The Next Circle of Hell, Vol. 2

Had my first R on the book that went on sub mid Feb. I feel nothing, which I guess is healthy. Usual compliment followed by 'not for me'.

Spikeman - It took several months for me to get my hookup group. I think Natalie waits until she has enough people in similar genres etc so they get the most out of the group.

Still not writing but I'm having a blast beta reading.

polishmuse said:

I hear publishing REALLY slows down in the summer so I'm dreading the looming dates ahead....

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TBH, I'm not sure the summer slowdown myth is all that accurate. Editors still need to acquire books during the summer. I went on sub to a fairly large round in January and aside from the R&R editor, haven't heard a peep. And supposedly that was a pretty ideal time to go on sub. A couple years ago, most of my passes came during the summer months. I think publishing is just permanently slow, no matter the time of year.

diana86 said:

TBH, I'm not sure the summer slowdown myth is all that accurate. Editors still need to acquire books during the summer. I went on sub to a fairly large round in January and aside from the R&R editor, haven't heard a peep. And supposedly that was a pretty ideal time to go on sub. A couple years ago, most of my passes came during the summer months. I think publishing is just permanently slow, no matter the time of year.

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I think you nailed it. My debut went on sub in June and sold in July, but my other (unsold) book went on sub in January and languished. Everything is just slow, slow, slow, and deeply unpredictable. I've had long waits that ended poorly and long waits that ended well.

Sorry for the Rs!

I'm supposed to be diving into revisions but I'm just feeling totally unmotivated to write lately. I just want to read! If I step away from writing for too long I always have a hard time getting back into it. I'm definitely the kind of writer who writes in spurts.

I agree with Fuschia and Diana. With holidays and book fairs, there's never a good time apparently. In the summers, a lot of people in publishing do leave early on Fridays, but otherwise I think it's business as usual. Some of the slowness might just depend on individual editors' vacations, but that's the case throughout the year.

diana86 said:

I think publishing is just permanently slow, no matter the time of year.

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This. Publishing moves at a glacial pace at the best of times. I was lucky in that my agent sold my book super fast, but since we signed the contracts it's moving just as slowly as things did with my first three (unagented) books. Nature of the beast, I guess.

Hey all, just popped in to see what's new.

I'm still battling a broken keyboard, which is making everything writing related THAT MUCH SLOWER (is that even possible?)

My ploy of going off on vacay without internet so I'd come home to good news KIND of worked. Nothing on the YA on sub, but my agent's agreed to sub an erotic romance to at least one editor this week. So I now have something new to obsess about!

I've been lurking, but not commenting because I haven't had a lot to say. We just got a second rejection today, after five (I think) weeks on sub. This rejection was so complimentary though that I couldn't get too upset. She basically adored the book, but the way it's structured makes it (she thinks) hard to place. But at the same time she got why it was the way it was. So she said she wants to see anything else I write, and had tons of nice things to say about my MS. So I'll take it. And I'm oddly pumped up to work more on the next thing, which is still a hot hot mess of a first draft.

So there's still 7 editors we're waiting to hear back from, and I'm going on a retreat this weekend, where hopefully I can get some major words down.

Hang in there, y'all! Drinks all around!

I'm finishing up my MFA thesis (gulp) and working on my third book to distract myself from being on sub. It's officially been two weeks today. :X

Ee! good luck pinkbow! Hope your thesis goes swimmingly.

Personal life has stopped me dead on everything writing related. Family crises every five days now. Nothing life threatening, but definitely more doc visits and trips to the pharmacy than usual. Such is the life of a parent sometimes.

Oh wow, I just got two passes already. My heart just sank.

And I just keep having crazy thoughts like: Is this normal?! Is it too early?! Is my book THAT bad? OMG what if they ALL say no?

Submission does funny things to the otherwise rational mind.

polish - Hugs. I hope whoever it is gets well soon! I'm so sorry you have to deal with that.

*hugs* Pinkbow. And hang in there; it's early yet.

I'm sorry your life has been so unsettled, Polish. I hope everyone starts feeling better soon and you can get back to writing.

Sorry for the R, Earthling. But yay for enjoying beta reading!

Good luck with your new sub, Elsie.

If you get Rs, Jeneral, those are the best kind to receive. Kudos to you for turning it into motivation to finish an MS.

