The Daily Rejection, Vol. 3
- Thread starter Calla Lily
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Go for it! They really don't care where you're from. More and more are using Query Manager instead of email. And when they still use email, they loathe attachments. Everything, including sample pages are in the body of the email.
And you might want to get a Publishers Marketplace subscription for a month to research the most suitable agents. And sign up for Query Tracker. Unless you've been doing it US-style all along...
You only get one debut (kinda) and it tends to be valuable. If this manuscript doesn't get an agent, you can leave in a drawer until you've queried a few more manuscripts.
Personally, I'm about 4 months into querying a MG fantasy and I've queried 192 agents. Some of the queries through QM are over 3 months old, and some of those agents are getting back to me now. The emailed ones I kinda write off after 3 months. Given the queries are staggered across a few months, I probably won't be able to write the project off until February or March at the earliest. (Which will also be when I poke the agents who have my full... well, excluding anybody who requests after this point. Guess those will be later. But I'll be querying something else by then.)
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I signed my contract for my haunted house horror novel on the four YEAR anniversary of sending out the first query. I started querying my first MS in 2012 and this is my debut.
This is not a fast industry, and it's not an easy one. All those people on Twitter who sent a query and got 15 full requests in the next 12 hours are outliers.
Two months is nothing. Get eyes on your query and eyes on your opening pages and the rest of your MS and keep trying. Self publishing is a valid route for many people, but it's its own kind of hard work and difficulty.
I have no plans of participating in a Twitter pitch event. That said, I'm curious in anyone knows, how many of the writers who get interest actually get a publishing deal out of it? Whether x out of y who get offers or x% who get offers evenutally get published. There might not be numbers. If there are numbers, there might not be an AW member who knows that.
I'd assume the agents and/or publishers don't sign a contract based on a pitch, any more than an agent signs a manuscript based on a query letter alone.
I won't be doing any more pitch events either because of the AI issue. I was being hyperbolic but I was making reference to querying rather than pitch events.
I think of it as being like a different method of querying. Maybe they pay slightly more attention, since they signed up, or maybe it's just a faster way for them to screen through the pile, but at the end of the day I figure they see an idea (via Twitter or in an email/query) and ask for the full or not, then it's all the same from there.
Makes me think that if you have a really compelling idea you may get a request for a full off a Twitter pitch, but they'll still just give you a few pages before giving a form rejection if the writing doesn't hold their interest. In that way, it's not really the same as a request for full off of a query that included the first 5 pgs (since in that case, their interest has been caught and held, now it's whether you keep delivering).
Basically, I think we can feel confident approaching agents in whatever forum is most comfortable for us (out of the established methods, not, like, showing up at their gym on the weekend...
Kaboom
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I'm rejecting myself now.
Mostly since I haven't written seriously in about ten years. Life got in the way. Maybe my lack of confidence. Both perhaps.
I wrote a sentence earlier and it was about as fun a read as a Terms of Service agreement. I used to have a light grip on language. Sentences had rhythm and purpose. Now words languish stoic on the page. Then I hit the Delete key and remind myself I probably didn't have business writing in the first place.
Mostly since I haven't written seriously in about ten years. Life got in the way. Maybe my lack of confidence. Both perhaps.
I wrote a sentence earlier and it was about as fun a read as a Terms of Service agreement. I used to have a light grip on language. Sentences had rhythm and purpose. Now words languish stoic on the page. Then I hit the Delete key and remind myself I probably didn't have business writing in the first place.
Don't self reject! Long breaks happen. They have an impact on our skills, but the skills are more rusty than gone. Hang in there.
I almost did. They asked for the full. I got the call. We were NOT a fit. It's all good because I'm rewriting the book now.
I'm off Twitter now, but would give a BlueSky pitch a try. Never been into sharing snippets of my work online though.
Kaboom
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Rust is a dream. Right now I'm corroded like the rocker panels of an 86 Chevy Tahoe. But I do get your point. I'm putting the pen away for a little bit in favor of reading a ton. Looking for good book recommendations right now!
