The Next Circle of Hell

HAH!

So, what did they end up using?

Other Lisa said:

HAH!

So, what did they end up using?

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There was no tagline. I was kind of surprised. They just went with: Daniel Friedman's DON'T EVER GET OLD, to Marcia Markland at Thomas Dunne Books, by Victoria Skurnick at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency (NA).

By the way, I am reading your book.

haha, djf! But congrats on the PM announcement, tagline or no!

ink wench said:

Got my first pass in oh... a couple months maybe, today. One of those so close it hurts ones. She said she held onto it for so long because she was on the fence. *sigh*

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Ouch (((Ink)))

inkspatters said:

*hugs other Ink*

In non-writing related news, my mum collapsed this morning at 3am, so I've spent the past three hours in emergency. They don't think anything's wrong with her -- just a freak thing -- but there'll be more tests this afternoon. I can't stay and make sure she's okay, because I have to go write a three hour exam. Sigh.

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Yikes. I hope your mom is okay.

Roly said:

omg omg all the editors on my round 1 are currently reading the ms

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Good luck!!

kellion92 said:

haha, djf! But congrats on the PM announcement, tagline or no!

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Ditto

Hey All!

I have a question I'm sure you'll all be able to help me with! :0)

I'm on my first round of editor submissions (my literary fiction MS was sent to 9 of the big houses), and two of the editors just rejected it, one with some fairly snarky comments. My agent said not to be discouraged, and that this is pretty routine stuff (his exact words were: fiction rejections are always all over the board, and that he was still confident in finding more than one offer), but I'd love to hear some of your thoughts on the situation--e.g. how typical is rejection on the first submission round, and is there a danger of the agent abandoning my cause if the other seven don't pan out?

Thank you all so much, and take the best of care,

Tutter

Thanks for all the good wishes, guys! It seems my mum's okay, just a freak thing as they suspected and she'll be just fine again in a few days

Tutter, rejection is (I think) pretty common on every round of subs and basically just pervades every sphere of the writing life (wow, I'm such an optimist, haha). So don't worry about that -- rejection is just, you know, rejection. Gotta live with it. Whether or not your agent will feel discouraged depends on the agent and the project. Most agents seem to do more sub rounds, though, if the first doesn't work out (although that might be different with lit. fic, not sure).

I agree with ink. It depends on the agent. Did he tell you what the plan was? ie: going out on several rounds, etc.? Passes happen all the time, regardless of what round you're on.

My agent said not to be discouraged, and that this is pretty routine stuff (his exact words were: fiction rejections are always all over the board, and that he was still confident in finding more than one offer)

Your agent sounds great and sounds invested. Stop fretting.

tutter said:

Hey All!

I have a question I'm sure you'll all be able to help me with! :0)

I'm on my first round of editor submissions (my literary fiction MS was sent to 9 of the big houses), and two of the editors just rejected it, one with some fairly snarky comments. My agent said not to be discouraged, and that this is pretty routine stuff (his exact words were: fiction rejections are always all over the board, and that he was still confident in finding more than one offer), but I'd love to hear some of your thoughts on the situation--e.g. how typical is rejection on the first submission round, and is there a danger of the agent abandoning my cause if the other seven don't pan out?

Thank you all so much, and take the best of care,

Tutter

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Tutter,

I also went on submission this month for my lit fic. Got my submission list a couple of days ago.

From my understanding there are not that many conventional houses that are buying lit fic. If your book straddles the Upmarket/ or Commercial fiction divide, it might offer you more choices. Mine is clearly a niche market and hence, I am already bracing myself for the possibility that my wonderful agent may not be able to place my book despite her commitment to my project. She is also trying a few Indies(that encourage agented submission) herself. And if it doesn't go anywhere this time, I would not expect my agent to keep on trying, I'd opt to go at it alone and try a few more Indies myself. That's just me.

Your agent sounds very confident about your project and I suggest that you stay optimistic at this time. Good luck to you.

djf881 said:

There was no tagline. I was kind of surprised. They just went with: Daniel Friedman's DON'T EVER GET OLD, to Marcia Markland at Thomas Dunne Books, by Victoria Skurnick at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency (NA).

By the way, I am reading your book.

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Thanks, hope you enjoy!

Tutter, I second Inksplatters and Cricket. I'm going to be a little doom and gloom-I think there's always the possibility that agent will leave a client or lose interest if the sub doesn't pan out. With that said, how an agent will react is pretty unpredictable IMO. Your best bet is to talk about this with your agent. Ask what will happen with your partnership if the MS doesn't sell. It's scary as hell to do, but it's important to know where you stand. It sounds to me like your agent has total faith in you, so I wouldn't worry!

Hey tutter, I'm on sub now, and I have one rejection say the book was lively (not rejecting it because of that though) and another complaining that it was "restrained and formal." Unless you are seeing a pattern, it doesn't mean much. They have to say something, and sometimes what they say is kind of dumb. Listen when your agent says listen, but otherwise don't worry.

(Actually, I *do* think my novel is lively, restrained, and formal, and those are all good things)

Tutter, everybody has very good advice. Most agents will do a second round or third round, either with or without a revision. And snarky comments don't mean more than polite ones -- maybe the editor was in a bad mood or expresses herself creatively through snark. Mostly a no just means no, unless there is very specific, consistent feedback. *shrug*

After my first submission round (semi-literary MG), I did a revision but my agent has lost faith in the commercial prospects of my book and declined to do a second round. So yeah, that happens too.

I thought the nasty rejections were kind of a relic of the "Mad Men" days of publishing. It strikes me as an industry where everyone is very polite, because people seem to move around so much they don't want to burn bridges and because nobody wants to be immortalized as the schmuck who sent the nasty rejection to Jack Kerouac. But there's a lot of rage and contempt below the surface.

Yeah, my passes were mostly very nice. And in most of them, you could tell the editor had actually read the book (there were a couple exceptions). But as others have said, you can't take much from any one individual pass. I had responses that I swear were exactly the opposite. Love the MC, hate the MC. Writing is weak, but love the story. Love the writing, story is weak. You know?

When you hear the same critique consistently, like three times, then it's time to listen.

Thank you all for the encouragement and reality checks!!

Other Lisa: how many passes did you have before you had a hit? I definitely know that no two authors experiences are the same. But I'm just curious.

Tutter: I'll just say, "Lots." With some close misses thrown in for an added frisson of stress and angst.

And now that I look at how the book has done, I think of the houses that passed and go, "ffffp!!!!"

Ha! Nice. I'll stop fretting, then.

The slightly more detailed rejections that mention specifics are tough --- I always assume that everyone will agree with whatever criticism the editor makes and no one will offer after I get one. But the experience of others seems to show this is not the case.

And even the specifics may not be the REAL reason you are rejected -- at best they're just helpful revision hints, at worst excuses. Some of my specifics (and many that others have received) are things that are very fixable, so if the editor loved it enough, she'd ask for fixes. But she didn't love it enough. It's a no.

Sigh. First pass. Hugs?

(((Roly))))

Roly said:

Sigh. First pass. Hugs?

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(((Roly))) Omg-that was SO fast. *hugs*

Roly - think of it this way: at least you're getting read quickly!

Yea, the editor was bit of a snark:

Direct quote: "I'm afraid the signal to noise ratio is unfavorable. The writing is full of verbal beans, but he's straining for effect in every paragraph and the (highly worked) plot is hard to discern behind all the pyrotechnics. It shows signs of being a first novel, if you know what I mean."

I was like, ouch!

Yea Roly, no worries. I just got TWO first passes. Hugs all around.