I have a book. An actual finished book that I would like people to read, if they’re so inclined. Thus, I painstakingly, carefully, and not without tears, wrote a query letter, researched the hell out of agents, and sent some tender submissions out into the swirling cruelty of agent-dom.
I got rejections. Lots of them. Wallpapering a small room number of rejections (if they still arrived on paper, that is). But I also got requests. Seven agents wanted to see more. Two of them wanted to see only a little bit more and five wanted to see the whole darn thing. The query was (fooling them) working!! I did a jig and opened a bottle of wine with every request. I would’ve opened the wine regardless but it’s nice to have something to celebrate with one’s grape. The jig, however, was entirely related to requests for material, as I’m not much of a dancer.
I discovered there’s no limit to the number of times you can refresh your email inbox in a given day. I also discovered that waiting to hear back from agents about requested material is about as fun as being bound, gagged, dipped in honey, and left for dead beside an African anthill. Which is to say, no fun at all.
And then I got my first partial rejection. No biggie. He didn’t understand the story. Maybe if he’d read the whole thing... There was no feedback because the R came from an assistant. Who wants to work with an agent that sends and R through his assistant anyway? (me?)
And then the full rejections began to roll in. I haven’t had much in the way of feedback. One said: “the writing just wasn’t completely winning me over.” Another didn’t like one of my characters (which to me sounds like: your baby is ugly and will amount to nothing *bawls*).
I don’t have many agents left to query and am torn about doing anything with the manuscript itself. Maybe there’s a way I can make my character more likable? For now, I’m waiting to hear back about the final 3 fulls to see if there’s any feedback I can actually use.
Wish me luck. And strength. I need it if I’m not going to give up.
I got rejections. Lots of them. Wallpapering a small room number of rejections (if they still arrived on paper, that is). But I also got requests. Seven agents wanted to see more. Two of them wanted to see only a little bit more and five wanted to see the whole darn thing. The query was (fooling them) working!! I did a jig and opened a bottle of wine with every request. I would’ve opened the wine regardless but it’s nice to have something to celebrate with one’s grape. The jig, however, was entirely related to requests for material, as I’m not much of a dancer.
I discovered there’s no limit to the number of times you can refresh your email inbox in a given day. I also discovered that waiting to hear back from agents about requested material is about as fun as being bound, gagged, dipped in honey, and left for dead beside an African anthill. Which is to say, no fun at all.
And then I got my first partial rejection. No biggie. He didn’t understand the story. Maybe if he’d read the whole thing... There was no feedback because the R came from an assistant. Who wants to work with an agent that sends and R through his assistant anyway? (me?)
And then the full rejections began to roll in. I haven’t had much in the way of feedback. One said: “the writing just wasn’t completely winning me over.” Another didn’t like one of my characters (which to me sounds like: your baby is ugly and will amount to nothing *bawls*).
I don’t have many agents left to query and am torn about doing anything with the manuscript itself. Maybe there’s a way I can make my character more likable? For now, I’m waiting to hear back about the final 3 fulls to see if there’s any feedback I can actually use.
Wish me luck. And strength. I need it if I’m not going to give up.
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