The Daily Rejection, Vol. 2

my experience this time around is that (even) fewer agents answer, but those who answer are generally quicker about it. I had the bulk of my responses within 2-4 weeks, positive and negative alike.

exceptions do apply as ever!

Harlequin said:

my experience this time around is that (even) fewer agents answer, but those who answer are generally quicker about it. I had the bulk of my responses within 2-4 weeks, positive and negative alike.

exceptions do apply as ever!

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Overall, this was my experience too, actually - quite speedy responses or no responses at all. The number of CNR really shocked me (and I was querying as a published writer, too, which I naively thought might help the response rate).

Got my first rejection from DVPIT yesterday. I thought I'd feel terrible, but the constructive criticism on my story and it's LACK of exposition helped. I really undercut my exposition because I thought it was becoming unnecessary in my first draft revisions, but it looks like I should really bring it back.

Also, my book was a bit too long for that agent. I feared that 140k would be too long for a debut novel...but at the same time, I want my novel to be long. So, I accept this rejection in the name of my ego.

Congrats to Collie for being a PW mentee! Very exciting And many cookies for those who didn't get in

I am feeling very uninvested in the querying process this time around. I think in a good way? I've been through this so many times by now that it's just kind of routine. So far no interest, including unfortunately from one agent who had requested an R&R on MS6 so I thought would maybe be interested. I've only sent 8 queries so far (started with a batch of 5 and am sending out a new query when an R rolls in) so too soon to say much.

Got a short story rejection last week that said my story was "beautifully written" but they thought it ended too soon. So that was actually rather encouraging. I still need to send it out to somewhere new though. Also have rewrite request on another short story that I'd like to get to eventually, although their revision notes were super vague so I'm kind of at a loss as to what to fix.

I know I've said this before, but I'm starting to think that MS7 might be my last go-round on the query rigmarole. I haven't even been able to start writing MS8 and it may be time to seriously face the music that I'm not cut out for traditional publishing. Even though it's been my dream for my whole life. So hopefully MS7 gets some traction!

I wrote so fast, I was out of control for the past 13 years. I already had about eight books published but then realized (when the dust settled) I had a back-load of 10 novels, a nonfiction dinosaur book and a nonfiction chapter book. Then I got sick and it laid me up for nearly three years. During my recovery I knew for a fact that I best start selling and stop spaying ink all over the place. My agent couldn't keep up with me. The thing is, not any of those books received horrid numbers of rejections.

I just believed in that adage: "If your first book doesn't sell, write another, then another and then another." You know, it's like you're caught up in that fevered pitch that has you slamming keys for three to five months on the great American novel, but my case lasted for years. I went back into my sales and rejection files and counted 37 contract offers from small presses that my agent and I refused during an eight-year period. Counting things up in my head, like it takes an average of a year from a sale to final pub for a single book, the fact hit me that if I did sell everyone of them starting today, it's doubtful that I would live long enough to see them all in print! I might only see six or less in print.

Nine months ago, I told my agent, "the hell with it, let's dump 'em on the best offers/presses we can work with." So far, four books sold. I know that the rest of my writing life will be editing. It's great and everything, but kind of a sad reality.

noranne--I know the feeling, believe me. Keep your spirit and hopes up. You've been on a treadmill of rejections for a long time. Writers at your stage can really bust out and hit the major leagues. The last time I hit a major league publisher was 28 years ago. I've had/have three top gun agents for 15 of those years. I always wondered, what in the name of hell happened? Eh, the writing life is an enigma, wot?

Another rejection, this time from The Dark Magazine. Sent it last night and it was rejected this morning. The only consolation is that it seems like I had a "higher tier" rejection based on rejectionwiki? Gotta say, actually love the quick response time, even if it's ultimately a thumbs down.

The phrase "it's not quite what we're looking for looking for right now" is still extremely confusing though.

RaggyCat said:

Overall, this was my experience too, actually - quite speedy responses or no responses at all. The number of CNR really shocked me (and I was querying as a published writer, too, which I naively thought might help the response rate).

