Kensington Publishing Corp. / Citadel / Pinnacle

Thank you. I noticed the passage you quoted when I first queried, but of course I am now confused whether this still applies if someone has asked for a partial.

I received back on my full within several days, I didn't have the same editor as you though and response backs are pretty unpredictable.. I do know that they just got off holiday break I believe 1 / 2 weeks ago?

Give it some time and good luck. I know it's painful waiting but it's gotta be done. Start on your second book and once you hit 10-12 pages you'll get really into it. That was the advice given to me when I went on sub through my agent and now I am working on my third / fourth books.

Good luck!

Thank you

Update - I caved and emailed Megan, just to say that I wasn't sure what to do after a partial had been requested. She got back to me very quickly (1 day) and said it is still in the queue and she should get to it soon.

That's just about 3 months since she requested the partial.

I am overwhelmed by the amount of work these people have to consider and of course now I feel guilty for chasing it up, but its good to know that it hasn't been rejected (yet).

Fmate66 said:

Update - I caved and emailed Megan, just to say that I wasn't sure what to do after a partial had been requested. She got back to me very quickly (1 day) and said it is still in the queue and she should get to it soon.

That's just about 3 months since she requested the partial.

I am overwhelmed by the amount of work these people have to consider and of course now I feel guilty for chasing it up, but its good to know that it hasn't been rejected (yet).

Click to expand...

Good luck on your submission!

She informed me she was running 3 months on partials when I submitted late Oct., and it took her 4 months to respond. Agents & editors seem to be super swamped lately, so I add on extra time now (1-2 months) before I nudge on a request. In my case, I submitted the partial pursuant to their submission guidelines, so it wasn't "requested." However, her response to the partial a couple weeks ago was a request for a full!

Great news Erin! Good luck

Ok, I heard back. Rejection I am afraid. I have to say Megan gave me more than a form rejection and the first real feedback I can use (albeit no more than a paragraph).

Considering how busy she is, I was very impressed.

Now, onto my question - if she mentioned a specific problem with my story but did not ask me to rewrite and resubmit, should I anyway once I fixed the problem? There is another editorial assistant at Kensington who deals with this genre - would it be better to submit to them once I have done the rewrite?

Fmate66 said:

Ok, I heard back. Rejection I am afraid. I have to say Megan gave me more than a form rejection and the first real feedback I can use (albeit no more than a paragraph).

Considering how busy she is, I was very impressed.

Now, onto my question - if she mentioned a specific problem with my story but did not ask me to rewrite and resubmit, should I anyway once I fixed the problem? There is another editorial assistant at Kensington who deals with this genre - would it be better to submit to them once I have done the rewrite?

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about the rejection, but that's great you got useful feedback.

I don't think it would hurt emailing her and asking her if she'd care to see a revision--to clarify if she had any further interest in the novel--or if not, would another editor have an interest in seeing the revision. She seems very approachable from my limited experience. I don't think I'd blindly resubmit to the other editor, as I *think* a rejection from one is a rejection from the house.

Ok, good point. Thanks for the fab advice.

I emailed and got another very fast response. The bottom line is that she only reads revised manuscripts where she requested the revisions - and any editor at Kensington can acquire for any of their imprints so a rejection from one is a rejection from all. She ended by saying feel free to submit any new project to her or any of the other editors.

That's the end of the line for me but I hope the info is of use to others and thanks for all the advice thus far.

Fmate66 said:

I emailed and got another very fast response. The bottom line is that she only reads revised manuscripts where she requested the revisions - and any editor at Kensington can acquire for any of their imprints so a rejection from one is a rejection from all. She ended by saying feel free to submit any new project to her or any of the other editors.

That's the end of the line for me but I hope the info is of use to others and thanks for all the advice thus far.

Click to expand...

That's good to know; thanks for posting.

I submitted to Selena James at Kensington Books on 2/8/2011. Does anyone have any current experience with her or Kensington? Thanks.

i signed with citadel (the nonfiction division on kensington) in december and they've had my MS ever since. so far so good. my editor, richard, is pretty nice and i feel like we're working together towards the same goal.

Thanks Siouxnyc...I am hoping I get a request from them.

When any of you who have queried Kensington did so by email, did you include your chapters and synopsis? Or did you send a query only? Their submission details don't really specify what to send by snail or email.

Thanks.

Hobbes said:

When any of you who have queried Kensington did so by email, did you include your chapters and synopsis? Or did you send a query only? Their submission details don't really specify what to send by snail or email.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Query only by email, do not include chapters & synopsis. If an editor is interested, she/he will ask to see more material. If you snail mail, you can include chapters & synopsis. Good luck!

Sent a query (no pages at all) to an editor yesterday. He's apparently spent the afternoon reading my blog and just requested the full. Fingers crossed!

JoNightshade said:

Sent a query (no pages at all) to an editor yesterday. He's apparently spent the afternoon reading my blog and just requested the full. Fingers crossed!

Click to expand...

Sounds promising! Good luck!

LadyLex said:

I submitted to Selena James at Kensington Books on 2/8/2011. Does anyone have any current experience with her or Kensington? Thanks.

Click to expand...

I'm thinking about submitting to her in January after I finish my edits.

Their response time says three months. Is it sometimes faster or slower than that?

LadyLex,

I received a request for a full manuscript from Selena James as a result of winning a contest in May of 2010. Since then, I have sent about 5 follow up e-mails which she has eventually responded to with 1.) Things are crazy, but I am looking forward to reading, 2.) I am almost there, how far are you on your next books?

I still have not heard anything and it has been a year and a half since she requested (seven months since her last e-mail, four months since my last follow-up e-mail).

I will say, Selena has seemed very nice in her replies, though her response e-mail are generally only a sentence or two long and don't really give me any idea of when to expect an offer/rejection.

One great thing about Kensington is Megan Records' blog "Ask Me Anything." She usually does it once a month (though she can skip a month or two) and she will answer any question you post. Here is the link: http://www.bravaauthors.com/blog/2011/12/09/ask-me-anything-dec-2011/

Hope this helps.

Jenny

Selena James

Well, not long after posting my comment in this thread, I sent another e-mail to Selena. She was quite nice. She said she's talked about my book a lot at Kensington and she just want to make sure they have a place for it before making me an offer. She also asked me to send her my second book, which I mentioned was finished. So I did.

Yea! More waiting . . .

Jenny

If they pick you up, it's worth the wait, Jenny. Speaking as a Kensington author.

That's great news, Jenny!!!!
I queried a novel to Kensington via snail mail almost 3 months ago and have yet to hear anything, but I wouldn't really expect to get a response until after the holidays at the earliest.

I think things must be swamped there. My early July query got a positive response around Halloween (and again a couple weeks later - I suspect my manuscript disappeared into the cyber-ether the first time). I'll check back in when I have a response time for the full.

I submitted to the editor in chief on Boxing day. I am still waiting to hear from him. How long does it normally take? I really want them to request a partial. I think they frown upon chase up emails.