The Next Circle of Hell, Vol. 2

triceretops said:

I'll check in when I can,

Chris

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here for you.

Ahh, Tri! I hope you feel better soon.

Triceretops, so sorry to hear your situation. It sounds trite, but do look after yourself as best you can. Huge hugs.

Lee, 17 seems like a really large batch to me but that is probably just something I'm saying based on my experiences. However if no one's come back with serious crit it probably doesn't matter whether it's one big batch or several. How frustrating!

spikeman4444 said:

Raggycat

Thank you! So back in March there was a pitch fest on Twitter called PitMad (there's another one coming up in June) where I sent out a few unsuccessful tweet pitches for this story, and then ended up rewriting the pitch and nabbing one agent's interest at like the end of the day. I queried her and she requested the full a few weeks later. Now she's my agent! I sent roughly 15 queries out total for this MS over the last 10 weeks or so.

For this MS, I never mentioned that I had been previously repped, because this book was never on submission. I did just tell my agent before signing that I had been previously repped on another MS, and asked if she wanted the details of that, and she said it wasn't necessary unless any of those editors specifically mentioned they wanted to read future works of mine.

If you're seeking rep on a new MS that hasn't been subbed, I'd suggest just treating it as any other query. No need to mention previous agent or MS.

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Thanks Spikeman - it's good to hear your experience. Like you, the book I'm pitching with has never been subbed, but I have had three novels published in the past with a Big 5 publisher, so I'm reluctant to treat it as just another query - probably can't anyway, as my name is unusual enough that some of these agents may well know who I am (certainly three I've pitched to so far did...was a little surprised!). I guess I carry on what I'm doing then! Glad it worked out for you though.

Triceratops - I was just thinking of you the other day and felt a bit worried since you hadn't checked in here in a long time. I'm so sorry to hear how much you've struggled with your health. I hope things improve for you soon. Love your attitude toward your work, though. Keep hitting it!

Spikeman - Congratulations on the new agent! I remember how long you waited for action from your last one and I wish you all the best with this new venture.

Shoeless - Great job finishing your draft! Oh, the feeling!! Enjoy.

Triceratops! All best wishes to you.

I hope everyone's having a great weekend!

leewhowrites, 17 is a really big first round, but even so, it seems too early for your agent to say it might not sell. I mean, it's good not to give you false hope, and obvi your agent knows best regarding your book and genre, etc., but I've been rejected by the same # of editors so far and my agent is still optimistic (or at least claims to be, haha). I can't say I'M optimistic, but I'd hope my agent would exhaust all possible avenues before giving up.

spikeman, YAY congrats! Hope this agent is able to make a sale for you!

triceratops, yikes! I'm sorry for the health troubles and hope you feel better soon. Very impressive that you're making so much progress through it all.

rainbowfish, welcome!! I also was asked for a partial R&R a couple of months ago (the first 50 pages). I don't think it necessarily means you'll be asked to do the rest if they like the partial — in my case they'll be making a decision based on the partial. Also, I've been hearing about other authors getting asked for partial R&Rs more and more; I think this is becoming a regular occurrence. It's both encouraging (better to do a partial than full revision!) and disheartening (I don't feel so special anymore haha).

In my latest news, the editor really liked the changes I made for the partial R&R, and it's going back to 2nd reads again! However with the holiday weekend and BookExpo coming up, it's unlikely I'll hear anything until mid-June at the earliest. I mean, really, more like September. Or next January. It's publishing we're talking about here. Also after 3 failed R&Rs under my belt (with other manuscripts) my expectations are extremely realistic (read: pessimistic). Still, it's something!

Triceratops, I don't believe we've met in this thread, but so sorry to hear the news regarding your health. However, I really admire how you're powering through with your work! Amazing.

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Does 17 really seem like a big batch? She wasn't really saying it WON'T sell, and obviously said there's still hope, but was just trying to get me to prepare for the possibility that it might not. She's said from the beginning not to get my hopes up. Maybe one of the remaining publishers will love it, but I do feel as though time is getting on a bit now... now hitting my 3rd month of being on submission.

