The Daily Rejection, Vol. 2

Cricketus inboxis infestation carries on and my favourite pair of socks have developed twin holes. Not a great start to the day.

WIP holds steady at approx. 119K, with lots of cutting still going on and two brand new chapters added. So much for my "goal" of bringing it down to 115 by the end of yesterday. Oh well. It was kind of a random goal anyway.

pinkbow - Sorry about the R on your partial.But yay on getting feedback. I've gotten feedback on rejected fulls, but only form Rs on partials, so maybe that's a good sign for you?

Belle_91 - And sorry about the rejections. Yeah, 19 may not be "a lot" in this game, but you're totally allowed to feel crummy about them. Help yourself to a big bowl of consolatory ice-cream.

noranne - Yes, it sucks to be "in between" projects, but sometimes it's also nice to get a little breather and some distance from your various MSs.

Jeneral - OMG, that SUCKS about your document! I'd try what Funaek suggested--maybe it just auto-saved in an oddball location? I hope it's not gone-GONE!

Nova - I hope you hear back from the contest soon! (And that it's good news! ) I also hope you hear back from the agents you nudged. I HATE it when nudges on requested materials go absolutely nowhere (in my experience, with maybe 2-3 exceptions, that has been the case and it still really hurts).

Funaek - I agree with Jeneral and Nova that you've totally made the right call. You want an agent who's in love with your work, and it sounds like the one who offered is in that position. (Your dummy PB is adorable, so I'm not surprised! ) Good luck. Seems to me like this PB of yours is totally meant to be on the shelves!

ETA - And OMG, Funaek! Another agent call! That's awesome!!!! Keep us posted!

Moonchild said:

alphabetsoup - Sorry about the R. Is this the first person who's said something along those lines about your MC? If not, it might be worth revisiting. Unless you want him/her to be biting and that's part of who they are as a character. In which case, it's probably a matter of finding the right agent who's going to get your novel and your MC. Easy, right? (As if...) Best of luck! Oh, and cookies to soften the R!

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Thanks Moonchild. And yes, the protagonist is a college student with a witty, sarcastic, dark sense of humor. Kind of a female Holden Caulfield, so I do want her to be biting in a funny way. It's frustrating because--I hate to say this, I really do--but I don't think that anybody would have a problem with her, were she a male character. But I also don't think she'd be interesting as a male character. Or not quite as interesting.

I seem to get plenty of interest in this MS at the pitch stage, like they are so intrigued by the concept but when they actually see it they find it so tough to stomach. It's very frustrating because it's not something I can really revise.

Funaek said:

Jeneral, have you tried opening up Word and then going to File, then Open, and then recent documents? Sometimes you can find it there and it might have saved in a weird spot. That sucks if it really did disappear forever!

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Yeah, honestly it's not possible for it to simply vanish—and if it did, you have a much bigger problem with your machine than one lost document. If you're doing a desktop find for it, try something like searching for ".doc" and put the search in date order starting with most recent. Sometimes making your search terms too specific will backfire if you misspelled the document name when you saved it or something like that.

To clarify: I started the doc in the morning and wrote a couple crappy paragraphs, saved it ("review.doc"). Then in the evening I opened that doc, made changes, etc., etc., then closed it out at the end of the night. This morning when I opened it, all that was there were the two crappy paragraphs from the morning before. None of the work I did last night. Now I SUPPOSE there's a possibility that I didn't save it (i.e. hit "no" when I exited), but I really don't think I did.

Also, when I opened up Word this morning, it said that it had "recovered" the "review.doc" and all it was was the two-paragraph version. This is making me think that I left the doc open on my computer, and my computer restarted itself overnight or something? I looked in recent documents, there's even a place at the bottom of the page called "unsaved documents," nothing there.

It's cool. It was just the beginning of what's turning out to be a lousy day at work too. Shoulda stayed in bed. But I'm running through it in my head and I think I can rewrite it fairly easily. It's ok, it's pretty likely I'll survive. At least it wasn't my novel!!

Funaek - so excited about your SECOND call! Be sure and keep us posted. I guess at this point, just figure out which agent is the most passionate about your work as a whole? What a great position to be in - good luck!

Ok guys. Things just got real. I have a second offer of representation. I never thought I'd type those words! I'm still waiting to hear back from the other agents, but I'm already torn just between these two. Argh!

