The Next Circle of Hell

Vandal, I'm sorry. This happened during your last agent call, right? Maybe it's just your agent, not you. Not that it's excusable...

RhiannonFrater said:

I know I've been quiet since my introduction, but I've been waiting for the final word on the negotiations.

So....*takes a deep breath*...here is the news.

BREAKING NEWS!! The As The World Dies Trilogy has been picked up by TOR!!! Today my agent, Hannah Gordon and Senior Tor Editor, Melissa Singer, hammered out the last of the details on the deal!!! I'm so THRILLED to be a part of the Tor family and look forward to working with Melissa on the revisions of the trilogy!

Click to expand...

Fabulous news! I've been reading a lot of bummies around here lately, and so I'm really glad to see a turn of the tide. Hope all goes well getting the book fine-tuned and ready for print.

Oh, Vandal.



Congrats, Rhiannon!

RhiannonFrater said:

I know I've been quiet since my introduction, but I've been waiting for the final word on the negotiations.

So....*takes a deep breath*...here is the news.

BREAKING NEWS!! The As The World Dies Trilogy has been picked up by TOR!!! Today my agent, Hannah Gordon and Senior Tor Editor, Melissa Singer, hammered out the last of the details on the deal!!! I'm so THRILLED to be a part of the Tor family and look forward to working with Melissa on the revisions of the trilogy!

Click to expand...

Congrats!

tracythewriter said:

Congrats Rhiannon! That's fantastic!!!

I am in the waiting boat on subs myself. Last week my agent pitched my book to 9 editors and all 9 wanted to take a look. Which is thrilling...and kind of terrifying at the same time. This is it, you know? First book - and scoring an agent was such a shock...now waiting to hear what editors have to say...and it's out there. Like, with professionals. Is this really happening?

Somehow I need to distract myself for the next few weeks - or months - and remind myself that even to get this far is pretty freakin' awesome.

I mean hey...even just finishing the book is an accomplishment, you know? Way to go all of us for having the courage to go through this crazy, ridiculous process. Yay us!!!

(Oh, and hi everybody. New here. And apparently not entirely coherent. Oops!)

Click to expand...

Good luck!

madderblue said:

I have a new idea for a book, characters, some fantastic scenes--I'm exploding inside to start writing, but my parents are in from the States for two and a half weeks and I barely have time to bathe much less sit down and delve into a new idea (plus if I did I'd get all snotty and mean if people started interrupting me for things like being fed or getting their clothes washed). Having a really good time but trying to stop a new story idea is like try to stop throwing up (unpleasant image, sorry).

Click to expand...

LOL! I know what you mean!

Vandal said:

Congrats, Rhiannon!

Agent call postponed until tomorrow.

Really.

Click to expand...

Bummer. Sorry to hear that, Vandal.

Vandal, who said it before? Was it Kellion? I'd have to go back and check, but when I read that he moved your phone call I thought maybe he IS!! waiting for some good news he's expecting and wants to have that to tell you. That got delayed and so his phone call to you got bumped too. Maybe? Hopefully.

Yeah, longer visits and everything is so new they are quite cute though. How do you turn the hot water on? How do you lock this door? What's this green thing in my soup?

And notes! I did make myself a fancy little notebook to load up on while they are here, jot jot jot scribble scribble scribble.

Oh crap, Vandal, that stinks. I hope it happens tomorrow.

Take heart, Vandal. I'm going through somewhat of the same problem. It's not a brush-off, but a postponement due to unforseen circustances.

Sometimes I feel like that butler in Foor Rooms, and I feel like cold-calling my agent and saying, "It'san Emerrrrrrregency! There's a fuckeen dead Hoar in the bed!"

Tri

Hey Hellions,
March Break over here, so just catching up now. {{Vandal}} Really, your agent MUST pull up their socks...

Congrats Rhiannon

Rhiannon, that's amazing! I tend to find the deals happen quickly, this is why after 4 weeks on sub, when the only news I got was of a European deal, I knew there was gonna be no big UK or US deal.

Madder, I love getting new ideas!

Vandal, this sucks. Even if he has good news to deliver, he's going about it the wrong way.

I haven't heard a peep out of my agent and kinda trembling in my boots at the next stage: another phone call after Easter but this one will be a tough one. Kinda make or break. Plus my friend has my WIP to it's not like I can bury my head in work... Bah, agents are being mean this month!

Really interesting blog post about sub process... http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2010/03/whats-standard-submission-process-like.html

Thanks everyone!

It's a strange feeling to know that the deal happened "fast," but during the process it seemed so "sloooooooooooooooooooow." I'm so glad to be on the other side of the submission round. I'm looking forward to working with my editor on the revisions and making the books they best they can possibly be.

Trixie, I read that post yesterday. Didn't think it seemed promising. I can see a few people liking my book, but not all people. I don't see it ever fighting its way out of a marketing meeting unless the one who likes it is pretty darn powerful.

