The Daily Rejection, Vol. 2

Moonchild.

Moonchild said:

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noranne said:

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Netz said:

Moonchild.

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I wrote over a thousand words yesterday, whilst trapped in bed by a cat. He was using my foot as a pillow. Couldn't disturb that....

Two unexpected partial requests floated into my inbox yesterday afternoon! That was quite nice, as I really had sort of mentally written off my remaining queries as rejections. I have definitely had better stats on my MS6 querying than any before--I suppose there is still a teeny chance something will come of it!

Go noranne!!

Made it into the final 20 for Son of a Pitch, but have had no editor/agent requests. Now waiting for Pitch Madness, but 60 out of 1300 is a lot harder than 20 out of 50...

Hello everyone, I'm a lurker - and love the support on this thread, thank you all! I've decided to finally put my toes into the water because, well, it would be great to support others on their journey, and have a place to air my woes... My dear, kind boyfriend is sick to death of hearing about my rejection-dejection. And I guess he doesn't quite understand how harrowing this whole thing is, so it's great to have a space where folk going through the mill can meet and weep! And then weep with joy when someone lands an agent! Which I have to say is always such a joy, it gives us all hope!

To start: Well done Noranne on 2 partials in one day! Holding thumbs for you.

Yesterday I got a cruel-ish rejection, the ones where they go: loved the concept, but I "didn't fall in love with the writing." Ugh! I know it's boilerplate standard, and that's what it boils down to, but honestly, can't they simply be more empathetic? I love Janet Reid's rejection letter, the one where she rather says her list is too full and this is not a rejection, it's a redirection and she encourages you to "query widely". Note, she doesn't point to any flaw in your work - because let's be honest, it's all subjective: I don't absolutely love Ian McEwan's prose, but I love his themes and characters - and so I'll read him. I love some people's prose, but feel the work lacks plot, and I'll still read them. I'll read them for different reasons. So yeah, instead of saying you didn't fall in love with my writing, tell me: unfortunately I didn't resonate on the level I need to in order to rep a project. Then it's about a personal disconnect and not a personal kind of insult. Or say: I don't feel I'd be the right representative for this project. I got one like that once and was so impressed by it. That's the right answer. Querying is hard enough as it is without agents writing stuff that's downright insulting, and frankly, quite unhelpful.

And then today: another rejection. This one standard form stuff. Got to stay, I prefer a rejection to silence any day. I hate CNRs. At least QT helps me figure out who won't reply.

I've got so few queries out still waiting for a reply... I'm very far in to the querying process and feel myself flagging. But I'll keep on. I still have 2 fulls out and 3 partials, so... something might still happen. I still hold out hope.

And well done Mel on Son of a Pitch! That's brilliant news. Hoping you get some good news from it.

And, yip, pitmad looks tough, but there are incredible success stories coming out of that. So worth giving it a shot!

Thank you! It's been good fun, and highly useful for polishing. Without it I'd not be where I am now (which is very close to query-ready).

Don't give up hope, either! There's this quote I can't quite remember from Little Women (the film): You don't need a lot of admirers, you just need the one that's right for you. I'd say that's much more true of agents than of romantic partners.

Thanks for sharing that quote, that is much needed right now - or is that write now

Glad to hear it was helpful, good feedback is invaluable - and I hope that it fast-tracks you to agent success!

Hello, everyong.

I gots a question -- not sure that any of you can answer it, but perhaps you can at least share some insight.

Here is the deal:

I sent a query letter. They asked for three chapters.

They then asked for a full ms. I sent them the full ms.

Three weeks later, they contacted me, saying that the ms "looked very interesting", and that they would need a little more time to review it, and that they would contact me soon.

It's been almost four weeks since then, and no more contact has taken place.

As far as I can tell, maybe they have not even looked at it at all.

So my question is this: is it a good sign, or a bad sign, that I've not heard back after they said they want to review it some more?

What mysterious things are going on "Over There", while I am sitting here waiting?

Does all that Silence equate to a rejection?