I'm coasting along, trying to finish my romantic suspense. Like Jeneral, I'm going to immerse myself in the writing cave this weekend and push through. I only have two scenes left to write, and I'm aching for that thrill you get when you type THE END.

I'm also waiting for my agent to finish reading my revised contemporary. She had some personal things come up and had to put it aside. Fingers crossed she gets back to it today or next weekend.

Earthling: Sorry about the R. It's only the beginning though, so here's to the good things to come!

Elsie: Good luck with the new sub!

Jeneral: Sorry about the R, but at least the ed's note was generous!

polish: Sorry to hear about the crises. Hope everything is okay!

PBV: It always stings a little more when the R's come close together (perhaps publishing's pace is a blessing in disguise?). But I'm sure your agent believes in your work, and for good reason! Keep on truckin'. Good luck with the thesis too.

Martina: Sounds like you've got a lot of balls in the air--exciting! Fingers crossed for you.

As for me, agent got a note from an editor he subbed to recently that the editor would read the MS soon, so fingers crossed. I'm also getting real close to finishing a first draft of the new project. Hoping to get there by the end of next week.

Hoping everyone gets some good news next week!

Hi everyone! I checked out for a while. I just had to take a break from thinking about my manuscript.

Sorry for the recent Rs, everyone! And for life crises! And PutPutt, please don't get arrested!

CMI and Spikeman, I signed up for that writers' group, too, but haven't heard anything.

I'm lighting a fire under my butt and revving up on my Old Shiny. It's fun to work with a different set of characters. Still waiting for feedback from my agent on my manuscript. She's had it for 30 days, but who's counting? I'll check in with her this week.

Good luck this week, everyone! Sending positive vibes for good news on this thread!

CMI - Hope you get good news soon on that editor read. And great job on the first draft... you're almost there!

Polish - take care of you and yours. The writing can wait. Hope everything is ok.

Pinkbow - sorry for the early Rs. You're right - being on sub does crazy things to the brain.

MartinaMay - how did you do in the editing cave this weekend??

My retreat weekend was productive. I got about 4500 words written this weekend, and more importantly, I think I finally have some momentum on the new MS now that I've hit the actual plot. I'm still in that first draft, flailing around mode, but the characters are becoming a little clearer to me, and I can sort of see the shape it'll take when I go back and edit, so I feel pretty good about it. My agent is going to send out some nudging emails this week on my MS, and she remains adorably optimistic about things, so I'll continue to roll with that.

Happy Monday!

Question: how long before your agent nudges?
Secondary question: when did you start Round 2, if you've been on round 2?

Context: we only subbed to five editors about three months ago. We have one left, but of course I'm anxious to get going on Round 2...

Jeneral said:

MartinaMay - how did you do in the editing cave this weekend??

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I finished the MS!! Such a great feeling. I'm editing now, which is my favorite part. Hopefully to CPs by this coming weekend.

CONGRATS MARTINA!!! *passes you all the beverages of choice*

Yay Martina!
Polish.... At least you've heard from most of those editors! We pitched six in the first round, 14 weeks ago (yeah, wish I hadn't looked that date up!) Two rejected fairly quickly, one didn't request the full, so my agent subbed another four to 'make up the numbers'. I kind of like her technique of not waiting to do a full second round, just tweaking the number out. Silence on all fronts since then, though. Oh, and also silence on whether she's reading my erotic romance, after agreeing to pitch it. I'm persuading myself she's too busy reading to respond, after all, it's only a week (but who's counting, right?)

Haha, QB, just flicked up and saw you made the same comment. I feel a little better about my seven days, seeing yours is thirty!

Nice weekend work, Jeneral. I've been so slow to start anything new, just continually editing those works not on sub, trying to gauge which project to start-or whether there's even any point starting something new.

Pinkbow-ouch. I also had two very early passes, they stung, but at that stage I was telling myself that at least things were happening quickly. Yeah, well, jinxed that, didn't I?

Polish-ugh, life's like that sometimes, huh? Glad to hear it's nothing serious, though. Hopefully all sorted by now.

Well, given that it's Tuesday here, I resign myself to another week of silence (seems news always comes on Tuesdays, even when it was agent hunting.)

Chin up, everyone!

*pokes head in and waves hello*

That's my agent sent my manuscript out on submission, so I guess now I get to play the delightful waiting game alongside all you fine folks!

CameronJohnston said:

*pokes head in and waves hello*

That's my agent sent my manuscript out on submission, so I guess now I get to play the delightful waiting game alongside all you fine folks!

