The Daily Rejection

Agents can take a heck of a long time to respond. I had one nibble after three months. However, it is best, IMHO, to keep querying. If you wait for one set of queries to time out before sending out any more, your querying could take a long, long, long time.

Sydneyd said:

I'm not THAT young Hathor. Been feeling pretty old lately actually.

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Oh, OK. Old it is I'm just try to be sensitive to references that some wouldn't get -- which happens with my kids quite frequently. And I had to change the perfect title of my book because it referenced a Pink Floyd song and not a single one of my betas knew what I was talking about ...

Wow, I'm nervous. I just received an email from one of the agents with my proposal, saying he had finally cleared up the time to read it. He wanted to make sure I didn't have representation yet. So I guess he thinks it worthy of representation, at least at first blush. I only sent this in to him two weeks ago.

So I know he is reading it right now. Think positive thoughts ...

*sends out lots of positive thought waves* Go, go Hathor!

Got a rejection from an agent I was hopeful about, but had that followed up by a request from one I thought I had no chance with. Another up and down day.

Come on evereebodeee! *thinking positive thoughts for Hathor* Go get 'em Godess!

One rejection, one piece of chocolate.

Go, Hathor! Sounds really positive!!!

Besides being super busy the last few days with day job, it's been crickets in my inbox. I can't even claim any chocolate!

Erin said:

Go, Hathor! Sounds really positive!!!

Besides being super busy the last few days with day job, it's been crickets in my inbox. I can't even claim any chocolate!

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So far it seems like having someone read my proposal has been the kiss of death. We'll see.

At least I've finished going through P & E. That wasn't as bad as I thought. I thought it would be easier to research agencies rather than individual agents, so that narrowed down the list immensely. Once I crossed off the agencies I'd already researched, the ones that aren't recommended, and the ones in other countries (as well as some entries that say something is a literary agency but it isn't), it was a far more manageable list. With googling, I could easily find the ones that have fallen off the face of the earth, have no sales, have an entertaining AW thread, take no unsolicited queries, or have no relevant genres. (Part of my need to research so hard is that my book has elements of a variety of genres. So deciding to query someone is more of a gestalt sort of decision.)

I've been left with a fairly substantial list of folks I can query that simply didn't show up in searches on the usual sites. Descriptions sometimes varied between QT, AQ, PM, and the agencies' websites. Or an agent might say they like genres X, Y, and Z, but really they will look at any book that fits a certain description -- and I think that description fits mine.

Oh well, queries are cheap. Except for the snail mail ones that require lots of pages I haven't printed out a bunch of copies of my proposal for those who want that with the query due to cost. But I suppose if I'm willing to print out P & E (more manageable to work with that way), I should be able to justify sending a few proposals into the unknown, at least for what seem to be the best candidates.

Now I just have to decide whether to wait until more R's come in or just go ahead and query these people right away.

As for the chocolate, if you want, I can come up with a rationalization for why you should have some

Also, I should add something I discovered about P & E. One can usually trust those $'s or their absence. But I found agencies with sales without $'s and some with $'s that don't look like they've had sales for years. It is a good thing to verify.

There are also a few of those frustrating places that seem to have plenty of sales, but you can't find out anything about them. Maybe they find you

I think for my next book, which will be a different genre, I will spread out my research while I'm writing. I can have a comprehensive list then, and the research won't be so boring. I can also know who my top choices are, the next tier, and so on. I found some people in P & E that look really good. I wish I had queried them earlier.

Hathor, thanks for the P&E rundown. I definitely need to go thru it. I've only used it to check on agents I found at the other usual sites, but haven't used it to add to my list. You've got me convinced!

Erin, remember you can always quit if you aren't finding new people. Different genres may yield different results.

I was a believer once I got through the A's (which take longer than any other letter, just so you know). If you aren't finding new people after a certain amount of time, you can always stop.

I found it useful to staple each letter as a separate little stack. That way, I didn't despair looking at one big printout. (I cut and pasted each set of entries into one big Word file and then printed. That way I didn't have to print out the introductory stuff at the top of each letter in P & E.)

It was an education to read through so many different AW threads. You have the great agents, the ones that sort of lose interest and prove hard to get in touch with, the ones with no pertinent background or skills, and then the bad ones. It is true that having a bad agent, or a lackadaisical or clueless one, is worse than no agent at all.

I wish I had done this earlier, but I thought it would take longer than it did. Of course, I was working pretty much full time on it over the course of a week and I was able to cross off the many agencies I'd already looked at. So YMMV But I hope it works for you, too. You don't have to have a marathon like I did. (I didn't even intend to. But once I got started it was, "well, I'll finish this page," then "why don't I finish this letter," etc. It helps to have the TV on.)

