Full MS Rejected

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KC Sunshine

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Today I received an email from an agent who had my full manuscript who said he had to pass. He had some interesting feedback but what really shook me was the fact that he said a book with an extremely similar premise had just gone to auction. He said he didn't think it meant there wasn't room for my book but agents might be wary about picking it up, as the other book is getting a lot of pre publicity.

He was really lovely and said I was a very gifted writer line by line but he had concerns with the overall structure of the work. He said if I was going to send it out in light of the recent sale of this other book, then my MS would have to be close to perfect (which is very hard, a manuscript can't really be perfect, just perfect for the agent who decides to pick it up).

Anyway, I'm wondering what I'm doing all this for. Don't know if I should throw in the towel or push ahead with another novel. Feeling pretty sorry for myself.
 

Appalachian Writer

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KC, I'll tell you what a friend of mine told me when I felt very much like you do right now. Never give up, even on this book. Tweek. Revise. Tweek some more. Sure, work on you WIP, get it done. If you're a writer, my friend said, you write. Sooo...I didn't give up. Now, I have a revise and resubmit request from a pretty darn good agent, and I have 2 WIP's that I'm darned proud of. You can do it, but only if you have the courage to keep at it. Do you? That's the question.
 

nerds

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Crudcakes. That's crummy, really. I'd be feeling exactly the same way.

I haven't any sage advice other than what people here normally say, and they're generally right - if you want to be a writer, keep writing. Look how close you came, within a whisker. Maddening but also good. Your next book just might be the one that gets picked up first and goes to auction.

:Hug2:
 

JenWriter

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I say if you have agents left to query then keep on querying. Maybe go back and do another round of editing to polish it up some more. The next agent might feel differently.

Then, after the edit and during the querying, I would get to work on the next book. Maybe this book isn't "the one" that will get you representation, but the next one very might well be.
 

JenWriter

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I also want to add another thing. It looks like you've got two completed and one WIP. I know several authors who got representation for Book 4 or 5 or even 6. It would be great to get it on Book 2 and some do, definitely. But the average I hear is usually higher than that.
 

Gravity

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Yep. My first book was a trunk novel in the truest sense of the word, but I didn't know it then; I thought it was perfection itself. Only when I started sending it out did I realize how completely terrible it was. So I left it on the hard drive, and set about writing another. Heh, I thought, I've got it now. When I send it out this time, nothing could be worse than what I went through with that first one, right?

Wanna bet? I sent it to PA.

Now bear in mind, this was in 2000, when their presence on the 'Net was virtually nil. Only after I got my copies did I realize something was rotten in Denmark (or in this case, Frederick Maryland). Thoroughly flummoxed, and feeling as stupid as Curley Howard, I wrote a third novel. And this time got a good agent. And glory hallelujah, it, and the two (then unwritten) sequels, sold, in a very nice deal.

Since then I've gotten the rights back to the lost PA book, have extensively re-written it (like I should have at the start), and now my agent is pitching that one.

Oh yeah, and my trunk novel? After a serious, serious round of revisons, this month it sold to a solid house, and will be out in 2010.

So buck up, friend! Things WILL get better.
 

Karen Duvall

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:Hug2: Sunshine.

If a book similar to yours just got picked up through an auction, it sounds like a dang good concept that publishers are eager to gobble up. Who says the losing bidders aren't looking for a contender? Saying the future is bleak for a similar book is like saying we already have a book about vampires so there's no room for another one. Hello? I could understand if the same publisher who won the auction had no interest in a similar book because they'd have to compete with each other. But what about the other bidders? Color me confused.

Point is, that's one agent's perspective. There are a couple hundred other agents who may see things totally different. You just have to query them and find out. Good luck!
 

KC Sunshine

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You are all very wise and lovely. I may have to move this thread to the Coffee House of Pain, because all I want to do now is rant and rave about how someone like Diablo Cody got a book published AND an Oscar all at the age of 29, and so many others get contracts on their FIRST BOOK and WHY OH WHY CAN'T I BE LIKE THEEEEEEEEMMMMMM.

You're right Gravity, I need to let go of the feeling that this book was THE ONE. I felt thath way about the first one too, until the second one totally enveloped me.
 

trwithe

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KC,

Hang in there. Karen and Gravity gave you some good advice. You need to keep plugging away. I'm waiting for a response on my very first full MS submission to my very first agent over at Trident Media group in New York. If he comes back and says 'no, thanks' I'm going to keep at it. As I understand it, the business side is VERY subjective and sometimes capricious. So don't let one agent's opinion get you down. It sounds like he/she gave you some good feedback in a general sense, but take it with the grain of salt than Karen gave you and keep submitting. Each rejection gets you one closer to acceptance and a deal.

