[Agent] Rachel Coyne (nee Vater)

scope · Jul 28, 2008

Fionn,

She only had your query for about 10 days (if she's not on vacation). If her guidelines say 4 weeks for a reply, I suggest you wait about 6 weeks.

JenWriter · Jul 28, 2008

I would wait. I think I got a response after 3 weeks when I queried her.

ThatMovieAnnouncerGuy · Jul 28, 2008

My bad. I didn't realize it was so soon. I'd give her at least 8 weeks, esp this time of year.

Shadow_Ferret · Jul 28, 2008

If you haven't heard after 8 months, such as is my case, then move on.

Continue to query other agents and forget about it.

sunnyxlove · Jul 28, 2008

FionnJameson said:
Hey, Sunnyxlove, I'm 22, which isn't that far off from 18. LOL. Actually, that would differ upon any given opinion, but anyways...

I would leave age out of a query, as well as any mention about having no background. While there are some people who like people young, there's also some agents who feel a bit wary for young writers, thinking that they don't yet have enough potential for the publishing industry.

thanks Fionn! I will do that! haha, it's so difficult to get the first book published XD

FionnJameson · Jul 29, 2008

Okay, thanks for the tips, guys. Unfortunately, I already sent her another email. *wince* Argh!

Sunnyxlove: LOL, ain't that the truth, HAH!

RoccoMom · Aug 6, 2008

sunnyxlove said:
congrats toni! I love Rachel Vater and would like for her to represent me one day.

I was wondering if you can give me some advice. I am only 18 years old and have no professional background in literature. I have written several manuscripts, but haven't considered publishing any of them until now. How can I convince an agent to consider my work when I don't have an impressive background? Will my age effect anything?

Thanks and hope to see your book come out soon!

Thanks! We came very close to a sale on Round 1 so now she's getting ready for Round 2--hope we have better luck!

Age won't matter if the manuscript is good. I wouldn't mention your age when you query. and an impressive background is nice, but once again, unless it catches the agent/editor's eye, it won't affect the outcome.

Good luck!

RoccoMom · Aug 6, 2008

FionnJameson said:
Anyways, here's a question of my own:

Judging from what people have said about Ms. Vater's quick turnabout with queries, I've queried her on the 15th this month, but I haven't got a reply yet...should I give it another few weeks, or suppose it got vacuumed into her spam and resend the query?

i know she's backed up w/queries and edits, and she was having problems with her email a few weeks ago, so i'd just send a polite nudge. Unfortunately, that's the downside of an agent who's popular.

Stew21 · Aug 6, 2008

I sent a query on May 29th and got the rejection on June 16th. Give her time.

JennyCP · Sep 18, 2008

It's been over a month since I e-mail queried Rachel Vater. Anyone know is she's just way bogged down right now? I queried in the beginning of August before I realized that was a mistake, so I'm thinking of re-querying her. I'd really, really love to hear back something (just got my form rejection from Barry Goldblatt today, and it sucks, but is good to just know for sure)

JenWriter · Sep 18, 2008

Jenny - I also queried Rachel a month ago and haven't heard back. So, I'm thinking she may be backlogged.

Also, I got my query R from Barry G. today too. He's an awesome agent, and I would have loved to get even the tiniest bit of interest from him.

JennyCP · Sep 19, 2008

Yeah, Goldblatt was the one I wanted most, but I'm sure he is SO busy with all his great clients. Hopefully we'll all hear something from Rachel Vater soon!

RoccoMom · Sep 19, 2008

As one of RAchel's clients, I can assure you all she is VERY backlogged. I'm still waiting on my second round of submissions. Hang in there!

KAP · Sep 19, 2008

I queried her in April, did the "requery after 2 months" thing she suggests on her blog in late June, and wrote it off as a "no response means no thanks" query in August.

kap

ThatMovieAnnouncerGuy · Sep 19, 2008

Similar to Kap.

PastMidnight · Sep 19, 2008

Same with Kap and TMAG. Queried in April, requeried two months later, and have now given up. I wish she would update her blog, at least to say that she is backlogged.

MissLadyRae · Sep 19, 2008

Same here. I queried on Jan 29th, resent a query in May but I didn't hear anything both times so I assumed it was a no response rejection.

JmHaBjW · Oct 22, 2008

I've had a partial with her since April. No response either. I'm not ready to give up and have been sending her status queries every few months, but haven't gotten a response

Any news on what she is up to these days?

RLB · Oct 22, 2008

I just got a rejection from her yesterday for a query sent on 9/18. She says to requery if you don't hear anything for eight weeks.

Erin · Oct 22, 2008

RLB said:
I just got a rejection from her yesterday for a query sent on 9/18. She says to requery if you don't hear anything for eight weeks.

Wow, I wonder if she reads her queries in order of receipt. I queried her on 8/31 and I still haven't heard anything. I plan to requery on the 8 week mark if I haven't heard back.

RLB · Oct 22, 2008

Erin said:
Wow, I wonder if she reads her queries in order of receipt. I queried her on 8/31 and I still haven't heard anything. I plan to requery on the 8 week mark if I haven't heard back.

I think she said once on her blog that sometimes she'll set aside queries that sound intriguing and give them a second look later, so maybe that's good news for you!

RoccoMom · Oct 23, 2008

I know she is at a writer's conference in Surrey, Canada this week so that accounts for some of the backlog. If it's any consolation, I'm a client of hers and I've been waiting weeks for her to start Round 2 of subs.

ThatMovieAnnouncerGuy · Oct 23, 2008

Toni1953 said:
I know she is at a writer's conference in Surrey, Canada this week so that accounts for some of the backlog. If it's any consolation, I'm a client of hers and I've been waiting weeks for her to start Round 2 of subs.

Not exactly confidence inspiring. Just sayin'.

JmHaBjW · Oct 23, 2008

I met her at a conference in April and she seemed genuinely interested in my novel. I was really impressed with her. After the first status query I sent her I recevied a reply saying that she would get right to it, that it had gotten buried in her e-mail but didn't here back. Should I just take it as a rejection?

Erin · Oct 23, 2008

RLB said:
I think she said once on her blog that sometimes she'll set aside queries that sound intriguing and give them a second look later, so maybe that's good news for you!

I hope that's the case! Thanks for the tip.

[Agent] Rachel Coyne (nee Vater)

scope

Commonsensical Maverick

JenWriter

Word Count Slayer

ThatMovieAnnouncerGuy

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

sunnyxlove

FionnJameson

Fionn: 0/Year: 24

RoccoMom

RoccoMom

Stew21

JennyCP

JenWriter

Word Count Slayer

JennyCP

RoccoMom

KAP

Hangin' with the gargies

ThatMovieAnnouncerGuy

PastMidnight

Oponionated

MissLadyRae

I vaahnt to suck your blaahd

JmHaBjW

RLB

bundled

Erin

Listening to my other selves

RLB

bundled

RoccoMom

ThatMovieAnnouncerGuy

JmHaBjW

Erin

Listening to my other selves