Just curious what insight any of you might be able to provide, concerning the process.

Thank you.

Hey RLG, well, first off huge congratulations! An upgrade from a partial to a full is a massive, massive win for starters.

Now, no one has X-Ray vision into what's happening over there... but I'd hazard a guess that the agent likes it and they're now seeing what their readers say. Either other agents or independent readers or interns. Some agencies get 2 readers to read too. Those reports determine how the market might react.

It's not unusual to wait months on a full. However, given that they've been so wonderfully communicative to date, I'd say they prob won't keep you waiting for months and months and... you get the picture. Are you on querytracker? You can see the average response rate there.

Good luck!! Holding thumbs for you.

Qwest:

Thanks so much for your response.

Your explanation makes sense, and it helped me be a little more patient.

But only a little.

I have used QueryTracker, but did not think of looking at the response rates there. Great idea! I will definitely look at that. Thanks!

Thank you for holding your thumbs for me. I just hope they don't get too sore.

Lots of good news on this thread since I was last here!

Noranne - congrats on the partials. It's even sweeter when you'd written them off as CNR already!

Mel - I haven't heard of Son of a Pitch, but well done. It does so much for your confidence when others like something about your work.

Qwest - don't read too much into your rejections. They are not supposed to be cruel or insulting (but I get that some days, especially bad days, this is how they feel). Just tell yourself that there is a better agent waiting for you out there and you just have to keep querying.

I received a full request this morning, so feeling happy about that. I doubt it will come to anything, but it does give you a little boost.

Qwerty: I second KiwiLady. She is very wise. Please don't take those rejections personally or read too much into them, especially since they are, as you said, standard. Editors use the same kind of vague language when they reject agented submissions, and readers use the same language (and far, far worse) when they write scathing or lackluster reviews. It is indeed subjective, but remember that just because one person didn't "fall in love" doesn't mean your writing is automatically bad. It's kind of like dating; you might think the person is just fine, but you don't feel "the spark" so you can't justify moving forward. It's really not personal

RLGreenleaf: CONGRATS!! How exciting. Please remember that the publishing world moves like molasses, and when an agent says they'll get back to you in three weeks, expect about five or six. They're quite busy with their current clients and projects, they do a million things a day and often work all day, every day, and they have interns and readers to help them navigate their many assignments. They WILL definitely get back to you. Not to worry. The silence is just that: silence.

Congrats, KiwiLady!! I'm loving all of the requests coming in lately.

melgough: YAY for making it so far! Amazing. Keep going. You clearly have something great to offer

Noranne, KiwiLady and RLGreenleaf - congrats on the requests!

Qwest, melgough, RLGreenleaf -

Qwest - what KiwiLady and pinkbow said: don't take it personally. Form responses are just that: boilerplate and impersonal. I agree that some agents could use finessing theirs with a dose of empathy, but really, they don't *mean* to be cruel or insulting. And at least they're bothering with form responses, when so many of them these days don't even respond at all! Good luck in the query trenches!

RLGreenleaf - It's awesome that your MS is being given more careful consideration. Do be patient. Waiting for a response on a full can take months. Sounds like this agency won't leave you hanging, but if you're antsy, you can always nudge them politely if you haven't heard withing 3 months. Good luck!

PinkBowVintage, Moonchild, and Qwest:

Thanks for your informative responses.

PinkBowVintage: thank you for your line: The silence is just that: silence.

Moonchild: You advised me to nudge them if I did not hear back from them in 3 months. Ummm...please tell me that was a typo, and that you REALLY meant to type a 2. [ insert picture of wide face with hopeful look here ].

By the way...what does R&R stand for?

I...ummm...used to know, but...ummm...I sorta forgot.

No, I'm pretty sure three months is about right. That's the minimum time you should give before nudging.

R&R is revise and resubmit. It's when an agent basically likes the manuscript, but sees some problems with it, and they give you the option of revising based on their feedback. It's a really good sign, really.

Thank you, JJ Litke.

