The Next Circle of Hell

I've been on sub for almost ten weeks and have gotten eight passes. Still waiting to hear from three from early March.

The tweets I've seen recently regarding no response means no from editors were from agents who expressed their dislike of that system and claimed they would not submit other work to those editors. I feel like at least in theory the agents and editors should all know each other well enough to give each other the courtesy of a "sorry, not for me".

Popping in to say a quick congrats to Quickbread!!

And (((hugs))) to everyone waiting on subs...

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Two months was what I was sort of thinking as a reasonable time to wait before nudging my agent to see what she's got planned for the next round. I understand no response and form response policies from agents, but it is a little surprising to hear the trend is on the rise with publishers as well. I expected some of the replies to be slow or absent I guess, but it seems plain weird to only have one response out of ten after so long. I'm trying to tell myself that no news isn't bad news yet. One or two of them could be holding it for a second read, or might not have gotten to it yet. Hopefully that's the case for all of us waiting.

@Owlie, Treehouseman & RRK - ouch. I guess it's comforting to know I'm not the only one getting nothing but radio silence and the occasional rejection.

Foxfeet, there's nothing wrong with an email to your agent. "Just checking in to see if we've had any news or if you have any idea why the editors are taking so long. At this point, do we think about doing a second round?"

Yes, I know the main goal is not to sound like a Crazy Author Person, but I don't think this does. Also, eight weeks is quite a long time to wait!! I think I lasted about four weeks before sending my agent the above. If anything, it's just nice touching base to make sure a pass hasn't slipped through the cracks, etc. Or, like you said, having her/him thinking about a second round. Remember that this is your career. There's nothing wrong with a courteous, professional, check-in as long as it's not every afternoon.