Form Rejection on Full

So sorry, Roly. That does hurt after having the excitement of a full request. It's a tough business. At least you know your query works. Best of luck for the future.

The agent probably just didn't connect with your work. Hopefully another one will. . .it's disappointing, but keep on going. . .

awwww nuts!

Brace yourself for more. They may not come, but they do.

Sorry dude. I got a few of those and they suck.

My first full has been ignored (despite nudging) for ten months. My second was a form R. I call that progress. Keep at it.

I'm sorry to hear that. Form rejections always suck. Get back on that horse!

Byech. My sympathies. The first full R always stings like a mother--and not getting any comments/advice just makes it worse. But keep going--maybe your next full request will yield a better result.

I know what you're going through. But take heart, you will get another full request if you keep putting it out there. I always say that if one saw enough promise in it to request the full, then another agent will too.

That sucks....but if it was good enough to get one full request then it will get more.

I'm usually on the side of agents when it comes to most things, I know so many of them and have a great deal of respect for them.

But.

I really don't like this form rejection on a full thing.

I get that it is done for the same reason that one gets form rejections in general. I also appreciate an agent owes an author nothing. It isn't an agent's job to critique an MS they aren't interested in representing.

All this said, I still feel like it would be nice if, upon reading a full, agents would take a few moments to explain what didn't work for them about the MS. Even if it is as simple to say, "This was a lovely work, but I just didn't connect with it. I can't really explain why, but I think you could easily submit it in its current state without revisions to another agent." Authors can feel as if we are submitting blind. When we get no idea of what we are doing wrong, it's so frustrating. And very difficult to then fix. And considering how few fulls agents request, it isn't like there is the same kind of time constraint as with queries and partials. One also assumes that a request for a full means that the agent saw something professional in the initial query and isn't as concerned about starting a dialogue with a crazy person (another reason for form query rejections).

They aren't under any obligation true, but this is one thing I think would be very helpful if they did.

This and exclusives both bother me.



All that said . . . I'm sorry about your rejections. But on the good side, you are getting requests and that is something to be hugely proud of. Just keep on keeping on. Never give up! Never surrender!

Toothpaste said:

All this said, I still feel like it would be nice if, upon reading a full, agents would take a few moments to explain what didn't work for them about the MS. Even if it is as simple to say, "This was a lovely work, but I just didn't connect with it. I can't really explain why, but I think you could easily submit it in its current state without revisions to another agent." Authors can feel as if we are submitting blind. When we get no idea of what we are doing wrong, it's so frustrating. And very difficult to then fix.

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Absolutely. Fulls aren't coming out of the slush pile, they're something that the agent has asked for.

Sorry, Roly. There's nothing for it but to keep on truckin'. Yes, rejection is a rite of passage, but so too is surviving rejection. That's what you're learning each time one of these agents returns your work with no real explanation as to why they're passing. You dread hearing "no" but then when you get a few no's under your belt, you realize it's not the end of the world, nor of your writing.

I look back at where I was a year ago -- I was so nervous about even DOING RESEARCH on agents that I used to get nauseated every time I sat down at my computer to look up submission guidelines. Now I eat rejection for breakfast and toss back rejection cocktails like flaming jello shots. You toughen up because you must.

But, yeah, I agree. Form rejects on fulls, or even partials, is kind of crappy. Although, that being said, sometimes getting comments back is no better, especially when the comments are confusing, contradictory, or demonstrative of the fact that the agent really didn't read the ms very closely.

*hugs* Sorry Roly.

I've gotten a few of those. They always make me sigh. But don't let it get you too down. It only takes one. (Believe me, I tell myself that every. single. day.)

I've never posted on this site before, but I'm feeling really stupid, and this seems like the right thread for my question, so I hope someone can give me a bit of advice.

I was reading examples of good query letters, and lightning struck. I read, "This is a historical romance of 100,000 words." Seeing that one line suddenly made me see how ludicrous "This is a time-travel romance of 59,583 words" must look. That's in the first line of my query letter, which I just sent out to about 15 agents.

Should I just write those agents off or see if I can sneak in a second query that they might get to before they get to the first?

My reason for choosing a thread about rejection should be clear at this point.

Thanks!

Thanks! I will definitely take your advice!