Seeing the same thing over and over and over...

Alisha, you have a great request rate, you're converting partials to fulls, and you're getting referrals. That means you have something that's good, and it's a matter of time. Keep plugging away -- you have a great chance of finding the right agent who loves it enough to offer.

Alisha, rejection is hard and you may feel down, but let me assure you that agents wouldn't say such a thing if they didn't mean it. You have something special on your hands. Send more queries.

AlishaS said:

This is a rejection I recieved today...



This manuscript as had about 10 fulls and about 10 partials (some of those partials turned into fulls, some fulls straight off the query and only about 40 queries sent total)
However, this, seems to be the only kind of rejection I get. The so close, but no cigar kins. And I swear, everyone at the bottom has some line about my talent and they are sure I'll find representation. Well... I haven't yet

I just don't know where to go from here, I haven't nearly gone through my agent query list, however, without ever getting any sort of feed back I just have no idea what to do to the novel to make it better. I suppose I am losing steam with all the you're writing so good... I just didn't connect rejections.

Any advice?

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Writers spend too much time worrying about making a novel better after it's in the submission process.

Never confuse good with publishable. Publishable is nearly always good, but good in no way means something is publishable.

The place to go is to keep sending this out as often as you can, to editors, and to editor, if all the good agent say no. It's a myth that if agents don't like something, editors automatically won't like it, either.

Other than keeping it making the rounds, the real place to go is writing a second novel, and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth. Worrying about the fate of this one is pointless. All you can do is keep sending it out. That's it. Submit and forget.

Not all novels sell, and even many of those that do sell do not sell as first novels, or until after several other books have been written and sold.

Writers should concentrate, worry about, only those things within their control. You can't control who says yes or no, but you can control how long you keep this novel in submission. You can't control whether someone, somewhere down the line will buy it, or whether everyone in the world will reject it, but you can control how many of them, agents and editors, get to see it.

And you can control how many more novels you write, and how many people, agents and editors, get to see them.

As for the first rejection, I hate to say it but I'm sure it was form. I've received almost word-for-word the same thing. But the second rejection says the agent may have felt bad for the R, but just couldn't think it was possible for them to place. But if you're receiving that high of fulls it will be only a matter of time. Good luck!

Hon, focus on the last line of that email. Seriously. You got a personalized email saying your book is awesome but it's just not quite right for that person, but she's sure you'll find someone else. That's what you have to focus on. It sucks, it's frustrating, but you just can't let that aspect get you down. They love the concept and the writing and the story. That's something to be proud of. Good luck.

It's probably for the best - it means that agent recognizes that she wouldn't be able to sell your book with the contacts she has - trust me - it's better to get a rejection from her than from a crap load of editors after she's tried selling something she doesn't "feel"

You will no doubt land an agent - don't let this get you down - as everyone else has said, your full rate is very impressive!

Looks like you have a nearly 50% bite rate on your query package, which is enormous. I'm not surprised that the agent quoted notes your very strong concept -- a strong concept is what generally fuels such an impressive number of requests.

I might wonder whether the agents were finding the execution lackluster compared to the idea. However, you're also getting partials that turn into fulls, which argues against this hypothesis, as do other comments you've received.

My best guess is that you do indeed have a strong concept and good execution, but that something about your novel is unusual enough to make agents worry about whether they can readily place it. Agents who like but don't love the book may therefore hesitate to take it on and face the kind of uphill battle it may take to persuade an editor and the editor's uneasy allies: Sales and Marketing.

I'd say this was pretty much my situation. Plenty of bites, but no agent hooked until (220 plus queries later) I hit the one who got the book.

Don't give up. Your results so far are excellent.

It's great that you are getting close and that appaently the rejection are personalized. Just review your work and see if and where it can be made better. Either way, keep submitting -- 40 is no big deal.