The Daily Rejection

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cornflake

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That could mean a lot of things, from a polite 'no,' or 'it's not my thing (in a general sense),' to face value.

Assuming face value, it can mean that the agent doesn't feel like he or she is jazzed enough by the work to really sell it effectively, or that the agent is, but doesn't have the time the particular book will take (could take on an author whose sale seems straightforward, or with a backlist who just wants to target a new house, or...but not a new author with a debut that could require a bunch of selling). It can take a lot of personal, real convincing pitching, and if someone feels like, 'it's good, I can see it'll sell, but I just don't love it enough to spend my days extolling its virtues,' that can mean that.

Could also mean the person doesn't feel the people they have the best relationships with are ones who'd be in the market, for various and sundry reasons. Sure, any agent can call up anyone, but that doesn't mean they'd be heard. People have relationships. The more well-established and -connected agents have more ability to cast a wide net, but everyone has relationships, even specific editors within houses, to various people.

Could mean that the agent thinks it's not exactly the time to pitch it. Maybe the agent knows a book like it is making the rounds among people he or she knows. It's good, but it's not the right time to sell it, at least for that agent and the people known to him/her. Thus, it's saleable, but...

Also, other possibilities.
 
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Lonegungrrly

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Well it went well!! I got and agent I got an agent !! *happy dance* I didn't throw up or anything ! Haha
 

Lonegungrrly

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It was lovely! There was absolutely no bloody reason for me to be so scared haha we had a really nice meal in a place that was very posh and worked out a plan of action. She's a very editorial agent so she is going to give me her feedback and then I'm going to work on the final draft before submission. I had lunch with her business partner too and they both seem really talented and well connected. Her partner was reading one of my manuscripts (not the one we are going forward with first) and was like "I'm half way through! No spoilers!" Haha like I was actually a real-ass writer. I am grinning like an idiot
 

Moonchild

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It's been the ominous silence of an empty inbox all week so far.

I seem to have gone from querying some agents who get back quickly one way or the other to ones who don't. So I'm left not knowing when a no news simply means no, versus no news means they haven't gotten to their growing pile of queries yet.

Sometimes I can get an idea from the records on query tracker. There's one agent, for instance, who always seems to get back to people within a week when she wants pages, but may or may not send rejections out for the ones she doesn't want. But there's another who doesn't seem to send rejections very often, yet her pages requests from initial subs vary from happening within a day to two months. So not hearing back within x amount of time doesn't necessarily mean no.

Then there's another who is usually very quick on both requests and rejections, and never used to leave people hanging, but now has a huge pile of queries (according to query tracker) they haven't responded to either way (to request pages or send a rejection) for like two months now.

Wondering what's going through agents' minds is the road to madness, but I can't stop :(

Wow. It's like we're submission twins! Down to the ominous inbox silence this week. Better than bad news, though! :)

Well it went well!! I got and agent I got an agent !! *happy dance* I didn't throw up or anything ! Haha

:TheWave::PartySmil:TheWave:

Yay, yay, yay! :e2woo: LGG! Soooo jealous!!!! (But happy for you! How cool is that that you got to meet your agent face to face, too!)

How's everyone else doing?
 
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Nova Odyssey

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Lonegungrrly:
:partyguy::partyguy::D
Congratulations! So very happy for you.

Moonchild: My inbox is crickets, but I'm busy with edits after some helpful comments from a great beta-read.;) I'll probably send one new query off today, just because....:e2writer:
 

ChocolateChipCookie

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Congrats, lonegun!!!! What a thrill for you. Please keep us up to date on your submission experience.

Today I'll be working again (this will be a days-long deal) on my Big Dramatic Scene. The logistics are difficult, not the writing. I wish someone would just pop up and TELL me what to write, and I could do it. But, no.

Wah.
 

Hathor

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Lonegun--fabulous news! :hooray:

Moonchild--I've been doing nothing constructive. I can't tell if I'm in a funk over my writing or still a bit jetlagged. At some point, I imagine I'll snap out of it, get busy, and become chatty here again.
 