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Same here (also trad published). I started in June and of the three times I queried with this project (three different versions), this batch far and away received the least amount of .... anything! No forms, no auto replies.... so little of anything that I wondered if my email was working (it is). I've spoken to others with the same experience recently. Perhaps June to Sept is a terrible time to query. Given that I follow sub guidelines to a T, target correctly, and include a query that is clean and direct, and material that is, at the very least, edited, I feel like at least an auto-response of receipt is in order.

Winding down the agent querying, picking up the small press querying. Reached the end of my tolerance with this hamster wheel.

Kensi99 said:

Same here (also trad published). I started in June and of the three times I queried with this project (three different versions), this batch far and away received the least amount of .... anything! No forms, no auto replies.... so little of anything that I wondered if my email was working (it is). I've spoken to others with the same experience recently. Perhaps June to Sept is a terrible time to query. Given that I follow sub guidelines to a T, target correctly, and include a query that is clean and direct, and material that is, at the very least, edited, I feel like at least an auto-response of receipt is in order.

Winding down the agent querying, picking up the small press querying. Reached the end of my tolerance with this hamster wheel.

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That's so strange, Kensi. I take it you cited your past experience with trad publishing in your query letter? I did wonder when I was querying whether my past experience actually put agents too, but I've no evidence to back that up. Sometimes it feels like there's no good time to be querying.

Sent off a fresh batch of queries, 17 in all. Received only 4 auto-replies. I love auto-replies. Why can't all agents set up to auto-reply? It's just that extra bit of assurance that the thing landed and now it's out of my hands. I received a rejection on one within 48 hours. I'm like zombie now. Log it in and move on.

MercyMe said:

I'm like zombie now. Log it in and move on.

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I know it can be hard to think in these terms, but I feel it's actually the healthiest way to cope with the querying process. Just treat querying like a habit, and the responses that come in as a check marks or "Xs" and try not to invest too much emotionally in them. That managed to get me through over 400 rejections. When queries became just points on a list to fill out, rather than an assessment of my worth as a writer, it became more bearable once all those "nos" started coming in.

RaggyCat said:

That's so strange, Kensi. I take it you cited your past experience with trad publishing in your query letter? I did wonder when I was querying whether my past experience actually put agents too, but I've no evidence to back that up. Sometimes it feels like there's no good time to be querying.

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Yes, my book, publisher, year is mentioned in my bio, as well as my other publications as a journalist, etc. Just not getting anywhere this batch. My last two batches had more traction, and yet the query hasn't changed and the opening chapters barely changed (just tightened it a bit). It's once you get into the story that it changed because it went from four POVs to one.

Not sure what happened this time. But I'm seeing a lot of places that people got less response than usual in the past several months. I don't think summer helped. I cut off queries in early June, but that didn't help.

I suspect agents are overwhelmed. Open email queries, contests galore, conferences, etc. God forbid you happen to get an agent who is out sick for a couple of days. They come back to 200 queries, they must want to empty their inbox quick as possible.

MercyMe said:

Sent off a fresh batch of queries, 17 in all. Received only 4 auto-replies. I love auto-replies. Why can't all agents set up to auto-reply? It's just that extra bit of assurance that the thing landed and now it's out of my hands. I received a rejection on one within 48 hours. I'm like zombie now. Log it in and move on.

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The big mystery. I know from when I was a journalist that I stopped my auto-replies because I got so many bounce-backs from people on vacation, etc. So maybe that has something to do with it. But why they don't all have Query Manager, which you can't reply to, is beyond me....

I don't know either. query manager just makes so much sense. I honestly can't think of any downsides.

I queried over the summer (the 4th of July, in fact... stupid me). It made a difference for some agents, and not others. The thing is, I didn't want to wait and be querying in September, and then be fighting for attention with Pitchwars and a thousand pitch fests going on.

I think there is just... no good time to query. There is no good time to sub. There is no good time, it's not a good industry and it's not a good set up.

full rejected, i don't even think they got past the first chapter tho, so BOY IS THAT A CONFIDENCE BOOSTER.

