Just a question for those of you out there who've managed to land an agent. How many rejection notices did you rack up before you managed it? 10? 50? 100? I'm trying to figure out when is the right time to despair.
281 here, then great agent who got me a three-book deal in only 6 tries. I know there are others at AW who have even higher numbers of rejections pre-success.
Only running out of agents was going to stop me. My credo: There's no time for despair -- you need that time to be working on the NEXT book.
So, next question, where did you find all of them?
The first time round it took me 47 queries. Second time round...hmm, I didn't really count...I would guess around 40 as well?
Miss Snark said to query 100 before questioning your MS, but I suggest getting your query letter looked at over on QLH to make sure it's working. As for where to find agents...I found most of the US ones on Query Tracker and UK ones no Wiki.
No rejections for me, but I have a friend who received nearly a hundred before he landed an agent. The interesting thing is that he completely rewrite his query right before sending it to that agent, and she commented that she loved it.
Before that rewrite, almost every rejection he received was a form.
Just a question for those of you out there who've managed to land an agent. How many rejection notices did you rack up before you managed it? 10? 50? 100? I'm trying to figure out when is the right time to despair.
I think the key is to not despair. It's hard, it takes time, and at the end of the day, landing an agent comes so much down to timing and things outside your control, it's inadvisable (I think) to wallow because of rejection. I really think the people who land an agent were the ones too stubborn to give up.
Which is not to say never revise. If your query isn't getting a decent respond rate, it probably needs revision. If your partials aren't getting a decent rate of request for fulls, then there might be something wrong with the MS. But don't arrive at those conclusions after a handful of rejections (or even a a couple dozen?).
Don't suppose anyone's ever put a number on it? Like, an effective query should get a 40%-ish request rate? Doubt it, because this business is so unquantifiable.
You are my new best friend. Seriously. That is extremely reassuring. So, next question, where did you find all of them? I have pretty much plowed through AgentQuery and there just aren't that many left that are accepting submissions that work in middle grade. Is Publishers Marketplace a good place to go next? I keep hearing that bandied about, but I'm still such a newbie.
I'm only submitting to magazines with poems and short stories so far, but I've racked up into the double digits. If nothing else, I have a consistent streak going. Whoo! (Sigh).
Btw, I'd like to ask those who has different agents for 2nd / 3rd book, why is that?
And great to find another Austinite here.