How To Reply To A Revision Request

Provrb1810meggy · Jul 3, 2007

I just got an email from an agent with a full who said they think the writing is great, but they think the voice of my novel is more suited for Middle Grade than YA. He says he'd be happy to take a look if I changed the story so it was in a middle school and suited for the 11-13 age group.

This is one of the first replies I've gotten to the manuscript, so I don't want to change the ms. right away. However, I want to keep my options open and would certainly consider revising if I got similar feedback or if other agents weren't interested.

So...how do I reply in a way that's polite and shows that I'd be interested in revising eventually, maybe? Would something like below be okay?

"Thank you so much for your prompt reply and helpful comments. At this stage, I have my manuscript out with many agents and haven't received a lot of feedback. For now, I want to find out what some other agents think, but I'm very open to making this revision in the future. If I decide to make the changes, I'll be sure to let you know."

Hmm...or maybe I should just give the revision a shot. Ah! Confusion! *sigh* This is what happens when an agent actually compliments my writing.

Julie Worth · Jul 3, 2007

Just thank them for their advice and say you're going to work on it. Then keep querying other agents.

rugcat · Jul 3, 2007

One thing you might do is to take a hard look at the ms. Are you happy with it the way it is, or is it possible the agent is ori to something?

My agent requested some revisions, but for me it was easy, because the issues she had with it were the very things I wasn't sure about myself.

If you don't mind the work, you could make the revisions while keeping the original ms. If you like the revisions you can go that way; if you don't, you still have the original ms out to others and haven't lost anything. At worst, you'll have two variations that might each appeal to different agents.

giftedrhonda · Jul 3, 2007

I agree with the advice given.

rubarbb · Jul 3, 2007

rugcat said:
If you don't mind the work, you could make the revisions while keeping the original ms. If you like the revisions you can go that way; if you don't, you still have the original ms out to others and haven't lost anything. At worst, you'll have two variations that might each appeal to different agents.

I agree with rugcat...keep all options open...

ORION · Jul 3, 2007

I don't know any manuscript that could not be improved by revisions/edits. Many times agents ask for these things to see if the writer is capable of doing editing. I worked with my agent for nearly 4 months before my novel was submitted. Just a thought.

Provrb1810meggy · Jul 3, 2007

Thanks everybody. I think I will try to rewrite it. I mean, there's no harm in giving it a shot, right?

zpeteman · Jul 3, 2007

An agent read five pages and told me to resubmit if I decided to cut the ms by 25,000 words.

/boggle

I'm all for cutting things if need be, but cutting 25,000 words is just preposterous...which she'd know if she read more than five pages. Argh.

reenkam · Jul 3, 2007

zpeteman said:
An agent read five pages and told me to resubmit if I decided to cut the ms by 25,000 words.

/boggle

I'm all for cutting things if need be, but cutting 25,000 words is just preposterous...which she'd know if she read more than five pages. Argh.

How long is it in the first place?

zpeteman · Jul 3, 2007

100,000

reenkam · Jul 3, 2007

That's an intense cut...especially if she'd only read 5 pages.

katiemac · Jul 3, 2007

Pete, I'm no expert on the subject, but my guess is that particular agent was requesting the cut based on writing style, not the actual plot.

But I agree, it does sound like an odd request.

Maprilynne · Jul 3, 2007

Meg--you don't have to take the whole plunge. Save your story as is in a nother file and then commit to doing, say, three chapters in Middle School. Then see how you like it. You might like it better. But regardless, you still have that original in a file. That's what I did when I was cutting mine, and I surpised myself by liking the revised version SO much better.

Congrats on the interest. Asking for any kind of revision is a huge thing! Agents just don't have the time these days.

SteveCordero · Jul 5, 2007

zpeteman said:
An agent read five pages and told me to resubmit if I decided to cut the ms by 25,000 words.

/boggle

I'm all for cutting things if need be, but cutting 25,000 words is just preposterous...which she'd know if she read more than five pages. Argh.

I'm with you on this, but you also have to consider the genre/market you're dealing with. As mentioned, 25,000 words is a huge cut, but perhaps in the genre/market you're dealing with, the optimum word limit is 75,000 words.

A few years back when I was querying with a historical fiction manuscript, my word count was a whopping 218,000. Yes, I know, I'm nuts. Agents gave me some good feedback and the primary thing was that I had to get it under 150,000 words to have a chance with historical fiction as a first time novelist.

I had no idea how to do it. I thought of splitting the book into 2, but that didn't work. Then I simply decided to bite the bullet and do a major re-write. I cut 80,000 words, and the majority of it I'll hopefully use later. Now, I'm querying with a 138,000 word manuscript and have been getting more positive responses than before.

In any event, keep on querying with what you have and see what happens.

Jamesaritchie · Jul 7, 2007

Barbarique said:
Brilliant. One agent imperiously ordered me to cut HALF of a 149K manuscript and resubmit... this without reading a single word!

Don't you just love folks who can't think outside their (tiny little) box?

Fortunately I've since found someone who can.

This can be very good advice. Publishers aren't concerned with boxes, but with marketability, and when they want a given type of book at 75K, they usually mean 75K, not 159K. Most agents know this, so if you submit a novel that fits a book line where a certain word count is a must, the agent doesn't have to read it to tell you it has to be cut.

BestWriter07 · Jul 7, 2007

Provrb1810meggy said:
I just got an email from an agent with a full who said they think the writing is great, but they think the voice of my novel is more suited for Middle Grade than YA. He says he'd be happy to take a look if I changed the story so it was in a middle school and suited for the 11-13 age group.

This is one of the first replies I've gotten to the manuscript, so I don't want to change the ms. right away. However, I want to keep my options open and would certainly consider revising if I got similar feedback or if other agents weren't interested.

So...how do I reply in a way that's polite and shows that I'd be interested in revising eventually, maybe? Would something like below be okay?

"Thank you so much for your prompt reply and helpful comments. At this stage, I have my manuscript out with many agents and haven't received a lot of feedback. For now, I want to find out what some other agents think, but I'm very open to making this revision in the future. If I decide to make the changes, I'll be sure to let you know."

Hmm...or maybe I should just give the revision a shot. Ah! Confusion! *sigh* This is what happens when an agent actually compliments my writing.

You should them an email and say HAY, I HATE SUSHI!!

They'll be like "huh!!?!?!" Then you can be like "Oh, what, I dont make sense huh? Ha ha ha ha! Maybe you're dumb!!"

NAH DONT DO THAT! :welcome:

DeadlyAccurate · Jul 7, 2007

Please, please, please, let's not go there again, okay? We beat this topic to death in the thread you started in May.

Anthony Ravenscroft · Jul 8, 2007

If you're dead-set against such cuts, then burn that bridge (politely) & move along. Simple. Or are there other issues not being mentioned...?

How To Reply To A Revision Request

Provrb1810meggy

Julie Worth

What? I have a title?

rugcat

Lost in the Fog

giftedrhonda

Gifted Goofball

rubarbb

Serenity

ORION

Sailed away years ago

Provrb1810meggy

zpeteman

Natural born...

reenkam

aka cupcake

zpeteman

Natural born...

reenkam

aka cupcake

katiemac

Five by Five

Maprilynne

Author Waiting in the Wings

SteveCordero

Pit Livin' & Purgatory Dreamin'

Jamesaritchie

BestWriter07

DeadlyAccurate

Absolutely Fazed

Anthony Ravenscroft

Scribble, scribble, scribble