WendyN

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Phew. Finally done with my revisions for today. Took me longer than usual bc I had to rewrite major parts of this section, but it's definitely improved. :)

I had a lengthy response typed out about the likelihood of a first-agented book selling, but I think I'll stick with these links below (many from agent blogs), and the simple statement that selling or not selling a manuscript has everything to do with the market and timing and luck and what editors are currently looking for and Mars' alignment with Jupiter and who knows what else, and very little to do with how confident an author is about their own work.
THIS and THIS and THIS and THIS and THIS

Best of luck to all you Londoners today!

confetti-1.gif
 

Tulips

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It doesn't end there either.

I'm on my fifth week of waiting on a two-week exclusive with a big publisher (no longer an exclusive, my agent sent out a bunch of pitches a little over a week ago).

That's painful, Drachen, though I'm glad you have other pitches out now, too. Hears hoping you receive good news soon. It seems publishing is a never-ending cycle of waiting and anxiety mixed with happiness and hopefulness.

@ Lonegungrrly :hooray: Congrats!

Wondering what's going through agents' minds is the road to madness, but I can't stop :(

I know how you feel. I try not to obsess and do better some days more than others. Logically I get this is a subjective business and agents are people, but it's hard when you're trying to figure out what's taste/timing/life happening versus a legitimate problem with the MS you could correct before sending out more queries.
 
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Fuchsia Groan

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Yay, LG! Congrats to you.

I had a lengthy response typed out about the likelihood of a first-agented book selling, but I think I'll stick with these links below (many from agent blogs), and the simple statement that selling or not selling a manuscript has everything to do with the market and timing and luck and what editors are currently looking for and Mars' alignment with Jupiter and who knows what else, and very little to do with how confident an author is about their own work.
THIS and THIS and THIS and THIS and THIS

Thanks for those links, Wendy! Everybody on sub with fiction (or soon to be) should read Natalie Whipple's post; it's both distressing and inspiring. I've been there with a first book not selling, though my process wasn't as drawn out or as full of painful false hope as hers was. It does happen, and it sucks, and many writers get up and move on from it and come back stronger. This whole process definitely encourages mindfulness or stoicism of some sort.
 

triceretops

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Sure, any agent can call up anyone, but that doesn't mean they'd be heard. People have relationships. The more well-established and -connected agents have more ability to cast a wide net, but everyone has relationships, even specific editors within houses, to various people.

This is accurate and so true. I know my agent has special friendships and success rates with certain publishers. That's where she goes first when she has the right book for the right editor. It took me years and three agents to figure this out.

tri
 

Tulips

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Another rejection on one of my partials. This one hurt as I thought the agent would be a good fit. What's further hard is that the feedback was totally different than the previous partial reject. One didn't connect with the MC and the other wanted more worldbuilding right away (though she added this was a taste preference).

I don't know what to think. Should I wait to see if there's more consistent feedback? Or is this just a taste issue?
 

JJ Litke

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If you have more partials out, you might wait and hope for more feedback. It could be just personal preference, but if it turns into a pattern, then you want to pay attention to that.

You got requests, so you're still in good shape.
 

noranne

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So much silence going on for me right now. Yeah, I don't have a ton out, but surprised I'm not getting anything. Well tomorrow I leave for Guatemala so maybe going longer between checking email will spark something. :)

I did end up nudging that agent. A 24 day response time is like 3x her average, the longest one I saw on her QT explorer was 10 days. Now of course I feel all pushy and like I'm not going to get a response to the nudge either. It's like texting your ex or something!

Anyway, I will be scarce for the next two weeks, good luck to all and may our inboxes be filled with joy! And WOOHOO for LG!!
 

Roxxsmom

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So many people have empty inboxes this week. Maybe there's something going on in the agenting world that none of us know about. The big super secret all-agents retreat.

Or maybe they've all taken a vow of silence. Or...

:foilhat:
 
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