Resubmitting Rejected Works

[Alon]

I submitted a political thriller, Eternal Night, to about fifty agents. All turned me down, two based on the full manuscript and the rest based on the query. I've begun reediting the novel, with the hope of sending it out again. Is there any use in sending it to the two agents who liked the idea enough to ask for the entire book but didn't like the writing? If there is, how should I phrase my new inquiry - "I have significantly rewritten the novel, and I believe now that it's considerably better than it was when I originally submitted it"?

[steveg144]

I submitted a political thriller, Eternal Night, to about fifty agents. All turned me down, two based on the full manuscript and the rest based on the query. I've begun reediting the novel, with the hope of sending it out again. Is there any use in sending it to the two agents who liked the idea enough to ask for the entire book but didn't like the writing? If there is, how should I phrase my new inquiry - "I have significantly rewritten the novel, and I believe now that it's considerably better than it was when I originally submitted it"?

Key question: have you "significantly rewritten" it? You say you've begun "reediting" the novel, which is a very different thing from a significant rewrite. A novel that has been re-conceptualized and significantly rewritten is very often a different novel after the process is finished. One that has merely been reedited is the same novel, just cleaned up. Very different situations.

[Alon]

I think I will have, yes. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "reconceptualized" versus "just cleaned up" here. The plot is more or less the same, because from the earliest drafts, my betas said the plot was the strongest point. I also debate with myself just how much to change in the second half, again based on my betas' earlier comments. But the writing style in the first half I'm changing completely, the characters interact with each other very differently, and the way I depict politics in the new version has only casual resemblence to the way I do in the old one. I think it involves significant rewriting, especially of the parts that I believe got my novel rejected, but if your test is "If you read the two versions, would you believe these are two different books or the same in two different stages?" then it's definitely not.

[Toni1953]

usually when agents want to see a rewrite, they'll say that in thier rejection letter, so you might want to try just sending it out to "fresh blood".

[allenparker]

I would probably look at my query letter as well. With 48 rejections, there might be a couple of agents that would respond positively given a different approach to the query.

just a thought...

[RedScylla]

Bingo. If you got 48 rejections on your query alone, I'd look at that list of 48 agents who rejected you first. Do your rewrite and then work on a really fabulous query letter.

I would probably look at my query letter as well. With 48 rejections, there might be a couple of agents that would respond positively given a different approach to the query.

just a thought...

[MoonWriter]

As allen and Red have suggested, I'd definitely rework the query. I'd also find another two or three betas. I had four and each had comments that led to a stronger rewrite. I then had three more look at the "polished" rewrite. They found more mistakes and plot holes. Each had their strengths and each taught me how to write better.

[MelancholyMan]

I'm in the same boat. Just cut the novel from 208K to around 140K. I'd had a few rejections that said the pacing was a bit slow and the writing somewhat wordy. So I did a few big edits and and now sending it back out. It isn't a different plot, but it is a different novel. I'm sending it under a different title. Mostly different agents but a few of the old ones. It is free and easy to send an e-query and who knows, it just might go to a different assistant this time.

-MM

[Use Her Name]

I really worry about your original post. They liked the idea (ideas are not copy-rightable), but did not like the writing. So, basically, they didn't like the original work, but liked the idea? So they might have liked the book if someone else wrote it, or to put it more kindly, it was written differently? If I got this feeling, I would find out what was wrong with the writing (weaknesses, problems that you might not know about). Maybe you should take a writing workshop for a semester and really hash out what is wrong with the writing instead of doing line by line edits. Don't be discouraged but often what is wrong with the writing is not "missing commas," is is usually something more fundamental, like over-reaching, flat characters, no motivations, weak or shifting voice, sounding too much like a TV movie, dozens more things like that.

[Alon]

First, I'm not that worried about my query. When I started, I had no idea what I was doing. I had a crap query, which I revised about twice. I was basically querying every agent who accepted unsolicited submissions. Of the fifty I queried, with only about eight I could reference a book they'd represented that was even vaguely similar to mine. Both agents who asked for the entire manuscript came from this set of eight agents.

Second, I'm definitely going to be looking for new betas when I'm even half done. (There's no point in keeping rewriting if the first chapter, which may be all the agent looks at, is still crap.) Is there a special set of skills one needs to be a beta, or can any good reader do it?