Editor's Thought Process?

Sometimes, editors change houses or change jobs within the same house. Those whom they turn their work over to may have even less time (doing the work of two) and may not have seen the value in your partial. I've heard horror stories of books that have been accepted which died for slipping through the cracks. Slip ups happen during personnel changes anywhere.

Raven1723 said:

Curious about the thought process of editors who request full manuscripts from an agent and then never read it and don't respond to nudges.

I have one manuscript that has been with two editors for almost a year and another that it seems like everyone is sitting on.

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A year? Get your agent to ring the editors and politely chide them. That's not really on.

Raven1723 said:

Torgo - she emailed them and didn't get a response. She's basically said that if you need to nudge, you're likely to get rejections from editors just because they don't have the time and it's easier to say "no". But we've written those editors off basically.

My current sub is out to about 15 editors, some of whom have had it since October with no word. :-(

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If your agent can't get a response out of an editor at a big imprint by email, she needs to call them on the telephone and say 'what's going on?' Seriously. If she's an agent that editors at big imprints feel comfortable about blanking for a year, she may not be such a great agent for you.

I have a sub out since September. It's with the editorial team. Been waiting on an answer for months now. My agent has nudged. And nudged. And keeps getting the same answer: We'll get back to you soon.

Frustrating. But what can you do?

Torgo said:

If your agent can't get a response out of an editor at a big imprint by email, she needs to call them on the telephone and say 'what's going on?' Seriously. If she's an agent that editors at big imprints feel comfortable about blanking for a year, she may not be such a great agent for you.

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That's what I'm wondering as well...

Honestly, unless the manuscript has been lost, or simply forgotten somehow, I don't think I've ever seen this happen, with one exception. . .the agent is not one the editor expects to get anything good from, at least on a regular basis.

All agents are not equal, and editors do not treat submissions from all agents in the same way. An agent with a proven track record almost always gets immediate attention. An agent who routinely submits crappy manuscripts may be ignored completely. Most fall in the middle. Just like writers, agents have to prove they can submit quality manuscripts on a routine basis. A very high crap to quality ratio means an agent can be ignored completely, or that the agent's submissions will be passed on to a slush reader, etc.

And, unfortunately, too many lesser agents actually submit fulls to editors without actually being asked to do so.

But I've never known an agent at a big house to simply ignore a submission form a proven agent any longer than is absolutely necessary. When something does go wrong, such as a lost or forgotten manuscript, a nudge, in my experience, always gets immediate attention, if that nudge is from a quality agent.

Raven1723 said:

Torgo - she emailed them and didn't get a response. She's basically said that if you need to nudge, you're likely to get rejections from editors just because they don't have the time and it's easier to say "no".

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You might need a better agent...

If the agent won't fight for your work, why pay them? There are plenty of editors, your agent should be hitting the appropriate ones and pushing to get your work published. Otherwise the agent doesn't get paid.

Jeff

While not blaming the agent, I have to wonder about the professional relationship this agent has with those editors. From your comments, it sounds like she is frightened of rocking her boat.

You know what, tell her to Rock the Boat. If they are interested, they will tell her so, if not, they will wish her luck. It's a business. How can the agent make any $$$ sitting on a manuscript for a year?

Honestly, Raven, I think that sometimes just happens.

When I parted ways with my former agent, she sent me a list of all the places she'd subbed, their responses, and the dates she followed up. There were two or three editors on that list who just never bothered getting back to her - and they were some pretty big names in the industry. Sometimes it just happens, even if they request the ms. Who knows why that happens? I just chalk it up to getting busy and letting things fall through the cracks.

Try not to take it personally. I think it's one of those "roll with the punches" type of things. Just move on to the next.

Raven1723 said:

Just to clarify...my agent is part of a well-known agency and she has been in the business for a long time (mostly on the editorial side). My genre is NOT her area of expertise although she is growing in that area and has had some nice sales and award-winners, etc.

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Raven,

It seems to me the bold part might be the problem. You want an agent who sells the genre you are writing because then they have the contacts. They know what editors to send your manuscript to. Have her sales and awards been in your specific genre? She should know how to "work with" those editors.

Of course there's no reason to blame her for your book not selling, but she needs to follow up on submitted manuscripts.

Rock her boat and tell her to rock the editors' boats. Of course, you should not have to tell her to do that, she should be doing it already.

Raven1723 said:

Thothguard51 - My agent hasn't sat on my MS. It's a few of the editors we never heard back from.

Just to clarify...my agent is part of a well-known agency and she has been in the business for a long time (mostly on the editorial side). My genre is NOT her area of expertise although she is growing in that area and has had some nice sales and award-winners, etc.

I'm not blaming her for my books not selling. She didn't write them.

I asked my question in hopes that someone on the editorial side could address this. I understand an agent receiving a query letter from a writer they've had no contact with and not replying.

I do NOT really understand why an editor would REQUEST a manuscript after an agent pitch and then not reply.

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So you're not really looking for an answer. You just wanted to rant a bit. Great. I'm guessing we pretty much all think it sucks. Lots of things in the publishing world suck.

Why keep asking about the thought processes behind what we're all pretty sure is a thoughtless act?

Raven1723 said:

Actually, I wasn't ranting. I was hoping that an editor might respond, since this is the "ask the editor" forum. Agents address the issue of not responding to queries all the time. I genuinely would love to know the process for an editor and if this is common.

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My dear Raven: as an editor at a Big Six firm, I'd say no, this isn't common. But I think you need to ask your agent some serious questions if they can't get the attention of an editor, because that's what you are paying your agent for.

As an editor who has worked for a few of the Big Six, my advice is to listen to Torgo.