Fastest Rejection

FJCavallo

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I set a new personal record today — sent out an agent query at 9:43pm last night, and got a form rejection at 10:38am today.

I’ve been tweaking my query on this one for about 2 months, and obviously it needs more work.

I’m told you can put it up here for critique once you’ve hit 50 posts, so eventually I may get there. Until then, if anyone else has a quicker agent-query smack-down (or anything similar to “commiserate” over) I’d love to hear it.
 

Shoeless

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My top record for a rejection has been five minutes from hitting the "send" button. Must've caught the agent at a really good/bad time, depending on the state of your ego.
 

pingle

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I've had two very fast replies, within the same day. They were among the first queries I sent out when I had no idea what I was doing. I kind of preferred it, they made me realise that my cover letter needed serious work (I'm presuming they won't have read the fifty pages of the MS I sent in that time anyway).
 

ChibiUsagi

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12 hours.

"No thanks"

I was 21 at the time and sensitive so it stung. I have thicker skin now so I only cry on the inside. Also that woman has sold nothing of note in the past two year so...:hi: :roll:
 

RaggyCat

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I sent one about 10pm and had a rejection by 8.30am the next morning sent by a reader. I imagine the agency wasn't looking for the genre I sent them so it was an auto reject.
 

carrie_ann

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I've had one in about 3 hours. I've halted querying now, but I was sending them in batches of 4. That day it was the second one I sent, by the time I'd finished the fourth I received the rejection from number two. Aside from the obvious, the only thing that annoyed me was I then felt the need to submit another before I finished the day's work.
 

Niiicola

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The very first query I ever sent got rejected 52 minutes later. Three years later, that agent offered rep (though is not my agent). I know it stings, but don't take it personally. And keep moving forward! The only thing you can take away from a fast rejection is that that agent is very on top of their inbox, which is not a bad thing.
 
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LJD

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15 min. It was even a personalized rejection.
 

FJCavallo

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Great stuff. I have to say, if it’s going to be a “no” — 12 hours is better than 12 weeks, for sure.
 

LJD

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Dang...I know Shoeless's was faster, but LJD, I think you win with the personalized.

And it was quite obviously personalized, too, not one of those ones where you're unsure if maybe it's a form. She said the humor was good, but she didn't like xyz part of the story.
 

mrsfauthor

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I set a new personal record today — sent out an agent query at 9:43pm last night, and got a form rejection at 10:38am today.

I’ve been tweaking my query on this one for about 2 months, and obviously it needs more work.

I’m told you can put it up here for critique once you’ve hit 50 posts, so eventually I may get there. Until then, if anyone else has a quicker agent-query smack-down (or anything similar to “commiserate” over) I’d love to hear it.

Recently sent a short fiction to a pro publication. It was apparently read immediately and I received a nice note within 30 min. I was actually stunned, it was as if that editor was sitting at her computer waiting for me...
 

Collie

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14 minutes, personalized with name and title of manuscript.
 

Taylor Harbin

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Clarkesworld used to be the fastest for me, sometimes rejecting my stuff in a day's time. But then I sent a piece to Deciduous Tales and it came back in five minutes. I'm convinced they didn't read it.
 

Dr Mindermast

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Wow, I thought my couple of next-day rejections were fast, but after seeing all of these that were an hour or less I... guess I feel a little better? I mean, not as better as if I got an actual "yes," but it's something.
 

Bryan Methods

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Most of my rejections were back when you had to submit by post, haha. So I at least had to wait for the SSAE to get back to me.

Ooh, me achin' back