Good luck.

Tom
 

cate townsend

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There's already too much good advice here, I don't know what to add. You got some feedback from an agent that contains a very important clue: don't give up on this one yet.

I hear the stories too, about how most writers don't sell their first book, and it's number three or five or sixteen that gets them a contract. I also hear just as many stories of authors who get an offer for their first. Or their second. Don't let the stats influence your decision of whether or not to trunk it. Let your heart decide.
 

regdog

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If you want to feel sorry for yourself for a while go right ahead. SOme self pity might be just what you need. But don't give up. Keep trying with this novel and if you have an idea for a new one start on that as well.

Cheers for you to keep going:e2cheer:
 

Mystic Blossom

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The publishing world moves fast, and you may have to tweek it or improve it, but like others are saying, I think that if it's gone to auction, the losing bidders will be looking for competition. Good luck!

-Rachel, who does not know much but hopes she has been of some help to you.
 

triceretops

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Sounds like you have a hot concept/premis here. If it's hot for one, it's hot for another. Just ask ole Cap'n Hook here how much time he spends trying to find that high-concept one-sentence tagger that'll blow their doors off. Time is your friend on this one also. You could put it in the dugout and bring out swingin' at a later date and nobody would be the wiser.

Carry on....

Tri
 

sheadakota

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I have no words of wisdom to offer that haven't already been said- I just wanted to give you this:Hug2: and tell you I know how it feels- keep your chin up and after you are done pouting - resubmitt to another agent.
 

FionnJameson

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Gah, everyone's said that I wanted to say, but I just thought I'd throw in my much-used two cents and tell you to never give up! Revise, rewrite, do what it takes, but just keep writing!

:p IMHO, I think you should query more agents.
 

KC Sunshine

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Thanks everyone- you all rock!

I've got about 40 queries out there, most of them unanswered, as well as four partials and another full. I started querying about three weeks ago so I guess I can't complain.

Anyway, I've pulled myself out of my craphole of self loathing and am diligently plotting out the next one. All your great advice made me feel like a whinger.
 

ivorywhisper

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hugs

I dont have anything to say that hasnt already been said but I wanted you to know that you kick a** for finishing your book, putting it out there AND from the sound of it, you came within inches of your dream with this book.

Keep at it. You wouldnt have got such good feedback from the agent if you sucked!!
 

Bluestone

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I got in here too late to say anything meaningful that hasn't already been said, because you have received some very good advice, but just wanted to say I know exactly how you feel. I was rejected on a full (from a partial) from someone I would love to be represented by and it was a big letdown. In the end, if you feel it's ready (and the agent did say you were a very gifted writer, so that's huge) then keep querying, as you are doing, and keep writing.

Best of luck. It's going to happen as long as you keep persevering. It's only a matter of time! :Hug2:
 

maggieuc

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KC, I'll tell you what a friend of mine told me when I felt very much like you do right now. Never give up, even on this book. Tweek. Revise. Tweek some more. Sure, work on you WIP, get it done. If you're a writer, my friend said, you write. Sooo...I didn't give up. Now, I have a revise and resubmit request from a pretty darn good agent, and I have 2 WIP's that I'm darned proud of. You can do it, but only if you have the courage to keep at it. Do you? That's the question.
I agree. Keep it up! You'll find the agent that's right for you in time.
 

dawinsor

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KC, I really like the point others have made that this is a hot concept. Also, this agent told you you're a good writer. Keep your chin up. Eat chocolate.
 

JenWriter

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Yeah, he gave you positive comments, whereas he gave me form.

(*sigh* Maybe my dream agent isn't my dream agent after all)
 

Scrawler

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he said a book with an extremely similar premise had just gone to auction.
Huh. I've heard that one before, too. I'm still looking for that book. I keep looking at Borders and have yet to see "a book with an extremely similar premise" on the shelf. You'd think after 3-4 years it would turn up!
I think "a book with an extremely similar premise" is kind of like, let's do lunch. Or I'll call you.
blah
 

KC Sunshine

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Fortune smiles

Well turns out you were all right- this agent's trash has turned into another's treasure. I just got an agent!!!
 
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