Has anybody else asked their agent about the possibility of approaching some of the smaller publishers if your book doesn't sell with the major trade publishers? I did ask about publishing houses like Firefly here in the UK, which has a really good reputation, and my agent said she was open to that, but we'd have to discuss in more detail in a few more weeks.

diana86, that's great news regarding the changes you made! I can appreciate how realistic you're being, but still, it's exciting!

Tri, I am so sorry to hear what's happening. Sending you all the healing vibes I can muster.

Diana, that's awesome that the editor liked your revisions. Fingers crossed that second reads go well!

Spike, congrats on the new agent! It must feel great to be starting fresh.

Lee, 17 does sound like a big batch, but I don't know that it makes a huge difference one way or the other to be honest.

Thanks for all the game recommendations. I was doing the Bachelorette Challenge for my Sims last week and it was all very fun and good until two of them came down with some sort of Sims Sickness where they just stood there looking at their phones and not eating or sleeping (despite becoming dangerously hungry/tired). I couldn't snap them out of it, and it started freaking me out. It's one thing to glitch, but it was like they became obsessed with their phones to the point of starvation, which was very disturbing. I am going to make a list of those new games to look into.

I have a very oddball short story that doesn't fit into a lot of genres. I thought I had found the perfect anthology for it. But a few days ago, the publisher made the decision to cancel that anthology. WAH!

Diana - That's great news! Fantastic job!!

Lee - I sent you a PM, but I'll just say I expect mine to go out to a relatively big first batch and I think there are good reasons for it. You and I both write YA, which has more editors to send to in general than most other genres.

Cobalt - That's a bummer! I hope you find another good fit.

Tri, sorry to hear about your health issues. Fight the good fight.

Cobalt, man that sounds... painful. Sorry to hear that.

leewhowrites said:

Has anybody else asked their agent about the possibility of approaching some of the smaller publishers if your book doesn't sell with the major trade publishers? I did ask about publishing houses like Firefly here in the UK, which has a really good reputation, and my agent said she was open to that, but we'd have to discuss in more detail in a few more weeks.

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I think with the smaller markets, like adult science fiction/fantasy, it's a given that a move to smaller publishers is on the table if the Big Five and/or their respective imprints don't bite. I've still got my book out with a couple of those, but for the second round of submissions, my agent has already approached some of the smaller but still reputable publishers. In my case it wasn't something I needed to broach with her, she just took it as a next logical step and went ahead and did it.

Not in the next circle yet, but I'm well on my way there. Signed with my agent about a month ago and currently revising my manuscript for submission.

Welcome to the Circle, Eluveitie, The Next Level Of Hell & Waiting. What kind of stories do you write?

Hello hello! I'm new to the circle, so I wanted to stop in and say hi We literally have been on submission for a week, and I'm already oscillating between "yes this is gonna be so great" and "omg this book is never going to sell" so I'm trying to take my mind off of things. We have the ms out with seven editors right now, I think.

Ahhh. Oh well.

Tri, I hope you feel better. That sounds so, so scary.

Cobalt, that sucks about the anthology! I find placing shorter work to be so tricky.

Hey, s_nov, welcome to the circle.

Wow, new blood coming in. Is this Client Acquisition Season or something?

Echoing the welcome to s_nov & Eluveitie.

s_nov -- for what it worth, I found the first week to be the worst. By month 3, you settle into a quiet kind of despair, which I hope you never find out for yourself.

I've been revising this week based on editor feedback. My agent advised waiting until we got all responses in, but the thing is, I know these notes are right. They're making it better -- and I wish I'd had them before the book went out. Darn editors and their insightful comments.

Shoeless, I think it's a couple of things. Publishing summer is coming, so I know we wanted to get on submission before that, when people were still in offices! And I think this is the time when a lot of PitchWars manuscripts go out. Not that I was in PitchWars. I just signed at the same time as a lot of them

Isobel, that's so frustrating! When I get notes, I just want to do it. I'd hate having to wait.