Well, I haven't been getting any responses at all for a while now so I just got through with sending out a few new queries. I've been going through a rough patch in general lately and, surprisingly, sending those e-mails made me feel a bit better. I wonder why that is.

I love this thread.

Still nothing in my inbox. One of the people I entered a contest for at the beginning of the month has a new contest listed without any sort of resolution on the last one, alas. I checked querytracker and it looks like the non-responders are kind of backed up at the moment. Perhaps I will send out a new round tomorrow anyway. Or maybe I will post my first chapter in SYW. Decisions, decisions.

Good luck, Hathor! I hope good news comes your way. When you go through P&E, what does that entail exactly? IIRC, they're not broken up by genres, so are you checking each agency individually all the way through?

Kandybar said:

When you go through P&E, what does that entail exactly? IIRC, they're not broken up by genres, so are you checking each agency individually all the way through?

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Yes, that is what I did. But by sight I could check off a number of agencies that: aren't recommended, are in other countries, or I had already researched (and either queried or rejected for some reason). Quite a number of places have disappeared. Or there is no $, you see no sales on the google search, and the AW thread says no sales also. If there is an agency website, I looked at it. A google search will disclose any AW thread or entries in GT or AQ.

For most places, it didn't take long to cross them off. What took time is if I found a possibility and wanted to read more. Or I found a train wreck of an agency and wanted to read the entire AW thread for entertainment.

I didn't start out with P & E. But I had pretty much done what I could with QT, AQ, PM, the 1000 agents site, and AAR online (the ones with search functions).

Some agencies have sales but nothing anywhere indicating genres. I started some threads on those, but no one has been able to help out. I suppose I could pay for PM access and see the names of the books being sold. However, if an agency doesn't let people know their genres and how to query them, they probably aren't open to queries to begin with

Thanks, Hathor for your P&E insight! I've spent so much time over the last 2 years researching agents from all the other sites. I don't really have the time right now but to do it in one fell swoop, so it will surely be one alphabet letter at a time. But then, I may forego it for a while and concentrate on prepping my current wip for querying in January. I can start all over with the list I already have!

I got one snail mail query R today. I'd already written it off, so no big surprise.

Also, if anyone is using the 1000 Agents site, be wary and research each agent elsewhere. The site is outdated. I saw several agents who had moved agencies, or were no longer agenting, etc. Of course, you should be doing this anyways!

Yes, you make a good point. The 1000 list is somewhat dated. It appears that they just came up with the list and made no commitment to keep it up current. So new people won't be on there and the older ones may be at another firm or no longer agents.

Still, I found a number of names that I hadn't discovered on the other sites, so it was worthwhile for me. Erin, was your experience the same, or were you finding only the same people you found elsewhere?

I don't know if it is true of fiction. But for nonfiction, genre descriptions frequently vary from site to site. Or you will see that someone repped something that doesn't seem to fit in with what they say they handle (or the different sites say they handle).

I'm inclined just to query everyone I found right now and move on to my new book (fiction ). I know I have several agents looking right now and a number of queries that aren't even a month old. I'm just so tired of waiting.

Hathor, I found a couple agents on the 1000 site that I didn't find elsewhere.

I've learned a lot of patience during this query process. But I still hate the waiting, too!

Ugh, another reject. On a sunday! At 5pm! Wierd time.

I usually get rejections on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons.

I hardly ever get them on weekends. Somehow I feel worse about them. Like the agent hated the idea SO MUCH she stopped what she was doing to reject me

Sydneyd said:

Ugh, another reject. On a sunday! At 5pm! Wierd time.

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Bummer...I got one too, weird.

Haven't heard anything for a couple of weeks. Snort. Bite me.

Erin said:

Bummer...I got one too, weird.

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You two should compare notes. Maybe it was the same agent (or agent's assistant).

Sorry for the R's. I got one over the weekend also.

Ok guys. This morning, I got a reject on my full. But the letter started,Thank you for letting me read your query..... and then was form after that, nothing specific about my novel. I mean this is my first time getting a reject after they requested more material and I understand that you can still get form letters then..but he wasn't reading my query, he already accepted my query!
I am sad. And confused. And irritated. I was hoping for at least some feedback.

My feedback is that this sucks. Sorry

It probably would do no good to ask about this mistake, though. I had a rejection a while ago that said, "Sorry, we don't handle screenplays." Only, I hadn't given them one. I emailed back, got a very earnest apology, and a copy of the right form rejection.

It would be nice if fulls always resulted in feedback, at least. But they don't