! Will I ever be happy?!

Sometimes you just feel like you are wasting time.

 

[Hathor]

Today's tally:

Nothing in email.
A second form rejection on a requery in the mail.
Also in the mail, a letter from one of the agents with my proposal for nearly four months -- she isn't enthusiastic. I nudged her at the end of last week and the letter is dated on Monday. So I guess I did make them reject me, after all. We had handled everything by email up to now, so I wasn't expecting a letter.

I'll tell you. The stationery of William Morris Endeavor is pretty damned impressive. So ends that particular pipe dream

I think I'm entitled to some wine tonight, don't you?

I just have to keep telling myself, it only takes one.

 

[Sassy3421]

Gosh I am such a hypocrite! I complain and whine about how empty my inbox is, then I get three rejections in three days and get depressed! Will I ever be happy?!

Sometimes you just feel like you are wasting time.

Does it help to know you're not alone? probably not. But I do know exactly how you feel - at least I have been at those low points at certain times in my past. (the last low would have been last week actually lol)

All these negative questions just kept bombarding me - do i have what it takes? am i good enough writer? will i be published before I'm 90?...you get the drift. But thinking that way is paralyzing, and the writing stops. And then, well, for me anyway, I start wallowing in a state of depression. But I got myself out of the funk by saying the 100's of questions out loud and I found it helped. I also focused on something completely out of the ordinary to waken up my sub-conscious mind so my new characters would start talking again. And once this happened? Well, let's say I'm having a great time now.

oh, and BTW, I got 2 rejections in my inbox today...I shrugged them off. Who knows maybe this isn't the book that will get published first, or maybe I just haven't found the right agent. AND I'll never know the answer to that question if I don't keep trying

 

[SarahP]

Sydney, I think we've all been there.

Rejection this afternoon from someone I would really have liked to sign with, but, gotta move on, just like always.

 

[Carleree]

Sydney, I think we've all been there.

Rejection this afternoon from someone I would really have liked to sign with, but, gotta move on, just like always.

Hang in there, SarahP. It's hard when the good ones get away.

My countdown continues. Dream agent is still sitting on 50 pages. The waiting is killing me.

 

[Sydneyd]

I'm sorry I was such a downer earlier. But it feels like sometimes I am moving forward, moving forward, and then stop only to realize I havent gone anywhere. I can't think of it that way though. Trying is doing.

 

[mkcbunny]

Back on the query bandwagon today!

Took a couple of months off to (a) come up with a new title, (b) revise, and (c) write a painful-but-worthwhile chapter-by-chapter outline. Whew.

So I got one big query packet out (the one that inspired the outline) before the October 31 submission deadline, and then today I pitched 9 queries out into the ether.

Now, I await and listen to the crickets. And send more queries tomorrow!

 

[Kandybar]

Welcome back to the madness, mkcbunny! Hope things go well for you.

Still nothing for me. It is a lonely cricketland in my inbox.

 

[Drachen Jager]

Tomorrow I submit my full (the agent was away for a few weeks and asked that I send it after the 5th). I'm combing over it like a madman looking for mistakes, grooming sentences with the ear and nose-hair trimmer.

She was really quick looking at the partial so I hope to know the result in a week or two.

 

[Hathor]

Good luck, DJ! We need some good news around here.

I wouldn't be too surprised if she takes longer than one to two weeks on the full, though. Most agents on most books seem to. You might check QueryTracker to see if she has stats for response time to submissions.

 

[Filigree]

I'm almost ready to submit my current project. I'm waiting for a big online submission contest to open, because if I make it onto the list I'll at least get some feedback from several agents at once.

I've ruthlessly honed my novel query and loglines. On my last project, I was so clueless I sent queries to 30+ agents over a 14-month period, with no requests. That stung, but I learned from it. I wish I'd joined AW years ago!

I have three short story submissions out right now, to markets that would certainly add to my publishing credits. I'm in a holding pattern right now, itching to start submitting but aware that I'm not quite there yet.

This waiting to start is almost worse than waiting for responses, once I've sent out queries.

Filigree

 

[mkcbunny]

Well, it's mid-morning here, mid-afternoon back east, and nothing yet but auto-replies.

The snailed submission packet I sent required a SASP (postcard, not envelope), which I thought was odd. But maybe they have a sticker that says, "We've received your submission," and then they slap it on the card and mail it back? I don't know, but I'm twitching here awaiting that card in the mail every day.

 

[Sydneyd]

Good luck everyone!

 

[Peggy Blair]

Nathan Bransford has just resigned from Curtis Brown - huge shock. Have just blogged about his new gig with CNET, and our interactions. I wish him the very, very best with JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW and whatever else lies ahead.

 

[mkcbunny]

Well, I spoke too soon. Just got a reject on one of the last queries sent yesterday. One down, 8 to go.

Oh, and about Nathan, wow.

 

[rosiecotton]

Well, I spoke too soon. Just got a reject on one of the last queries sent yesterday. One down, 8 to go.

Great to see you back in the fray, Mkcbunny!

 

[Duchessmary]

Nothing here. Inbox dead. Hunmmph.

 

[Hathor]

Same here. I thought with my deluge of queries I would get at least one response on Friday.

 

[Erin]

2 more query R's to report from Thurs & Friday. Mine seem to be trickling in 1 per day over the last week.

 

[joeyc]

I've finally sent a few more off recently. One rejection, several outstanding.

 

[Duchessmary]

Curses!!!!!!! I got an R today and a pretty rude one. "Not for me" written on my snail mail query letter.
sword

 

[Sydneyd]

That sucks Duchessmary I'm sorry.

 

[SarahP]

It'd be nice if they'd at least use their own paper to reject us, right?

Rejection on a requested partial from one of those agents I didn't expect to say yes at all. Ah well. It was a good opportunity.

I begin to dread that I may not land an agent at all. :/