Second agent was very enthusiastic about my middle grade novel and everything she said was just so on point with how I hoped the book to come across. She's a new agent but at a well-established, well-known agency. She said that she represents clients based on their career and not book-by-book, so that means she would work with me on my picture books if I wanted to, but clearly this is not her usual genre.

First agent is more enthusiastic about my picture book than my middle grade novel (which is a different middle grade novel than the one second agent looked at), but would represent all my books and she has made deals with picture books. She's at a smaller boutique agency but she's been agenting or in the book business for a good amount of time.

It's a great dilemma to have, but oh man I hate making big decisions and this is a big one!

Wow, Funaek, Congrats!

(I wish I were you! Also, good luck making the right choice! Does sound like the original agent might be ideal... Just for argument's sake, does the second, newer agent work at an agency who has handled PBs? Because, if that's the case, it might be totally OK if she hasn't sold any herself at this point. If she's working under the wing of other more experienced agents, they're bound to have contacts and help her along the way... Just my two cents, to make your decision-making even harder! )

Congrats Funaek! I would lean toward the second agent. If it's a big agency, there's probably somebody there who can do it for them. Check Publisher's Marketplace, a lot of times they will list two names like _______ and _______ at ICM or whatever when the junior person needs help in a certain genre.

Funaek said:

Ok guys. Things just got real. I have a second offer of representation. I never thought I'd type those words! I'm still waiting to hear back from the other agents, but I'm already torn just between these two. Argh!

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Awesome! Congrats. I'd suggest having a list of questions you ask each so you can make the decision as objectively as possible.

I should say, the reason I like the second one, is that I think the vision for the book and the enthusiasm, that is the most important thing. I think that is what ends up deciding how successful the book is, more than anything else. I mean, provided the agencies are both legitimate and there are connections if not through the agent, then at least through somebody in the agency. If you read that article in Vanity Fair about the making of Chad Harbach's book it makes this really clear--the difference with that book was totally about how enthusiastic the agent was and how he got the editor on board.

Jeneral said:

To clarify: I started the doc in the morning and wrote a couple crappy paragraphs, saved it ("review.doc"). Then in the evening I opened that doc, made changes, etc., etc., then closed it out at the end of the night. This morning when I opened it, all that was there were the two crappy paragraphs from the morning before. None of the work I did last night. Now I SUPPOSE there's a possibility that I didn't save it (i.e. hit "no" when I exited), but I really don't think I did.

Also, when I opened up Word this morning, it said that it had "recovered" the "review.doc" and all it was was the two-paragraph version. This is making me think that I left the doc open on my computer, and my computer restarted itself overnight or something? I looked in recent documents, there's even a place at the bottom of the page called "unsaved documents," nothing there.

It's cool. It was just the beginning of what's turning out to be a lousy day at work too. Shoulda stayed in bed. But I'm running through it in my head and I think I can rewrite it fairly easily. It's ok, it's pretty likely I'll survive. At least it wasn't my novel!!

Funaek - so excited about your SECOND call! Be sure and keep us posted. I guess at this point, just figure out which agent is the most passionate about your work as a whole? What a great position to be in - good luck!

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Argh!

Is it possible the complete version ended up saving someplace else? I had an entire night's work disappear (a whole chapter I liked), and I was on the verge of tears (it was the one time I didn't send it to dropbox before bed too) when I discovered it had somehow saved to the backup folder in the thumb drive I'd forgotten was in the usb port, not my normal document folder on my c drive and external backup folders.

Thanks everyone! I should clarify that the second agent I talked to today is from a boutique agency, but they're more well-known and rep multiple NYT bestsellers. But, from what I can tell, no one there really reps picture books.

I think I have to decide which book I want to focus on more at first - the picture book or my MG novel.

Funaek said:

Ok guys. Things just got real. I have a second offer of representation. I never thought I'd type those words! I'm still waiting to hear back from the other agents, but I'm already torn just between these two. Argh!

Second agent was very enthusiastic about my middle grade novel and everything she said was just so on point with how I hoped the book to come across. She's a new agent but at a well-established, well-known agency. She said that she represents clients based on their career and not book-by-book, so that means she would work with me on my picture books if I wanted to, but clearly this is not her usual genre.

First agent is more enthusiastic about my picture book than my middle grade novel (which is a different middle grade novel than the one second agent looked at), but would represent all my books and she has made deals with picture books. She's at a smaller boutique agency but she's been agenting or in the book business for a good amount of time.

It's a great dilemma to have, but oh man I hate making big decisions and this is a big one!

