Another 'Went to follow up' thread . . .

Lifelongdagger · Oct 16, 2009

Hi everyone. After having a full ms for five days, an agent emailed me to say she loved my voice, though felt the plot might need some work. She described one of the chapters as 'masterful' and asked me 'out of interest' would I be up to working with her on revisions. Of course, I said yes. She said she'd need to finish reading the book in order to decide if it is something she could 'usefully work on with me'. This last contact was almost a month ago.

I know the follow up thing of they'll contact me when they're ready and just get on and write another book [which I am doing], but just wondered if anyone had anythoughts on the time delay. Does it sound like a good thing? A bad thing? A typical thing?

Any thoughts will be most interesting.

Warmest regards,

Ian

waylander · Oct 16, 2009

She hasn't rejected you yet.
She may have finished the first read and put it aside to consider what revisions she would like to see.
Also Frankfurt Book Fair is on at the moment

Lifelongdagger · Oct 16, 2009

It did cross my mind about the book fair as I know she has attended it before. And the revisions thing was sort of my ideal scenario, as opposed to the 'I've forgotten you' scenario. Think I'll hold out for another couple of weeks to see if anything materialises. Hopefully, I can get cracking with the new book to distract me.

Thanks, Waylander, for your thoughts. This bloody waiting is horrendous. Still, can't be helped

Warmest regards,

Ian

waylander · Oct 16, 2009

The waiting only gets worse, when the book is on submission then you'll really experience agonised waiting

Lifelongdagger · Oct 16, 2009

Funny, the validation by a professional agent feels like it'll be enough for me. But I know I'm just fooling myself with that one. Makes me wonder why any of us put ourselves through any of this, really. Cracking on with the next book is the only thing that'll prevent me from grinding my teeth to dust and biting my nails down to the knuckle.

But to come up trumps, well that'd be just a whole world of dreams . . . And that's what makes us do it. I suppose

ORION · Oct 16, 2009

I know it's no consolation but my agent took 3 months for my last revision - you are fortunate as many agents don't have the expertise to help an author revise (I'm generalizing here)- often they use free lance editors- this is especially prevalent now as publishers want a book to be ready to go..

Wordwrestler · Oct 16, 2009

Super Agent may be preparing an editorial letter for you, which will spell out the "problem" areas and propose changes. This happened to me before signing and it took about 10 weeks. I would wait a minimum of 8 weeks to nag.

Please know that you may offer some ideas of your own for how to solve your story's problems and respond back to the agent with them. In my case I understood why the agent wanted to change certain things, but wanted to go about it a little differently. The result of our exchange (and the subsequent revisions) was something we were both very happy with.

Don't be shy about asking the agent if this is an offer of representation (should you come to an agreement on revisions). Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. It's not uncommon for an agent to work on revisions with an author without signing them. It's up to you whether you agree to do that.

Another 'Went to follow up' thread . . .

Lifelongdagger

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

Lifelongdagger

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

Lifelongdagger

ORION

Sailed away years ago

Wordwrestler