The Daily Rejection

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Drachen Jager

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It's always worth working on your query. Go to QLH if you haven't already.

It's also worth re-writing your book but it's important to figure out where you've done well and what needs fixing first or you're just pissing into the wind. Of the books out there I recommend On Writing and Writing the Breakout Novel.

57,000 words is awfully short for an adult novel, it's more of a novella (which is a hard class of book to sell). That could be a big part of your problem there. Also, if your writing technique in the novel is anything like your query you will run into trouble, many agents would be turned off by your style. First three sentences start with the same subject, "...has come..." is an odd way of phrasing it.

Also it sounds like a total Dan Brown re-hash from the query.
 
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Sydneyd

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Twenty is a drop in the bucket. If it were me, if I had queried twice that many and had no nibbles -- and it can take some time for folks to respond -- I would work on the query.

A book is a lot of work. Don't give up and throw all that away until you absolutely have to. There are many, many agents out there. And if they don't work out, there are small presses.

Someone on this thread found her dream representation after 380 queries. Someone else mentioned 150 rejections before success. I'm over 100 and I haven't given up yet. Still have a number of outstanding nibbles and many folks I might yet hear from. And if nothing works, there are small presses.

In the meantime, work on your next work too. It really helps :)

Ditto this.
 

SarahP

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I suspect at this point, I am not going to hear back from anyone else on this book. Still waiting for partial responses from a few agents and a publisher with the full.

But I think it's time to move on to the next. Ah well.
 

Duchessmary

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I'm thinking of holding off until the 1st of the year. New Year, fresh start.
 

CobraMisfit

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Recalculating....
Someone on this thread found her dream representation after 380 queries. Someone else mentioned 150 rejections before success. I'm over 100 and I haven't given up yet.

Random question for Rejections: Do sub-genres have a harder time finding representation? I would assume someone who writes steampunk would have less options than someone writing straight up sci-fi. Or do people query the sci-fi agents as well once they've contacted their sub-genre top picks?

A quick check of AQ listed only 16 agents that represent Western. If someone was rejected by all 16, do they have to go back to the drawing board sooner than someone with 380 options?

Imagine trying to break into the subsubsubsub genre of steampunk-western-romance-ubran fantasy-chick lit-space opera.
 

Kandybar

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I think if your book is steampunk-western-romance-urban fantasy (how?)-chick lit-space opera you have a lot more problems than just a lack of agents representing what you write. :p

I think I'm going to hold off on agent submissions til January and work on short story/anthology works and polish some things for contests.
 

Hathor

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I see no reason to restrict yourself to people who specifically say they handle your subgenre. At least look at those who handle the overall genre -- and consider querying any who don't specifically rule out your subgenre.

Some agents even will say that they handle any type of fiction. Or they will say that they are looking for any book that X, Y, and Z and you think your book is X, Y, and Z.

If you haven't already, look at all the recent books in your subgenre that you can find. Who represented them?

Finally, don't rely simply on agentquery. Look at querytracker and the 1000agents list, PM, and the agent's website. Genre descriptions can vary from place to place.
 

Drachen Jager

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Random question for Rejections: Do sub-genres have a harder time finding representation? I would assume someone who writes steampunk would have less options than someone writing straight up sci-fi. Or do people query the sci-fi agents as well once they've contacted their sub-genre top picks?

I think it's more important to look at the ratio of submissions vs requests. I don't have full QT membership but they show top 10 lists.

http://www.querytracker.net/top10.php

You see Romance, Commercial Fiction and Middle Grade are all ranked higher on number of requests than submissions, whereas Children's is #5 on the subs but not even in the top 10 for requests.

If you had access to more information it would probably be easier to make accurate theories on which genres are most likely to get you published.

Of course that probably just means there are a lot of half-baked writers cranking out children's lit because it doesn't take much work. I certainly find that the meetings for my local SCBWI are heavily weighted to children's storybooks and they nearly universally lack sufficient development.

