Raggy - good to hear Raggy Kitten #1 is fine now! Finding a dark note to Haverman Society, yes – but I can't think of how!
I don't think it matters much though – the title will probably change anyway if (when!!) it's published, and as long as it's workable, I don't want to spend more energy on it. And since one agent said she loved it, then OK… I think your title is fine too, –signalling the genre, short and easy to remember, plus partying a big deal in the book. I like 'The Third Boy' too, intriguing! but it doesn't signal genre that much (which mine doesn't either, so…)
I like your thoughts on bio, too, sounds fun. But I don't think bios are a make or break part of the query in any way. I had one sentence about myself only, just a list of the few things to be said about me, boring and ordinary (and my two mistchivoius somali cats mentioned last, too, although I've heard pets are a nono) nothing original or funny at ALL – and the agent who commented said my query was "the perfect balance of information about the storyline and the author" So, yeah
JeanGenie - if you're sick of 1p present tense – why not start/continue on another project in third person past tense while you wait? Then if the agent comes back with an offer, you can present your new shiny as well, plus discuss the whole issue with her – if you're still sick of first person present at that point. Still crossing fingers for you!!
S. Eli and
goddessofgliese - yeah, talking of age – I'm over 60 already, so no, no hurries for anyone below, I don't know – 80? (LOL) and it's never too late (well, one day it will be, obviously, but…) For me it actually did matter that I crossed the threshold to what some would call an 'elderly lady' (that's not how I see myself, but, you know). I, too, had a stern talking-to with myself a couple of years ago, saying, self, if you don't do it now it
will be too late! How do you want to spend your last years on this earth, anyway? OK then, get going, get it ready, send it out there! And here I am, still fighting that roaring lion of procrastination (see the Ibsen quote in my signature) every single day…
CalRazor - I'm with goddessofgliese – you can't get worse than no, so why not try them all – except if you feel that the manuscript is perhaps not ready and you would need to rework it/revise it more before sending it out again. Then maybe it's a good idea to let it rest in a drawer for a while and work on something new instead. Good luck either way!
Good luck with your new batch of queries
goddessofgliese!! Silence is the hardest, especially since we don't know for how long we need to wait, and there's nothing we can do about it!! Having no control once we've hit the 'send' button really is the worst. It invites all the fretting, and panic, and paranoia, and imposter syndrome, and what have you to come right in. Sigh.
I'm definitely down from the festival high now, fretting and panicking and imposter-syndroming (shut up, that is SO a verb!) to my hearts discontent. Going from: they may have answered right now!! checking re-checking mail every ten minutes – through they will never answer, they think this is the worst/most ridiculous manuscript they've ever seen – to, but I don't WANT this to be published and the whole world to see and comment on my secret world and my beloved characters!!
rinse and repeat. All of it very rational and mature, yeah…
Congrats with sending out more queries
pingle! As for the one without contact details – what about resending the exact same submission,
with the contact details and a short, matter-of-fact explanation that you resend because you forgot the contact details
mistri – I get it, not the one-to-ones, but the overall impression… Yes, there were speeches and workshops and etc etc. On Friday afternoon there was an Ask the Agent session with six agents if I remember correctly, taking questions from the audience, and they did of course talk about rejections, and what they were looking for, and what they would reject and how fast. Also how frustrating it is for us writers to get no feedback and how they absolutely understood that, but how they could not possibly find the time to give individual feedback to everybody. One of them said she always responded at least with a form rejection, another said, although she understood our frustration, her agency got more than a hundred submissions per day, so they just didn't have the time for form rejections… Maybe that came across as not really interested in our submissions to someone – it didn't to me, but there you are.
Good luck with your submissions and sitting on your hands!
Thanks for the congrats
Liz_V And good luck with All The Things (my Things are growling at me from every corner right now, get ON with it they're saying – and I pretend I can't hear them…)
Good luck with your still out queries,
litdawg, here's a consolation cake for the rejection:
and congrats with the partial request!
And
utesfanami – that sounds fantastic!!! Absolutely like you're about to get an offer of representation. I understand the nervous feeling, I would have been close to fainting – but yeah, you're nearly there! ]And another dream agent telling you they're still reading – very promising! Yohoo!