Prospect Agency

steampunk said:

So that is way faster than the three months they suggested. Either they thought it would be good and changed their mind or it was that bad!

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Or neither, don't try to read too much into it, you'll just drive yourself crazy.

It might just be the timing. I think some agents wait and try to plow through a bunch of queries at once.

I completed the online form on 3/29, and haven't heard anything. I don't expect to, not anything positive at least.

Senora Verde said:

Or neither, don't try to read too much into it, you'll just drive yourself crazy.

It might just be the timing. I think some agents wait and try to plow through a bunch of queries at once.

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Yup. Editors and publishing houses do the same thing.

Oh Senora, don't worry, i wasn't reading into it. I've received too many rejections to read into anything. No biggie. Scratch that one off and move on.

About ten weeks after getting a request for full I got a nice rejection from Becca Stumpf. She said it only took that long because she was on the fence about it (like a lot of it and the idea), but ultimately couldn't take it on. Offered a lot of good advice on ways to improve the story. Best rejection I've gotten yet.

Anyone hear anything recently from their online form? or from them?

Well, initial query was 7/13 to Becca Stumpf. On 9/17 I received a full request from Emily Sylvan Kim and now I'm just...you guessed it...waiting.

wow 7/13 to 9/17?! I won't worry about thinking about getting a response on my query for another month and a half then. Thank you Ms and good luck!

Yeah, the full request kind of showed up out of the blue while I was two states away from my desktop. however, querying in the summer is a hit and miss business for just about any agency and their auto-response message does say 'within three months.'

So they're running a month ahead of schedule and that's a good thing.

I submitted a query form to Becca Stumpf on 6/12 and have yet to receive any sort of response beyond the automated receipt notification. I haven't checked up on it yet because I'm working on requested revisions for that manuscript.

Submitted via online form on 7/09, making today the three month mark. No response yet. I get the feeling from their website that they occassionally work backwards through the slushpile, resulting in a variety of wait times.

And yeah, the ms has been revised as per other agent's suggestions since my July submission, but there doesn't seem to be an option for submitting revisions so... keep hoping!

I wound up tinkering a bit with a couple of chapters, particularly the first one, after I submitted to their online maw. I e-mailed them a few weeks back asking was there any way to substitute the new for the old...and no reply. No response to my uploaded query, which was done on 8/21...but, from others, I see that six-seven weeks is nothing with these folks. So, I long ago moved on mentally.

It strikes me that agents/agencies who routinely take months to respond to queries are going to be missing out on quite a few Kite Runner-type opportunities which will be snatched up by faster-moving agents/agencies. But maybe that's OK with them. I admire those agents who close down their submissions for awhile every now and then so they can clear out their backlogs.

Hi Traven! Love your blog, btw...

Unfortunately I don't think they allow resubmissions, at least per what is says on their homepage.

hester, thanks for your comments about the blog. I understand "resubmission" to mean sending it to them again after they've refused you. what i was talking about was sending a slightly revised submission before they've said anything about you (at least to your face!).

I should probably also add that my comments above about Kite Runner-type opportunities wasn't to suggest that my little book is anywhere in that class of opus.

Quick update: I received a personalized rejection 4 months to the day after my initial query, with an invitation to submit other work.

Four months. Well, I guess I'll get my rejection right around Christmas...

Thanks for the info, Eveningstar. Sorry about the R. I'm waiting for mine any day now...

Traven, ITA about admiring those agents who close down their submissions to catch up. It makes a huge difference.

I queried Prospect a little over three months ago, and still no word. They state not to email them about the status of "unsolicited" manuscripts. So, guess I'll have to grin and bear it.

I finally got the courage to send out my query. Here we go!

Queried Becca Stumpf today because she seems like a good match.

I liked the "share a favorite sentence from your MS" part. Wonder if the fact I included "If I wanted to make a political statement I’d paint my body with the anarchy symbol and streak naked through the village like I used to do" will work against me.

I liked that part too. But it was so hard to figure out because of the large number of sentences. hehe. I ended up going with..."I indentified with the true nature of the war and slapped it in the face."

Still waiting to hear back--I hit the 4 month mark today.

80 days and counting for me. They ought to rename it the Slow-As-Molasses Agency.

That 4 month mark turned into a very sweet, encouraging R late yesterday afternoon. Sometimes the kind Rs are more difficult to take than the form ones because they give you that sense that you were close, but not close enough. (And also the sense that you missed out on a great agent!)

Still waiting too....

I'm sitting at around 100 days now. Since I got the confirmation e-mail, I don't plan to status query. I figure they'll get to it when they get to it.