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Hello from a new member, and thank you in advance for considering these questions...
I went to a large writers conference last year, and met with 2 editors who looked over my nonfiction book proposal and a few chapters, and each requested that I send them the complete mss with the book proposal when I returned home. (The book was already completely written.) Editor #1 emailed me 10 days later (the day she rec'd the mss), saying she loved what she'd read so far, and possibly could give me an answer in 2-3 wks. as they had been looking for a good book on my topic. She also requested the entire mss be sent via email so they could 'work with it' (which I did). Well, that was almost 9 months ago; in the meantime I have sent her emails about 3 or 4 times, twice to ask for updates, once to give her my change of address. She has generally ignored these emails, though she did respond to the second update request very apologetically, saying they were still tackling the 'winter' books (from the previous year), and that my book was still awaiting review. From an insider's point of view, would you say I'm getting the run around, that there is no real interest, or is this par for the course? Is there any reason for hope here?
Editor #2 never rec'd my mss, because she requested I do some rewriting first of the first 3 chapters...and I decided to wait and see how the first publisher responded before tackling that. I've since decided that I would need to rewrite the whole book for it to fit within the format of editor #2's books, and am now interested in rewriting it because I think it will be a better book for the effort. So question #2 is this: what is the 'statute of limitations' on solicited mss? Have I waited too long already (9 months), or would this editor still consider this revised mss a welcome and solicited submission?
I apologize for the length of this query, and deeply appreciate any insights you might offer concerning this!
I went to a large writers conference last year, and met with 2 editors who looked over my nonfiction book proposal and a few chapters, and each requested that I send them the complete mss with the book proposal when I returned home. (The book was already completely written.) Editor #1 emailed me 10 days later (the day she rec'd the mss), saying she loved what she'd read so far, and possibly could give me an answer in 2-3 wks. as they had been looking for a good book on my topic. She also requested the entire mss be sent via email so they could 'work with it' (which I did). Well, that was almost 9 months ago; in the meantime I have sent her emails about 3 or 4 times, twice to ask for updates, once to give her my change of address. She has generally ignored these emails, though she did respond to the second update request very apologetically, saying they were still tackling the 'winter' books (from the previous year), and that my book was still awaiting review. From an insider's point of view, would you say I'm getting the run around, that there is no real interest, or is this par for the course? Is there any reason for hope here?
Editor #2 never rec'd my mss, because she requested I do some rewriting first of the first 3 chapters...and I decided to wait and see how the first publisher responded before tackling that. I've since decided that I would need to rewrite the whole book for it to fit within the format of editor #2's books, and am now interested in rewriting it because I think it will be a better book for the effort. So question #2 is this: what is the 'statute of limitations' on solicited mss? Have I waited too long already (9 months), or would this editor still consider this revised mss a welcome and solicited submission?
I apologize for the length of this query, and deeply appreciate any insights you might offer concerning this!