What do you do when you've tried every agent for your type of novel?

I'd say you write another novel.

Dammit, Will got there first. ARGH!!!

Either wait for new agents to enter the scene (which could take months/years), or start subbing to publishers.

If you join a good YA online community/group, you might learn about more agents than you could find by googling alone.

Have you tried querying other, appropriate agents within the same agencies? You never know, although the likelihood is slim that anyone else will jump on it.

This also may or may not be a time to re-evaluate the book. Hopefully it's not the book that led you to this point, but if you received any personalized feedback indicating any type of problem, then you could rework the story before sending it to publishers.

can't think of anything else at the moment.

Wow! I was just about to post the same question that started this thread.

Keep querying! You never know what will happen. Find a publisher that doesn't require an agent.

I queried an agent for my first novel and she rejected it. I rewrote the query and she asked for partial, then full, then...I'm still waiting.

Try revising your query with a focus on what makes your story different from all the other similar books out there. Bookends has been running some crits of pitches, and it may be useful to read through these and apply what you learn to your query.

Oh, and work on your next project, too.

Are you sure you've tried almost every YA agent out there? How many have you queried? I had over 75 names for the submission list of my most current YA novel, although I didn't end up getting to most of them. You could PM me if you want, and I could give you some names.

Linda Adams said:

Bookends has been running some crits of pitches, and it may be useful to read through these and apply what you learn to your query.

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That looks really useful! I'd also say that it might be worth having other YA writers look at your query and sample chapters, if that's possible (is that something people do in SYW?)

I am reworking my query, but agents haven't given me ANY luck. They read my query and give me a no. They don't even ask to see the book. I've had lots of luck getting small presses for YAs to request partials and even fulls. I'm waiting to hear from some. I'd say try the small presses.

clara bow said:

Either wait for new agents to enter the scene (which could take months/years)

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That's pretty much what I did, though it was involuntary in my case. I completed a novel in 2002 and shopped it around to nearly thirty agents. I got an encouraging personalized rejection for a full, and that was that.

Real life intervened for a while, and in 2006 I thought about that novel again. By then I was on this this board and I read up about query letters. I saw a some problems in mine, and rewrote it. I also edited the novel a bit; being away from it for so long gave me a little distance. And by that time, there were more agents whom I'd hadn't queried before. I sent out another thirty queries, and one agent offered me representation.

This wouldn't work for everyone, but it did for me. I also wrote another novel and some short stories in the four years, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

Little Jane said:

I haven't read anything about this problem yet. But I think I've almost tried every YA agent out there. What should I do when I exhaust them all? Where do you turn then?

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Don't EVER give up. Keep trying to look for agents.

The book Carrie was rejected 12 times before it was published.

My advice: DON'T GIVE UP!

I'm with Will -- write another novel. I'm not saying give up on this one -- keep looking for more agents and maybe trying sending directly to publishers. But there's no reason not to start the next novel.

I agree with Will and Carrie R. Start your next novel.

You don't say if you're hearing "no" at the query stage, or you've had agents pass on partials and fulls. Maybe your query needs some tinkering, or the ms needs some revising. Are you getting any feedback from agents?

Start your next book, and let this one rest for a while, would be my advice. Coming back to it with a fresh mindset might give you some good ideas on how to make it work better.