We do get a little rusty, but I think our skills come back pretty quickly when you put some practice time in. When a went quite a while without writing ANYTHING. Ugh. But it is what it is. These things happen to all of us at some point even if it's on a slightly smaller scale. But everyone ends up taking a break.
I wrote a few short stories. I recommend aiming for full length short stories (a few thousands words over flash) since this will allow to to allow you work with more elements of writing while constructing a story with more meat on the bone. I wrote one a week, including editing and revision. And I worked really hard on them. My first one was hard to follow and sort of a mess. They got better the more I wrote. And from there I knew I was ready to work on my novel. Just wanted to share what worked for me. Good luck.
I think this is also a good idea to read if not writing. I love recommending books. What sort of thing are you looking for?
Reading is never the wrong answer
There's a What are you reading thread on here. I'm not sure if there's a "Favourite books" or "Recommend a book" thread, but if not maybe we should start one? I'm sure I'm not alone in having some books I'm always excited to evangelize (as @gettingby noted, what sort of thing are you looking for? Helps to narrow it down.)
It's impossible to say, although one of my comps not only got a six-figure, three-book deal from a pitch event, but his work was also optioned for film and he met with a pretty major actor who I think was attached as a producer. After learning that's how he got his agent (who was listed as being closed to queries at the time), I've pretty much resolved to always try pitch contests when it's something relevant.
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If we ever got any significant data on any topic out of the industry, it would be quite shocking. The only time we even got a glimpse was during a merger trial.
The Manuscript Academy podcast featured a feminist horror author named Rachel Harrison, who found her agent that way. She prefaced her publishing story with "everyone is going to hate me." She made a tweet, went for a walk, and landed an agent days later. I also believe her deal with Berkley Publishing, a subsidiary of Penguin Books, came rather quickly.
I know an un-agented author through my old writing circle who had a heavy interest during a couple of pitch contests and is still looking.
I got three likes during the last two contests I did. One was from a scammer, and two were from agents who never replied to my query.
In the future, I will likely only participate in Unhinged Pit on BlueSky because it's a fun way to meet other aspiring authors when it was on the other place. Also, Dark Pit if it ever moves. The big ones seem to be falling by the wayside. But if they picked up again, I would participate in them.
Like everything else in publishing, it's part of the constellation of high-effort poker games (contests, querying, submissions.) A select few get deals through effort, talent, and luck, but most don't.
I got a handful of requests after DVpit. I think all but a couple ended up saying no, though; the outstanding ones seem like they're ghosting, frankly.
That said, the process of crafting tweet-length pitches that were suitably beguiling was a fun/interesting/challenging one, and I feel like that alone was great practice. I started working on a query for another story the other day, and beginning with "how would this look in ~280 characters?" was a useful way to cut through to the most important details.
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I'm a little sullen today as I got a form rejection on a referral. So, I'm probably coming off as dismissive, but I agree with you.
I just sent out a test batch of 10 for my current project. (I still believe in test batches even though personalized rejections are basically dead, and from rejections seem to be giving way to "no response in X weeks means no." The silence in of its self is a message.)
Half of the forms asked for a one-line pitch. My money is on those agents using the pitch to decide if they should read the query to get through the slush pile faster. Also, the UK-based novel writing course I am taking puts a lot of emphasis on developing a pitch, as UK queries are moving to having them as part of the housekeeping at the top.
I think sullen is justified.
Weirdly, I'm finding a one-line pitch is easier than a three paragraph query. Or, specifically, the last sentence of the final paragraph of said-query. I haven't plucked up the courage to QLH it yet...
I've gotten three likes in three pitch events over the course of I don't know events I participated in. No agent likes, all three from small publishers, two during PitDark.
1. The publisher looked sketchy as hell. Like...really sketchy. Details available via DM upon request. I did not respond.
2. The publisher requested 50+ fulls, and rejected mine with the comment that if he was my editor he would tell me to cut all the exposition.
3. My publisher who is publishing my book.
1. The publisher looked sketchy as hell. Like...really sketchy. Details available via DM upon request. I did not respond.
2. The publisher requested 50+ fulls, and rejected mine with the comment that if he was my editor he would tell me to cut all the exposition.
3. My publisher who is publishing my book.