The Daily Rejection

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Hathor

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All right -- finally got a "your query intrigues me" (so send stuff) response for the NF. Something to tell the relatives who ask...
 

Beckstah

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Yay, congrats, Hathor!

My Monday is off to a terrible start. Didn't make the Baker's Dozen cut, and I think people would look at me funny if I started drinking wine at my desk.
 

Hathor

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Ah, boo, Beckstah. Well, some of the best of us didn't make the Baker's Dozen cut ;) (I was in the other division, so we didn't compete with each other.) I fully understand the wine impulse. I tell myself that only some good books are going to grab attention with a logline and the first 250 words, nobody likes every genre (much less every subgenre or much, much less every approach to every subgenre), etc. Remember: rationalization can be your good friend.

Now. Why is it that, every time I'm confronted with a request, I suddenly think I can't write and this is the beginning of the end for that particular agent? Oh, yeah, past experience.

This agent is one who says "just a query, no pages unless I ask," so she hasn't seen my writing. I'll have to resist the impulse to say that I will gladly rewrite, please give me a chance, grovel, whimper. I've been working on this project for too long. (Sometimes, I feel like strangling the friend who convinced me to write the book because it would be "interesting and inspirational.")

Oopsie, she asked for a synopsis, and turns out all I have is one for the previous version of the NF (the bloated, "genre, I don't need no stinking genre" one). Time to ask my colleague Thoth for some inspiration.
 

Beckstah

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Holy whiplash, Batman! Requeried someone who rejected my full manuscript with a form last time around, and she just got back to say she remembers the MS well and she'd love to see it again. It's going to be one of those kinds of days, isn't it?

Hathor, glad I have a buddy in the rationalization club. :D Seriously crossing my fingers for you with this new request. You deserve it!
 

Hathor

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Yeah, some time ago I posted an exhaustive list of why these multitudinous rejections we're getting are all for the best. I am the goddess of that, remember.

I hope I don't face a whiplash day. I'm feeling good about the request on the NF. But I sent a bunch of fiction queries out at the end of last week. If the agents decide to clear out their inboxes before Thanksgiving...:eek:

Glad your requery worked!
 

mayqueen

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Yay, Beckstah and Hathor!
 

mayqueen

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Ouch, triceretops. I hope some goods news rolls in after that.
 

Hathor

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Sorry, Tri. They shouldn't send out Rs before a holiday.

Any reason to send out queries the Monday before Thanksgiving? I'm thinking no. Any agent will be busy or preoccupied like the rest of us.

Maybe I'm finding excuses. I used up all my wits to put together yet another synopsis. That's four of them polished in two weeks--five if you count a series overview. Enough already. I feel like I've used up all my neurotransmitters. Any query personalization now would be on the level of "me write book, you like see it, please?"

I've packed already (leaving tomorrow) but have this time on my hands. Maybe I should just do some agent research? It's either that or Law and Order reruns.
Maybe both at the same time. It will be rather tedious to go through and check out what type of memoirs or narrative works each agent has represented.
 

A.P.M.

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Aw, just got a full rejected from an agent, and a partial rejected from another. I have other partials and another full out, but whenever I get partials and fulls rejected I wonder if there's something fundamentally wrong with my writing.
 

Beckstah

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Hugs, Tri. That's the worst. But I'm sure you'll come out on the other side with a kickass revision.
 

triceretops

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Yeah, Beck, as long as I use it as a template for the complete manuscript and revise the repeat errors I've no doubt committed there. Thank the maker I only a few subs out for this book.

Just goes to show you; you can have a dynamite concept, excellent characters, a perky pace and well-thought-out plot, but if you're too much trouble for the editor staff, with stupid and basic errors, you're not a good candidate for publication.
 

Hathor

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For those of you not yet at your holiday destinations, I wish you safe travels. We saw a number of accidents, as well as assorted of drivers seemingly in search of same. Fortunately, we came through without a scratch, as did hub's new car.