Personally I don't think genre is as important as having a universally accessible story. Steampunk or Western novels CAN be bestsellers in spite of the limited audiences for those genres. I've recommended it before but I think it bears repeating "Writing the Breakout Novel" really covers a lot of this stuff.
 

Sydneyd

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Got a rejection on a partial today. Yet again the letter read, thanks for letting me look, not for me. I really wish I could get at least a smidge of criticism. "Your characters are boring." "The opening was too slow." SOMETHING! At least then I would know what to do. (I've had/have beta's) I'm lost here.
 

Hathor

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The problem with criticism is when they disagree with one another. Then what are you supposed to do :Shrug:
 

Drachen Jager

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As an author, or any kind of artist really, you need to be able to do two things with criticism.

1) Take it at face value, don't hide from it, get angry or push it away. Accept that these are the critic's personal views.

2) Decide for yourself what that means. Does the critic have a point? Is it something that you really should change? If so how can you change things for the better?

I'm on the third first act for my novel. The first went nowhere, the second had some interest, this one has had the best response by far and looks like it might land me an agent (fingers crossed, I'm supposed to hear back before the month is out, but we all know how THAT goes...)
 

Hathor

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I had a bit more to say but it was time for dinner.

I will go through writing books and see if I do things they advise against. I may pay attention if people agree on some particular flaw. I will certainly pay attention if someone makes a suggestion that I agree with or says, "Make this change and I will represent (or buy) your work."

But folks who say, "Make this change and I will look at it again"? Eh. I had one of those, made the change -- and then she told me, sorry, no new clients now. Fortunately, I ended up liking the change :)
 

Erin

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Hey, gang. It's been a busy week and I'm just popping in to say hello!

I think I got one measly rejection this week and turned it into 4 revenge queries!

I'm off to a Christmas party!! Hope you all have a great weekend.
 

Sydneyd

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have fun at your christmas party
 

Sydneyd

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Thanks! I had a nice time, and today I received a request for a partial after I got home from Christmas shopping! Nice Saturday surprise.

Woo hoo! nice job on the partial!!!! :snoopy:
 

Peggy Blair

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Hi, everybody -- miss you guys and confess to lurking from time to time to see how you are all doing!

I'd recommend that you only revise your manuscript if you're getting the same comments repeatedly. Reading is as subjective as writing is, and every agent has their own taste.

I changed my ms hundreds of times, after virtually every comment I got back and I almost lost my own story.

I would say, be open to persuasion, but try to keep a clear sense of what it is you're saying. Not all agents are right, and having said 'no,' it's hard to put a lot of weight on what could be an offhand comment. If you get the same feedback over and over, however, I'd be inclined to rely on that.

Have a great Christmas, and look forward to seeing all of you in the Next Circle of Hell!
 

EagerReader

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Two R's last week, but both were nicely personalized and prompted me to send out another small batch of queries. I think I'll wait until after the holidays to sent out any more. Revenge queries will have to wait! Too much baking to do!

Good luck with the partial, Erin! And good luck to everyone else! *waves to Peggy Blair*
 

Erin

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Thanks all! I sent partial this morning.

I think I'm done sending queries until January too. Soooo much to do this time of year. I barely have time to work on polishing my WIP...but I make time every day to do a little work to keep myself in the groove.
 

Peggy Blair

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* waves back*, EagerReader! And good luck with the next batch of queries, and cookies!
 

Hathor

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I'm not hearing anything. And I still have so much out there, both queries and nibbles.

I'm trying hard not to be impatient and to simply work on my next book instead. I'm almost through with the first draft.

I wonder if this is just a slow month for hearing back from agents.
 

Esmeralda

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Did someone mention cookies?
***waves and smiles***

Be sure to toss some our way Eager Reader!
 

Esmeralda

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Did someone mention cookies?
***waves and smiles***

Be sure to toss some our way Eager Reader!
 
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