No Response After Revisions

As another person on this board said to me - Never stop sending out queries.

I had much the same experience. With my first round of queries, only one agent responded. He asked for a proposal which I promptly sent. Then I received another e-mail a few days later asking for some revisions to the proposal. I sent those revisions and got an e-mail back saying "this looks fine to me, let me talk to my partners."

A short time later I got a call from him asking to clarify a few details. He ended the call by saying we'd "touch base in a few days" and sent me his agency contract just for me to "look over". You might imagine I thought I was in pretty good shape and didn't query anyone else at that point.

then... nothing.

A few weeks later I sent a nice e-mail to "make sure he wasn't waiting on anything else from me." No response.

I finally started sending queries to other agents, but after two months I sent the first agent another e-mail basically asking if there was something that I needed to be aware of, something that changed him mind about representing me.

Again...no response.

I'm perfectly aware that they are busy (aren't we all), but many agents seem to have a peculiar sense of civility. It's a shame, too. Because, like you... I really wanted to work with this first agent. He was really nice.

Initially.

It doesn't hurt to check in - but since you recently sent her a follow-up e-mail, I'd wait. Maybe check in one more time after the new year. The holidays can be a tough time of year to get attention.

I had an agent that requested revisions to my novel. Three months later, I sent her the new manuscript that was revised based on her suggestions (all great suggestions). Two weeks later I had a form rejection. OUCH.

I hope your agent requested revisions story has a happier ending. It sounds like she was really interested! Agents (at least the good ones) spend much more time working with their current clients rather than obtaining new ones. She could very likely have her hands full right now. Three months isn't outrageous... it can just feel outrageous when you are checking your inbox every five minutes.

Hang in there and good luck!

I'm sure Nathan Bransford has adressed this issue in his thread
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53863

IIRC his take was that you send a polite nudge e-mail monthly until you get a response.

[edit]
Yup - here
http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/2007/08/how-often-should-you-follow-up-with.html

Try contacting her again. E-mails go astray all the time. Send a letter if you're worried e-mail isn't getting through. She also could have been away for some reason, or on a busy conference schedule, preparing for Frankfurt, maternity leave, who knows.

If she has a website or blog, try there to see if there's any news on her.

I would call.

I wouldn't say it's necessarily hopeless, but if an agent asks for revisions, I'd say it would be courteous of him/her to respond to those revisions.

My agent phoned to ask if I would be prepared to carry out some revision he wanted to suggest. Obviously I said I would, and I did. Less than a week after I subbed the revised ms he offered representation.

However much you want to work with a particular agent, it has to be one that has time to fit you and your work into their schedule - however busy they are. Keeping you hanging around is not fair when you could be subbing elsewhere.

By all means wait and see what this agent has to say - after you've chased up again - but no harm in subbing elsewhere in the meantime.

Get on the query bandwagon immediately!

As for the agent who requested revisions, I'd send another email and ask what's up. However, I wouldn't expect much of a reply (hope I'm wrong).