I'm glad you still believe in your work, tri. I think I have a dynamite concept, etc., but that remains to be seen. (I do wish form Rs could be more informative, although I understand why they aren't). Anyway, you definitely deserve an extra slice of pie.

Hell, we all do.
 

amschilling

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Yes--I think everyone needs lots and lots of pie this week!

I'm back in cricket-town, with nary a response to queries or subs. But that's okay. I expected it. Agents need holidays, too, and a lot of them are closing to queries until the first of the year so they can catch up. I can be patient, and look at it as a chance to enjoy the holidays with my family without a daily dose of "no thanks."

And the full and partials I have out have hope still-the agents said they'd get back to me quickly, so I figure in publishing time that means I've got a few months before I start worrying about not hearing. I'll just focus on the current WIP, and know that the 60 agents left to Q will still be there in January when they're ready to start taking them again.
 

mayqueen

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Oh no, Carleree! Let's hope the revenge Q works.

I got a form R today on a query I sent over four months ago. I'm glad the agent took the time, but it made me remember how not awesome that first sentence of the old query was.
 

Hathor

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Boo on Rs. At least they spared us over Thanksgiving.

Form R for me yesterday. Must have been one of those dictation programs -- told me he couldn't take "any more projects at the mom,end." Not from me, bucko ;) Took me a couple seconds to realize this wasn't an R on my memoir.
 

c.e.lawson

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Boo on Rs. At least they spared us over Thanksgiving.

Form R for me yesterday. Must have been one of those dictation programs -- told me he couldn't take "any more projects at the mom,end." Not from me, bucko ;) Took me a couple seconds to realize this wasn't an R on my memoir.

Hathor -- you're hilarious. :) Either that, or I have a dirty mind.

Just a quick note to let you all know I'm still pulling for all of you. After 11 queries, I stepped out for a couple months to redo my opening. Found the query working nicely but not the opening pages. I've just put my toes back in the water with 5 more queries and a shiny new opening and got one partial request so far. (And a form R yesterday from an agent I really thought would want to look at pages - her list of favorite novels is almost exactly the same as mine! And her description of what she's looking for sounded just like what I have. Oh well.) Fingers crossed for everyone here.

c.e.
 

merlot143

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How can you tell if the response you get is encouraging or discouraging? I've been sending out queries, a few asked for a full. However, I've met these agents IRL. One did ask for a full, and we had never met.
 
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pollymilton

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I just got asked for a full from a partial from the ONE AGENT I DO NOT TRUST. I get a weird vibe from her. Blerg.
 

Hathor

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That's tough, polly. It's better to have no agent than a bad one. Or so I've been told... :Shrug: If the agent likes your full, you will always have a chance to ask questions, contact clients, and the like (and mention this interest to other agents who have your submissions, which should get them reading quicker).

merlot143, it all depends on your psyche that day, I suppose. I find it easier to cycle back and forth on an even/odd-numbered day schedule.

Sigh, another form R today on the NF. However, the agent had passed before (more than once), so I'm telling myself this isn't a major verdict. Odd-numbered day and all. I sent out three queries on it today (two new and a requery). I would have sent out more, but I lose internet access sometimes when hubby's on the phone. I really need to get more out there. Hardly anyone has it. (Yep, my odd-numbered-vibe is working well. Why just last week I had a request...)
 

amschilling

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Got one form R from an agent I sent to because everyone else in the co. was closed to queries. Wasn't expecting a yes (she likes close, but not quite, what I wrote), but I was hoping she'd pass it to the guy who might've actually liked it. Ah, well. It's the only response I've gotten since the week before the holiday. At least I can cross them off...

All the others I have out have 6-8 week response times listed, so I've got at least a month before I have to consider them "no response=no"s. I'm getting a little down though. I started with about a 30% request rate, and am dropping down to 10-15% now. I've had no new nibbles since the end of October. Guess I'll see if anyone asks from the current batch. If not, it might be back to the squirrels for a shiny, new query.
 
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