I've visited the forum archives and looked around. I didn't see anything about this, but that doesn't mean there isn't. So... I'll ask. I sent out queries to agents and received about 3 replies that were positive, except to say, "this manuscript isn't quite ready." One agent in particular had actually taken the time to point out some things on the MS. I took the advice of the agent, of a couple of local editors and librarians and made major changes to the MS including the ending. My question is, do I re-query all of the agents that I sent it out to originally or do I re-query just the ones that were positive or do I let the MS sit for awhile and write another? Thanks in advance to any and all replies.
I have not submitted yet (very soon) but this is my opinion.
Congrats on getting a good response. I think you should take your edited WIP and submit it to the three interested agents. Especially send it to the one that took the time to tell you what he/she thought needed work and where it needed to be worked on. I think that show interest if he/she took time out of their schedule to help them out. I don't think you resend the query letter, but maybe a follow-up letter. "Hey Jane, Thanks for your positive response. I took your suggestions and made some changes..."
Always keep writing the next story. I have a 35,000 WIP and I am taking a short break to write a children's picture book. After that back to work on the 35,000 WIP
Just curious, how many agents have your queried?
Congrats on getting a good response. I think you should take your edited WIP and submit it to the three interested agents. Especially send it to the one that took the time to tell you what he/she thought needed work and where it needed to be worked on. I think that show interest if he/she took time out of their schedule to help them out. I don't think you resend the query letter, but maybe a follow-up letter. "Hey Jane, Thanks for your positive response. I took your suggestions and made some changes..."
Always keep writing the next story. I have a 35,000 WIP and I am taking a short break to write a children's picture book. After that back to work on the 35,000 WIP
Just curious, how many agents have your queried?
re: # of agents
I submitted a query to 17 agents. I had 5 requests for MS. Anyway, I was reading Ms. Snark's blog and she says it's okay to re-query, rather than re-submit. So... I think I'll re-query the 3 agents and mention in my cover letter that they had read the original MS and I made changes, etc.
Thanks for the reply. Good Luck on your books!
I submitted a query to 17 agents. I had 5 requests for MS. Anyway, I was reading Ms. Snark's blog and she says it's okay to re-query, rather than re-submit. So... I think I'll re-query the 3 agents and mention in my cover letter that they had read the original MS and I made changes, etc.
Thanks for the reply. Good Luck on your books!
You say you queried but how many requested a full or partial of your ms? I would definitely re-query the ones who saw the full ms - what did the agents who didn't see the ms say?
Also
Sorry, I missed the second part of your question.
The ones who didn't request an MS sent standard rejections. "Sorry, not right for us at this time."
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Sorry, I missed the second part of your question.
The ones who didn't request an MS sent standard rejections. "Sorry, not right for us at this time."
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I don't know about children's books, but for novels, this would be an outstanding response. And if an agent said that "it's not ready yet," and pointed out the problems, I would take that as an invitation to rework it and resubmit. Though I would try the revised version on other agents first.
I agree with Julie. The replies from agents you have had are extremely positive - I would definitely re-query the ones who made suggestions or said 'it's not ready yet'. In fact, I would be inclined to look at each rejection very carefully and see whether there is an implied suggestion of 'we'd like to see this in a revised form'. I'm sure you can use your judgement on those though! I would also query some new agents with the revised version too. Well done!
I know from my own stupid experience that you only get two reads out of an agent, so don't go rushing back with your rewrite. Make sure that second submission is perfect.
Thanks!
I certainly appreciate your thoughts and suggestions. I will re-query the three and then send out new queries to a new set of agents. If you have any more advice, I'm certainly all ears...
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I certainly appreciate your thoughts and suggestions. I will re-query the three and then send out new queries to a new set of agents. If you have any more advice, I'm certainly all ears...
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Absolutely... That was the problem with the first time I did this. I'm obviously very new to this, I got excited by the fact that I had actually completed it (okay, in my mind it was complete) and I made some stupid mistakes. So, after receiving the first set of rejections, I sat down and did the serious re-work on it and I'm very close now. I'm revising a couple of last inconsistencies and then I have a friend who is a very good editor who is going to proof-read it for grammar and typos. After that's finished, I'll be re-querying.
The funniest part is that in re-writing my query letter, I'm having the same problem that I had the first time. Fitting a concise description within one paragraph. This thing is only just over 45,000 words. I can't imagine how authors do it for a book that is longer. My next MS looks to be between 70,000 and 100,000, so I'm a bit worried!
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