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You will get rejections until your work is publishable. It sucks, but those are the breaks.
Take the lesson to heart and work on your writing. Then you'll start to notice a better result from agents.
I queried for a year before I realized I was not ready to query. It is humbling and hard to admit, but it was the best thing I ever did for myself.
I now have an agent and editors and all the rest of it. But to get there, you must focus on the writing first.
Take the lesson to heart and work on your writing. Then you'll start to notice a better result from agents.
I queried for a year before I realized I was not ready to query. It is humbling and hard to admit, but it was the best thing I ever did for myself.
I now have an agent and editors and all the rest of it. But to get there, you must focus on the writing first.
From experiece I've learned that the query letter is vital. I sent countless queries in the past which got me nowhere but have learnt from the mistakes. I guess it just requires patience.
Well, you'll get rejections for publishable work, too. Finding the right outlet and how to pitch it effectively is where I have the most trouble. Sometimes "not for us at this time" means exactly what it says; the agent or publisher isn't looking for this kind of story at that time.
Thanks for the info. It seems to be much harder if you haven't had anything published before (like I haven't). If I remember rightly even JK Rowling had a hell of a tough job getting her first Harry Potter book published, years later I bet the publishers were begging for her attention.
Writing is just so subjective that rejection pretty much comes with it. It hurts, but you develop a pretty thick skin after a while. When I first started querying, I slowly started to dread opening my inbox in the morning.
My biggest problem was that I used to address the agent by "Sir/Madam" which suggests I haven't researched the agent and really goes against me. Now I know to search the agent's name.
Depends. If your writing is good and you happen to approach exactly the right agent at exactly the right time, you might only get a handful of rejections before you find representation. Or you might query a hundred agents before getting The Call. No one person's experience is representative of the whole.
We had a poll not long ago - most people fell into the extremes, either a few queries or a lot. The ones who don't get agents are the ones who give up after 10 or 20 queries...
Search for more than just the name of the agent who represents your genre. Find out which authors s/he represents, what books s/he has sold, etc. Sometimes that can be worked into your query as the reason you chose this agent, proving that you are not just firing blind at every single agent but have actually done your homework.
Maryn, hoping this helps
Maryn, hoping this helps
It has helped. I was informed in the past that agents like to get the impression you're specifically interested in them rather than just wanting to get any old agent.
I'm not so sure it really works that way. I've seen enough agency blogs where they say the personalisation is nice, but ultimately they've accepted queries sent with the wrong name and rejected ones where the author obviously spent time getting to know the agent. The main things that will get you beyond first base are a good query and a good opening chapter or two.
From there you get a half dozen or a dozen requests. If the rest of the books work, maybe things work out.
Also, entering contests helps! Even if you've submitted to an agent before they'll look at your stuff if it's in a contest. Check for popular blogs that cover your genre, they'll often have agent contests where the prize is a full or partial request. Even if you don't find any success there's often a feedback portion where other contestants will critique your work to let you know how it's going.
From there you get a half dozen or a dozen requests. If the rest of the books work, maybe things work out.
Also, entering contests helps! Even if you've submitted to an agent before they'll look at your stuff if it's in a contest. Check for popular blogs that cover your genre, they'll often have agent contests where the prize is a full or partial request. Even if you don't find any success there's often a feedback portion where other contestants will critique your work to let you know how it's going.
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Also, twitter.
I hate to endorse the soul sucking thing that is a twitter feed, lol, but I have seen in the last couple of weeks that MANY agents have twitter feeds, and they post when they are looking for something and what.
for example:
@bradfordlit Laura Bradford (of the Bradford Agency) tweeted this yesterday:
Officially, I am acquiring romance (all subgenres except inspirational) women's fic, mystery, thrillers, urban fantasy, YA, some NF
It might be helpful to pick your top 10 agents and start following them, just in case.
I hate to endorse the soul sucking thing that is a twitter feed, lol, but I have seen in the last couple of weeks that MANY agents have twitter feeds, and they post when they are looking for something and what.
for example:
@bradfordlit Laura Bradford (of the Bradford Agency) tweeted this yesterday:
Officially, I am acquiring romance (all subgenres except inspirational) women's fic, mystery, thrillers, urban fantasy, YA, some NF
It might be helpful to pick your top 10 agents and start following them, just in case.
The problem I find with Twitter is that there's too much crap and not much useful information on most feeds.
@literaryagent "I just had lunch at Ed's Burgers, afterwards I had a truly epic bowel movement."
@literaryagent "I just had lunch at Ed's Burgers, afterwards I had a truly epic bowel movement."
Does anyone have any ETA on when one develops this thick skin? I'm still waiting for mine to emerge Hopefully this forum will help
Hopefully this forum will help You never know your work is "publishable" until it gets published. It's the ultimate writer's catch-22.
caw
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That's expected but what I'm seeing, compared with film agents/managers, is that the rejections come in at a very slow, drip, drip pace. Some agents say that they respond to queries within 4-6 weeks! In film you know where you are usually within 7 days.
