How long before you found an agent?

For me, it was the first agent I queried, and I can't remember exactly, but she responded in roughly a week. But that was pre-internet.

5 days.

E-query and first 50 pages initially. Signed with 2nd full length book I ever wrote.

I sent out to 25 agents before I found my agent. I did the regular query process. I think from the time I sent the query to signing the contract was 27 days.

5 and a half years for my first novel.

I haven't signed with an agent yet, but I've got one who's shown significant interest in my book and it looks pretty hopeful to me. She's supposed to be getting back to me soon after reviewing the latest edits. (yay!)

From the time I queried her to today, it's been about two months.

For my first manuscript I queried, rewrote, queried some more, rewrote, etc. for years.
Finally, I decided to move on to write something else, and it took about two months to sign with an agent.

I answered 0-6 months because that's how long it took me to get my first agent. But it took 6-12 months to get agent #2 and close to 2 years to find agent #3.

Beth

It took me over a year, but that was because I had one of the biggest agents in the business interested for 6 months, and another for 8. When they showed interest I stopped querying.

sciri said:

Wow, that's shocking... Is that because you changed genre? I hear once you get an agent usually you are expected to pitch all the following work with them... Can I ask you what happened in your case?

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Have you got an hour?

Just kidding, sorta. Here's my sordid tale:

Back in the mid-nineties, my first agent sold three of my novels to HarperCollins as paperback originals but while we were negotiating the fourth, HC did a whole bunch of shuffling, eliminated their paperback division and either dropped those authors or moved them into hardcover. Then they bought up Avon and used that as their paperback division. I was one of the authors who got dropped and since this happened a few months before my third book came out, it ended up an orphan.

After a bunch of back and forth with some other publishers, it became clear I was going to have to write the next novel before any other publishers would talk money (whereas I was selling on just a proposal before the dust-up). During that time my agent decided to retire, leaving me with no agent or publisher. I finished the book, didn't like it, started a freelance business that took off like crazy, and started another, different type of novel (the first three were suspense, this one was a humorous mystery).

When this new novel was done I started looking for another agent. Found one, but he was not able to sell that novel and after 2.5 years together, we parted ways at my suggestion. I had written another novel during that time so I started hunting for an agent again. Oh, and I decided to self-publish the novel the second agent hadn't been able to sell as kind of an experiment.

The self-publishing experiment went about how I expected (dismally) although I did get a nice nod from POD-dy Mouth and was a finalist in the EPIC awards. I eventually pulled the book off the market and started querying with it again. I also queried with the newer novel I'd just finished, which was more in line with my first three books.

It took me much longer this time but by then I'd given up the freelance work and had a regular job again and I wasn't as ambitious with the querying as I'd been with the earlier two. I found my current agent after a little over a year and a half of querying with both books (though only one at a time, targeted at different agents). She sold the humorous mystery (the self-pubbed one) as the first in a series within a matter of weeks, getting me a three-book deal with Kensington. We've shopped the other ms around but haven't found any takers.

So there you have it. Found my dream, lost it, and found it again. That's often the way of this biz.

Beth

The poll lacks a "Never" option, so I can't answer.

caw

I haven't even started looking for an agent.

I don't even have a clue as to how difficult it would be here in the UK.

The business is smaller, agents are fewer, yet there's 120k books published each year so I guess it would be harder than in the US. And most of the agencies I've looked at doesn't seem to accept email queries, so that will probably slow things down as well.

I'm a screenwriter. It took me six years of rejections to finally land at ICM. It's all about how bad you want it and how long you're willing to suffer through the heart break. Good luck guys.

blacbird said:

The poll lacks a "Never" option, so I can't answer.

caw

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Neither can I.

sciri said:

wow... so evidently, ~50 queries later and 4 partials requested and later rejected, I am obviously doing something wrong.... (have been in the querying limbo for about 3 months....)

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No you're not. Wait & see. The first few posts were shocking to me that it happened so fast. I was at 80+ queries & maybe 8 mo. before I about ran out of agents & went to publishers directly before I got a bite. So, sorry, I can't answer the poll but I just wanted to pass a hug. You are not doing it wrong - especially if you got requests for partials. I know there are a lot of high numbers and long waits here.

I was lucky enough to snag agent interest on my second query (24 hours after my first query to another agent was submitted and swiftly rejected, and then my agent responded within 24 hours, so...48 hours?). When I sent him my proposal, however, it got lost in the mail, so there was a two-month delay before he actually signed me on. After another three months of revisions and a long round of submissions, almost-acceptances, and still more revisions, I entered a three-year dormant period before my book sold to HarperCollins this May. Wild ride, and worth every second of the wait.

I'm not querying any longer, so the Never answer will always be mine.

Took at least three years, probably more (I'm still trying to block all that searching and the related rejections out of my mind). However, when I'd finally written the right book to land an agent, that took pretty much 2 months from first meeting to completion of the MS/submission to signing.

Some land their agent quickly, some land their agent slowly. The trick is to keep on writing and keep on submitting if you fall into the "slowly" category.

Queries submitted to agents: 33
Form rejections: 19
Rejection by no response: 7
Requests for partial: 3
Request for full mss: 1
Offer to represent: 1

Timeline
Jan 31 - first e-queries sent
repeat process each Sunday
May 10 - last e-queries sent.
May 12 - partial requested.
May 13 - full requested on 2-week exclusive.
May 27 - phone call scheduled.
Jun 1 - phone call and offer.

Most of the rejections came pretty quickly - this was all by email - but I did receive a rejection Sept 16 for an Apr 19 query, which would be the longest.

-Barbara

Since the poll question didn't specify "for the book you signed with" or "since you started querying period," I picked one and selected my answer from the latter.

I started querying in...dang...2005? Early 2006? So my answer went into the 2+ column, because it took three+ years and three different novels before I signed with an agent.

With the book that eventually signed me with an agent (see avatar), it took less than three months from query to full request to referral to contract.

I'm also a never been signed person.

Of course, I've only sent out one query, which was rejected after being taken to meeting. It was an instant-partial, because when I rang them asking if I could send them something, they asked for 3 chapters and a synopsis, so partial.

But it was a rejection, and since then I've been working on other projects as I don't feel that first book really has what it takes.

I'll get back to you in a few months as to how long it will take me (if all goes well) because I'm going to finish editing my new book in January, so help me, and then query go round with the 5 Australian agents who accept unsolicited submissions.

If I can't get anywhere with them, then I'll go straight to publishers.

First rejection took I think 6 weeks... But next time I'll be sending to all 5 agents at once, cos I'm not very patient.

jodiodi said:

I'm not querying any longer, so the Never answer will always be mine.

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Quoted for agreement.

Which means:

1. I've queried enough to have it confirmed that I got nuthin' worth querying.

2. I've submitted enough short stuff with total rejection result to have it confirmed that I got nuthin' worth submitting.

3. Nuthin' "in progress" has any promise of a better result.

4. Approaching year-end here, it's all dead in the water. And stinking like it.

5. I don't have clue one what to do in the new year.

caw