I think things happen fast when they happen, not because those books are necessarily so much more brilliant than the rest, but because when one editor is interested, other editors become interested even if they were otherwise lukewarm. They may not offer, but they will consider. If you don't get that one early expression of interest, everyone knows no one else wants the book, so they can take their sweet time if they like it. And while they're taking their sweet time, they can think about all things that are wrong with it that they might not otherwise notice.

My bitter post of the day.

So, today I got a request from an agent to read my full manuscript. I wrote a polite email explaining that I had already found an agent. (When my agent offered representation, I sent an email to all the folks who had fulls or partials, but not to those with outstanding queries, as that was my impression of how to do things)

And the agent in question went on a total RANT on Twitter about how writers should let everyone know of an offer, so other agents have a chance to consider, and how it was so rude of me not to inform her, since she was a fast responder (three weeks), and that I was a bad communicator, etc. etc. She even suggested that writers (like me) should not be desperate to take the first offer (I was lucky enough to be able to consider three agents before making my decision).

It was a real shock. But, honestly, I'm almost glad that she had her rant. Because, obviously, this chick doesn't do so well with rejection....and it was sort of nice to have the tables turned for a bit. How many agents really consider THEIR quality of communication when they Twitter about bad queries or put down an aspiring writer's project? How easy it is for THEM to mete out the rejection?

Sorry if we writers have to do rejecting of our own every now and then. Sure it doesn't happen as often, but if you'd like US to behave professionally and considerately in the face of form letters, silence, and even derision on things like blogs and Twitter, maybe you should also work on offering us the same courtesy when we have to be in the position of rejecting YOU.

Okay, rant over.

Whoa, Tracy. That was totally weird! You definitely followed accepted etiquette. She didn't. Please rep me the agent's name, if you would (it's that little scale symbol in the left hand corner of this post). I've heard of a couple agents acting unprofessional on twitter, and this is another of those cases.

Woah tracy all I can say is I'm glad you went with someone else. That's very unprofessional.
Kellion, I'm with you on bitterness today, I'm sick to death of getting rejected *cry*

Tracy, we were just talking about that in my Google Group! I have NEVER ever heard of sending agents who only had the query a status update. Everything I've read said its fulls and maybe partials. My God, do you know, if you queried 100 agents, how many emails you'd have to send. and 99% of them would go, WTF is she telling me this?

tracy--rant justified. I had four agent offers within a nine-day period. It was a train wreck. When the dust settled I had two agents really pissed at me. One claimed that my sub was an exclusive and dug up some obscure wording on her website to prove it. The other one said, "I'm passing on you."

They often waste our time, but you dare not hang them up in any fashion. Some agents just don't take rejection/notification well. But I still love em.

Tri

I completely agree with you, Tracy. Especially when it comes to the "no response is a no" policies. I have no problem with that policy, but to assume, as a writer, that your query is still being considered when there's no indication???

And no, I have never heard that a writer should contact outstanding queries after getting an offer. Nonsense. And very bad form on the part of the agent.

YA writer - exactly! I STILL have 30 outstanding queries...how am I supposed to know which ones would be interested? Since...HELLO...they haven't contacted me to express said interest??

Tri - It'd be nice to just accept everyone, wouldn't it? Have them all shop your book and go with the one who gets you the best deal? But we don't have that luxury and it's hard enough trying to choose between good options, knowing that even with the best agent, your book still might not sell.

I hate having to reject people. I could NEVER be an agent.

I heard another weird twitter rant from an agent a couple weeks ago -- complaining that writers didn't thank them when they offered critique or comments with a rejection. That is the complete OPPOSITE of what most agents want, and one reason agents don't offer more feedback with Rs. They don't WANT rejected writers recontacting them.

*Shrug* Obviously, agents differ in their preferences, but we as writers can only follow standard practice.

I had a full request to a query after I signed with first agent years ago, and when I said I had signed with someone she replied, "Man, that will teach me to be so slow! Good luck!"

THAT'S an appropriate response!!!

And yes, like Kris said, with so many, no response means no, HTF would you even know who to send it too. This time around I actually let an agent with a partial know I had an offer and she emailed back that her R was in the mail. I got it the next day. No worries, it was still professional.

Ugh.

I think what bugs me the most is that she was pretty polite in the emails she sent...but then let her frustration and annoyance show in her tweets. Is it really that unlikely that I would follow her, considering I queried her? As writers we're supposed to bend over backwards to be polite, respectful, never burn any bridges...

I can tell you, if I'm ever in a position to look for an agent again, I certainly WON'T contact her!

Oh, and I did get three other requests after I got my agent. Two sent me congrats emails (and didn't twitter about it) and the third didn't respond (and didn't twitter about it). Totally professional responses.

Alright, I think I need to move on. Definitely been too riled up about this today.

Well, Tracy, there are worse things to get riled up about than someone freaking out with disappointment because you rejected them. Kind of a weird compliment Enjoy. Getting an agent is such a great feeling.