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Does anyone have any ETA on when one develops this thick skin? I'm still waiting for mine to emerge
I don't think it ever gets Rhino thick but what develops over time is an ability to shrug off and move on. One doesn't wallow so much in the rejection as it becomes business as usual.
You don't want to develop rhino skin. If rejections pile up then you should take the hint, go back to your manuscript and your query and work on improving them, rinse and repeat. After about 200 rejections on your current project you should take all that you've learned and start a new project. Again, rinse and repeat. If you use rejection as a learning tool and a goad to prod you to work harder you'll get there eventually.
I can't stand Twitter. Too much time weeding out the little bits of real information from the crapstorm. I will briefly research what a target agent says on Twitter, so I can get a feel for how they think.
I'd agree that contests are useful. Two contest honorable mentions -- not even wins -- this year have helped get my mms to more agents than before. At the very least, those contests showed me that I wasn't completely delusional about my work.
Of course, I've also started two new projects this year that keep me engaged and enthusiastic while I query the first one. Those balance out the rejections.
I'd agree that contests are useful. Two contest honorable mentions -- not even wins -- this year have helped get my mms to more agents than before. At the very least, those contests showed me that I wasn't completely delusional about my work.
Of course, I've also started two new projects this year that keep me engaged and enthusiastic while I query the first one. Those balance out the rejections.
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I shelved my first ms for this very reason. Unfortunately, by the time I realized it was not publishing quality I was neck deep in another book. So instead of going through extensive edits, it got tucked back into my "ideas" drawer. I should have realized this when the very first agent I querried rejected me barely ten minutes after I hit the send button.
Live and learn.
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I got three rejections with my first book. I was really shocked. Then I found Query Shark, read all of the posts and realized what a piece of crap my original query letter was. Once I threw it out and started over, I started getting requests for partials and fulls.
One of the agents who requested a full invited me to revise and resubmit. We've been working together for almost a year now. (Four revisions later!) But the book is so much better. (I thought it was ready when I started querying, but it wasn't. That's got to be a common mistake.)
What I learned is it's really important to have something polished and ready.
One of the agents who requested a full invited me to revise and resubmit. We've been working together for almost a year now. (Four revisions later!) But the book is so much better. (I thought it was ready when I started querying, but it wasn't. That's got to be a common mistake.)
What I learned is it's really important to have something polished and ready.
I absolutely agree Mclesh, the problem is, when you're starting out you don't know what 'good' is.
On my current manuscript, I sent out about 20 queries with a prologue I knew was weaker than Chapter 1, but I thought would stand up. A few requests, but only from 'query only' agents.
Scrapped prologue. Re-wrote everything. Another 40 queries. A few requests, but nothing to write home about.
Focused on the MC, his feelings and character development. Gave him a real, flawed, understandable nature. Re-wrote Chapter 1 three or four times. Went through a couple of beta readers.
Another 40 queries out, this time lots of bites, one of which turned into an offer (which I have to sign and take to a courier on Monday).
The funny thing is, while the agent was going over it I noticed a rather large flaw in the plot which could be easily fixed by adding a new chapter, re-writing a few dozen lines in the rest of the book and deleting a half-chapter that was fine, but not great. So, it was 'good enough' but I'm still finding ways to make it better.
There's a story told about Tolstoy, I don't know if it's true or not, but some claim that when he died they found reams of revisions to War and Peace, dating right up to the days before his death, 41 years after the book was published.
Always make an effort to improve your skills as an author. Always look for ways to improve your manuscripts. Work hard and learn well. I think those are the 'secrets' to making it in this crazy industry.
On my current manuscript, I sent out about 20 queries with a prologue I knew was weaker than Chapter 1, but I thought would stand up. A few requests, but only from 'query only' agents.
Scrapped prologue. Re-wrote everything. Another 40 queries. A few requests, but nothing to write home about.
Focused on the MC, his feelings and character development. Gave him a real, flawed, understandable nature. Re-wrote Chapter 1 three or four times. Went through a couple of beta readers.
Another 40 queries out, this time lots of bites, one of which turned into an offer (which I have to sign and take to a courier on Monday).
The funny thing is, while the agent was going over it I noticed a rather large flaw in the plot which could be easily fixed by adding a new chapter, re-writing a few dozen lines in the rest of the book and deleting a half-chapter that was fine, but not great. So, it was 'good enough' but I'm still finding ways to make it better.
There's a story told about Tolstoy, I don't know if it's true or not, but some claim that when he died they found reams of revisions to War and Peace, dating right up to the days before his death, 41 years after the book was published.
Always make an effort to improve your skills as an author. Always look for ways to improve your manuscripts. Work hard and learn well. I think those are the 'secrets' to making it in this crazy industry.
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I was trying to figure out how to say exactly this. You took the words out of my mouth. That's the thing, if you're a new writer, you have to put yourself out there at some point so you know what you have to work on.
How exciting for you, DJ! That's really fabulous about your agent. And funny about the flaw. (It reminds me of a conversation I had with my son just yesterday. He's 13, just started high school, and they're discussing Lord of the Flies. He found what he thinks is a continuity error in the book, and the way he described it to me, I think he's right. It's something most people would probably never pick up on. But wow!)
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