I sorta suspected that three months "nudge time" was correct; but I was also vainly hoping that IF enough folks replied and said it was two months, then it might make THAT true.

And I must confess...I lied: I never really knew what R&R stands for -- I was just trying to make myself look smarter than I really am.

That was the only time I ever lied, though, in my entire life.

Lol. It's not like trying to google "R&R" is going to easily find you the answer.

Usual advice for getting through the looong query wait is to write something else. If you don't have another project, then, keep reading other stuff until you come up with ideas, I guess? Something like that.

jjlitke:

Actually, I do have other (never-ending) writing projects to work on, and that brings me to yet ANOTHER question I have, and perhaps you can help me with that as well:

1. I am awaiting a response on a full ms, and am hoping for a positive response (of course).

2. This submission is Part One of a trilogy, and I am currently sewing up Part Two (it should be completed in a week or so).

3. My question is this: IF they decide to make an offer...is it ok for me to bring up Part Two, and ask if they are interested in looking at that as well? Or do I need to submit a new query for the second book?

On a different topic: I took the liberty of clicking on the link to your website, and was very impressed.

That big red light looks like a HAL 9000 computer, and it reminded me of a screen saver that I wrote some time ago: That big red HAL 9000 light apears in the middle of the screen, and every so often, the computer speaks out, using recordings from the movie: "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that..."

In any case...I plan to read your material tonight and tomorrow. I look forward to it.

Thanks.

RLGreenleaf, of course you'd mention the second book if you got an offer! And generally offering agents do tend to want to take a look at what you're working on next too. Some agents want to rep by a book-by-book basis, but I think that's rare (I could be wrong though?), I certainly want an agent for the long haul, to be a career partner. It's so hard finding an agent in the first place - imagine having to do this for every book?! I'd go insane. Talking sanity, the only way to stay sane in the query trenches: keep writing - and stay away from the internet and your email. Ha ha ha. Much easier written than done! I've downloaded an app called "Forest" for my phone - and it helps me stay away from mainlining the net while I'm supposed to be writing and working.

Thanks all for the great welcome and support and great advice. This is such a great forum to commune with other writers sweating it out in the query trenches.

KiwiLady, so happy to hear about your full request, those are such wins - congratulations, no small feat!

And JJ Litke, yes, great website! I enjoyed your blog about reading more - I'm trying to do that too, but find querying very distracting. I've actually entered the goodreads challenge to read a certain number of books. Whenever I get behind on it, I find a novella and finish that quickly - ha ha. But at least I'm reading. I find the challenge is forcing me to read more, which is good. Some friends have told me I'll be reading without absorbing, but that's not happening, I'm reading and loving reading again - and I put my forest app on for say 30mins, and won't stop reading till the 30mins is done. That helps me break the vicious internet distraction cycle... I feel the internet is kind of shattering my ability to concentrate, so I'm weaning myself away from it.

And on that note...! I'll be off. Good luck today all. I hope those partials and fulls keep flowing in for folks.

RLGreenleaf, what Quest said. You probably won't even need to think to bring it up, the agent will usually ask if you have any other projects in the works.

And thanks to both of you about my site!

Qwest said:

This is such a great forum to commune with other writers sweating it out in the query trenches.

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I initially skimmed through this and I read it as "...commune with other writers swearing at the query trenches." Made sense to me.

RLGreenleaf - What Qwest said. If you get an offer, the agent will want to chat with you over the phone and get a sense of who you are and where you are in your writing career. They'll probably ask things like how long you've been writing, what inspired you to write the MS in question, and whether you have anything else in the works. Unless they specify that they're only repping this one book, they intention is probably to rep your career as a writer.

(And, nope, no typo: waiting at least 3 months before nudging on a full is pretty standard. Sorry! On the bright side, all the waiting we do while querying is a good primer for all the MORE EFFING WAITING we continue to do once we go on sub. Not that I'm bitter. Just have a boo at The Next Circle of Hell thread on here to give you an idea of the kind of crazy waiting you still have to endure even after getting an agent and going out on sub.)