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Welcome! Pull up a chair, name your drink, and I'll send around the snack platter.

Polish: My agent tends to do like Elsie's. She'll send a solid first round (8-12), then send a few more when we hear back from the earlier responders, assuming no one names anything that could spark a revision.

I'm waiting for my agent to read, too (pulls up bar stool). She had started (not sure she read far) when I had another idea for the connecting theme between potential books 2&3. She liked it, so I changed the scenes in book 1 to fit. I sent that back and I've been waiting just over a week to hear what she thinks. I'm antsy to get out again. Since my 3 YA stragglers are from August and October, I'm assuming that MS is dead for this round. And the Dec queries for the newly revised MS are stale as well. In other words, I've felt like I'm not on sub for about a month now. Ugh. It's not a great feeling.

Congrats on your progress, Jeneral! This is another contemporary, correct?

I hope those early Rs are followed by excited editors, Pinkbow.

You feel few respond beyond Tuesday, Elsie? Just when I thought the weekend was the only dead zone, Wednesday through Friday jump into the game. LOL.

I think editors are super busy lately. Not that they weren't busy before, but in my 2 years on sub with various manuscripts (2 years this month, sigh), it seems to me that responses are slower arriving. And that there's more no-response-means-no, which might actually mean they just haven't had time to get to it. And, unfortunately, they haven't had the excitement to get to it. Because we've all seen times when things go quickly with certain books.

Quickbread: Thanks, and good luck with the new project! Let's hope your agent gets back to you soon.

Jeneral: Thanks. It sounds like your making real progress--4,500 words is nothing to sneeze at! Keep up the good work!

Polish: My agent nudges after a couple months, which he's had to do only a couple times. As far as rounds go, my sub process has been a bit odd. "Round 1" consisted of two exclusives to big-name editors we both thought would be a near perfect fit. That took a while, because the second editor was on sabbatical for the summer and didn't get back to us for like three months. Agent then subbed to five editors within the span of a month or two, so I suppose that could be considered "Round 2," which we've been on since like November (still waiting to hear back from a few).

Martina: CONGRATS! Hope you poured yourself a big ol' glass of whatever you like to celebrate. Hope your agent loves it and gets you back on sub soon!

Elsie: Here's hoping you get some good news soon.

Cameron: Welcome!

Inching my way to the finish line on MS2. Still think I can get it done by Friday if I manage to get to my desk every night, but we'll see. I think I have two more scenes to write, so it's just a matter of how much time I can get to myself this week.

Hoping everyone hears something good soon! Hoping also that everyone is making do through this BRUTAL allergy season!

Let's have some good news on this thread soon. You listening, Flying Spaghetti Monster?

I'm starting to worry about this book not selling. How many books will my agent sub before she drops me? I don't know if I can face querying again! Premature, I know, but this is what my brain does. She hasn't dropped any hints and talks about my third and fourth books so I don't think she actually will leave me... But, brain.

Earthling said:

But, brain.

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Agreed on this one. My worst enemy is between my two ears.

Thanks for all of the responses everyone! I'd love to hear more Round 1 to Round 2 experiences from those who haven't chimed yet.

Welcome Cameron! Hope your stay is short!

A little less than halfway through the major revisions on shiny new project that agent darling suggested. She was completely right, of course, and the removal of the other two perspectives is helping me zero in on the deficits in the manuscript. So, at least I know I'm on the right track. I will laugh, though, if this ever goes on sub and an editor says, "Man, I wish I got the perspective of...."

Ooh, I missed your rounds question (thing between my ears was meant for a goldfish). My agent waits three months to nudge. Her theory is she can only nudge so many times, so she doesn't want to use one up too early. She's planning to go on round 2 at the three month mark, too. There are some editors in round 2 who reply quickly, so she wanted to give round 1 a good chance then use any round 2 interest as an excuse for another nudge... If that makes sense.

I know my agent nudges, but I'm not sure how long she waits. I've seen various times in some of the e-mail chains and I suspect some of them she nudged before others, maybe because she's familiar with their workload/style. As far as round 2s, I'd say roughly six months between rounds.

I feel ya, Martina. I'm also on 2 years of sub with various MSs. Congrats on finishing your draft, though. Gotta keep swimming, right? I'm currently incapable of doing anything now that I've handed in my revisions and I'm waiting to hear back....