Welcome, s_nov and Eluveitie! Nice to see new faces in here. May your stay be as painless as possible!

Isobel - that's great that the notes are helping.... I'm glad you're making progress!

I've been very gloomy the past couple days. Still no word yet from my agent on my new MS, but it's only been a couple weeks. I know that's nothing and I need to be patient. I pulled up my MS tonight and read bits of it that I really like, to remind myself that I do love it, and it's a good book. I just hope she agrees!

s_nov said:

Shoeless, I think it's a couple of things. Publishing summer is coming, so I know we wanted to get on submission before that, when people were still in offices! And I think this is the time when a lot of PitchWars manuscripts go out. Not that I was in PitchWars. I just signed at the same time as a lot of them

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Ah, Pitchwars. I'm always going to feel slightly bad about myself for never being good enough to get selected as a mentee. I had to get an agent the Old Fashioned Way with a query, partial request, full request then offer. Even now, anytime I hear someone that got picked to be a mentee, I automatically think to myself, "Well, you're a much better writer than I am, so I'm not gonna' tell you my opinion, it'll be useless to someone of your caliber."

Thanks, Shoeless! I write YA fantasy, horror, sci-fi, and thrillers.

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s_nov said:

Hello hello! I'm new to the circle, so I wanted to stop in and say hi We literally have been on submission for a week, and I'm already oscillating between "yes this is gonna be so great" and "omg this book is never going to sell" so I'm trying to take my mind off of things. We have the ms out with seven editors right now, I think.

Ahhh. Oh well.

Tri, I hope you feel better. That sounds so, so scary.

Cobalt, that sucks about the anthology! I find placing shorter work to be so tricky.

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Welcome, S-nov! I'm new too.

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Thank you, Isobel!

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Thanks, Jeneral!

Eluveitie said:

Thanks, Shoeless! I write YA fantasy, horror, sci-fi, and thrillers.

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Wow. That's a lot. I just do adult science-fiction/fantasy, though I guess my current WIP might be YA, because the main characters are teenagers? Though I don't know if the rest of the MS would qualify as YA, anymore than Ready Player One was, since it was classified as straight up sci-fi, even though it had a teenage protagonist.

Hi, S_Nov and Eluveitie! Welcome! I'm a bit of an unofficial member here, as I'm not on sub (and am hunting for a new agent), but having been through the agent and submission process before I just stay for the chat.

Ah, Isobel, I know the feeling when you get some feedback and just KNOW it's right. More often than not, you wonder why you didn't think of it yourself!

Nothing to report here. I managed to do half a day on MS revisions yesterday but there's a lot of uncertain stuff going on in my life at the moment and that nukes my concentration. Many things should be resolved tomorrow, though.

Pitch Wars is crazy subjective. The past couple years I think have seen 10% of entries, less than that?, picked as mentees. And Martina is right, mentors can only pick one MS to work with, while agents don't have that restriction. I was a mentee in 2016, and I definitely credit PW and my mentor with helping me land an agent, because I finally learned how about things like pacing. But does it mean I'm a better writer than someone who didn't get in? Oh hell no. Like ... not even close. It's just another contest, another path to improve your work. My PW class has books out now, some of which are wildly successful, and some of my PW class is still writing and querying.

Martina, good luck finishing your R&R this weekend! Does your agent read and weigh in before you send it back?

Thanks for the welcomes, everyone!

Sub journal day 3: *crickets* *anxiety* *more crickets*

I have weird, positive but mixed feelings about PitchWars. I personally didn't do it, so I can't say what it was like on the inside, but I think the dedication to the revision process is admirable. It kind of reinforces the idea that you can't just throw an unedited manuscript at agents and get them to like them, yanno? I think it shows everyone, not just mentees, how important revision is. But it also opens up to a lot of heartache that isn't necessarily built into the querying process.

Oh well. I think it's a positive thing for the community but in a complicated way.

Yay for the progress, Martina!! You're gonna knock it out of the park!