My urge to rewrite is looming

(waves) Hi all! I was in the Next Circle but parted ways today with rep, so on the hunt once more!
*dusts off querying skills*
Hope you're all having a great week!

Polishmuse, I'm sorry to hear that it wasn't a solid fit. Hopefully, you won't be back in the trenches to long.

On lack of requests, I think that this is just a weird time in publishing right now. I am a traditional publishing supporter, but I do think that we are on the brink of a major shift. Publishing has always been oversaturated, but I think that agents and writers becoming stressed to an extent that is exhausting the community. This is far from a bad time to be a writer, but I do think that the expectations for writers, agents, and publishers have skyrocketed quite high.

Kensi99 had every reason to believe that publishing credits would offer a boost in responses, but we saw the publishing boom of 1990-2010 and witnessed a lot of under-performance since. I think that a lot of agents have been burned by books that they thought would take off, but were dead on release. You can follow the general advice and check a lot of boxes, but I think that we're all just a little more pessimistic in 2018 than we were in 2008.

Gen5150 said:

Kensi99 had every reason to believe that publishing credits would offer a boost in responses, but we saw the publishing boom of 1990-2010 and witnessed a lot of under-performance since. I think that a lot of agents have been burned by books that they thought would take off, but were dead on release. You can follow the general advice and check a lot of boxes, but I think that we're all just a little more pessimistic in 2018 than we were in 2008.

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Like any creative industry, there is just no telling what will strike a chord with the public, and why, and what won't. I have literally seen people put out two similar books at the same time, and one takes off, and one doesn't, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. You can market a book to death, it does nothing, and something comes of nowhere and does well. The idea that agents/editors have any clue what will sell is hilarious. If writers had any idea, we'd all be writing it. No one knows!

So... I don't think I've cheered anyone up.

I think there is a big positive to agents/editors not being sure.

If publishing houses knew what books would sell, they'd probably only print 1000 titles a year, and probably 500 of them would be adult colouring books.

Compelling SF has officially rejected every one of my sci-fi stories. Apparently none of them are very compelling. On the plus side, I got a like from #PitDark!

I forgot about the colouring book craze. Well, I've been through the publishing wringer in the past ten years and I think I'm finally numb to everything but the writing. The waning interest in YA is kinda distressing though. I had a YA trilogy idea and two MG ideas and I went with the YA. Of course I did. I'm a category killer.

Happy Friday everyone!

Poking my head in to say hi! My agent quit the business back in August, so back to the querying trenches...eventually. Right now trying to psych myself up for Nanowrimo--

Hugs to everyone with Rs, and hoping for good news for everyone in the coming days/weeks!

Harlequin said:

I think there is a big positive to agents/editors not being sure.

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I agree. I do think that there is a valuable lesson in the failures of trendy copy-cats.

MercyMe said:

The waning interest in YA is kinda distressing though. I had a YA trilogy idea and two MG ideas and I went with the YA. Of course I did. I'm a category killer.

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Subgenre is everything right now in YA. This is the perfect time to market contemporaries. Not a terrible time for SF, but not the best time for dystopian or fantasy.

hester said:

Right now trying to psych myself up for Nanowrimo--

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I should be diving into my contemporary next month, but I might be starting a new job, so I might have to limit my expectations.

hester said:

Happy Friday everyone!

Poking my head in to say hi! My agent quit the business back in August, so back to the querying trenches...eventually. Right now trying to psych myself up for Nanowrimo--

Hugs to everyone with Rs, and hoping for good news for everyone in the coming days/weeks!

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I noticed a few newer agents upped and left for greener pastures. They were big agencies too.

merlot143 said:

I noticed a few newer agents upped and left for greener pastures. They were big agencies too.

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It's an interesting development. I wonder why that is? Is it just that newer agents after a year or three with not enough progress decide to try another line of work?

Beth Campbell wasn't new particularly afaik, can't remember how old/new the rest were. Whitley Abell was newish.

Maybe it's just stress. Maybe it's a rebalancing (too many agents for how much work is actually selling, so some had to go.)