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We'll just use you as writer fantasy and day dream material going forward, okay?
Congrats! From how you wrote things, it sounds like the second is more enthusiastic? It sounds like you know what to do: check sales history, think about enthusiasm of each agent, think about credibility of agencies.LET US KNOW

Funaek said:

I think I have to decide which book I want to focus on more at first - the picture book or my MG novel.

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That sounds like a major part of the whole decision, right there. What a wonderful problem to have! I'm so excited for you!

My missing file is nowhere to be found. All I get is the two-crappy-paragraph version. Not the end of the world, I'm sitting down with some ice cream now to re-create it. Ice cream makes everything better.

You guys, I just got another full request from a query I sent about 2 and a half months ago! The conundrum is that I'd already closed it because she's one of those "no response = no" agents that actually give a timeline (6 weeks; I closed at 8), so I've already queried someone else at that agency... That second agent has a wait time average of 6 MONTHS, but seems to respond to all. Now I'm wondering if I should withdraw that second query? I didn't mean to make a faux pas. I just assumed 8 weeks of silence meant the first agent wasn't interested!

Funaek said:

I think I have to decide which book I want to focus on more at first - the picture book or my MG novel.

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Jeneral said:

That sounds like a major part of the whole decision, right there.

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Seconding this, after re-reading your description of both conversations. .

Jeneral - You are correct: everything is better with ice-cream. And/or chocolate.

Congrats Funaek!! And Moonchild YAY for a shiny new full which is just FULL of possibility

My new shiny is up to 5k

Congrats, Funaek!

Moonchild said:

You guys, I just got another full request from a query I sent about 2 and a half months ago! The conundrum is that I'd already closed it because she's one of those "no response = no" agents that actually give a timeline (6 weeks; I closed at 8), so I've already queried someone else at that agency... That second agent has a wait time average of 6 MONTHS, but seems to respond to all. Now I'm wondering if I should withdraw that second query? I didn't mean to make a faux pas. I just assumed 8 weeks of silence meant the first agent wasn't interested!

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I think the standard advice is to email the agent and explain the situation. But if they say they only reply to queries they're interested in and have a time frame, too, she won't be mad about it.

MC: What JJ said. I would send the full to the first agent, and explain that you queried the second agent. I'm sure they can touch base on their end. Congrats and good luck!!

MC: Congratulations!!! And I second what everyone else said re the second agent.

Thanks everyone for all your support and advice! I've focused my decision on whether to focus first on my PB or my MG, and whether I want to go with an agent with more deals under her belt at a less well-known agency, or a newer agent at a more well-known agency. I'm leaning towards one way so far, but I'm going to continue to think about it and sleep on it. I'll keep you all posted!

If anyone's up for it, I'd love to float in PMs the two agents I'm considering to see reactions and thoughts. Yes, I really am this indecisive and need all the opinions from everyone I can think of in order to help inform my decision. If so, let me know and I'll PM you. Really appreciate any advice!

Funaek - Dunno how much help I'll be, but feel free to PM me if you like.

Congrats, Funaek!! That's amazing!! Here are some dancing snoopies for you!

Well, got an R today on the lone full request for MS5. Not a surprise, and honestly I had already mentally written it off so I wasn't even that bothered. It was a kind rejection but not helpful, but that's okay. MS5 is headed for the trunk after the last 2 queries time out!

And for Funaek! A hard decision but a great one to have to make. I'm sure you'll choose well!

Full request today. Got three Rejections in a row from agents I didn't really have much of a stake in, then *gasp* #1 choice came to rescue me from the Slough of Despond.

boo for rejections, but well done Moonchild and Treehouse!

MC:

THM:

noranne:


Funaek: Have you talked to both agents about how they plan to pitch, preferred mode and frequency of contact, how they'd deal with your books in a different category, etc.? In not, these inquiries might answer your question. Also, have you asked for contact info for existing clients? Sample contracts? Read through the relevant AW and QT comments?


Me: Trying not to freak because I sent my agent an email on Sunday and she hasn't responded yet. The paranoid part of me is saying things like "maybe she's reconsidered book 1" or "perhaps she read book 2 and hates it." The sane adult part is saying, "This is August" and "your agent is still on maternity leave." I've been holding off making my revisions to book 1 to make it consistent with book 3 to see if she has any ideas or wants me to submit a list of the changes I've made and why. But I want to finish before I go on vacation next Wednesday. I suppose I should just get started and not overthink everything for once in my life.