Getting discouraged about finding an agent

3 years and this is all for the same book? Is this your first book? Do you have any platform of writing creditionals? Published before?

Maybe it's time to write a different book and trunk that novel. Or search for publishers and submit to them instead. If it's your first book and you go straight to publishers, even if it's a small publisher, it would help build up your writing creditionals and help in finding an agent for your next book. Good Luck to you.

I wish I had good news for you, Tri, but I think that's just the nature of the business. Even after you find an agent, that may not work out...I had an agent, it went well for awhile and then I had to part ways, and I'm back to querying again. This has been a three year process for me as well, but there's nothing I can do about it. It's a time consuming (sometimes soul-crushing) business, but it is what it is.

If you love to write, then keep at it, but bear in mind that it can take YEARS to find an agent, and that's if you query every week. How many agents did Meg Cabot query? Something like 1000, I believe.

There are no easy ways into this business, so the best advice I can offer is to not let yourself get discouraged. It's easier said than done, I know.

Consider reading some more query letters in that forum, read some sample chapters in Share Your Work, find some beta readers for your manuscript, and then once you hit 50 posts, you'll be able to post your query letters too and possibly get some good advice on how to make them as engaging as they can be.

Or maybe consider starting a new book if you feel like you've reached the end of the road with this one. Many first books never get published - again, that's just the nature of the business.

Don't get too discouraged. You're not alone.

After three years, even if you're a slow literary fiction writer, you should have made substantial headway on your next book. If you haven't, it may be time to ask yourself why you're resisting working on it.

Querying is just this thing I'm doing with one book while I'm actively working on my others. And when I get a reply on a full that says, "Didn't love this one, but please query me with your next book if this one doesn't find rep," well, I know the next book will be done this year (well, it will be if I ever finish this revise and resubmit) and I can do that.

However, if you haven't gotten any requests, it's probably your letter, and I would suggest dropping in to Query Letter Hell to let other AWers take a look. You need 50 posts to post your query, and if I may, I would suggest making the bulk of the posts you still need critiques of others' queries. Before I posted in QLH, I challenged myself to get 100 posts, and to make 50 of them query critiques. All the while, I was getting great ideas about what to do with my query.

So, I'd start there. And I'd not stop writing. If all you're doing is querying this one book, you're losing opportunity to have another book behind it to increase your chances of finding an agent. Good luck!

seconding, thirding, or fourthing you try QLH; if you aren't getting requests, just finding more agents to toss the same fail at isn't going to help you, at least throw it out there for a look.....

also, at some point, you aren't editing meaningfully, you're making lateral moves. At some point, you may even be doing worse. Those points are variable, but the odds are very good you've at least hit the lateral move stage by three years, so also agreeing that if you aren't writing anything else in the meantime, you're holding yourself, and your learning curve, back.

Share Your Work!

Tricon, it sounds like part of the reason your query process is taking so long is because querying 2 agents at a time is going to get you glacially slow results, no matter how good your project is.

I started querying in January. I've sent out just over 20 queries, and even that's a lot less than some writers are comfortable with. 2 in the last 2 months is going to get you nowhere fast.

That said, I'd also second that you should put your query letter in the SYW forum here for the best results.

And I also agree that there's no need to polish a book for 9 years. After a while, you're just going to be making lateral moves re: editing.

tricon7 said:

I've been on-again, off-again searching for an agent for my book for three years now, and I think I'm nearing the point to where I don't believe I'm going to get published.

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Tricon, I feel your pain.

I want to agree with what's been said before. you likely need to focus more on your next book. Write, dammit. The process of promoting a book is like a trek up Everest. The process of writing one is like a trek downhill. It can be daunting at times, but overall, it FEELS GREAT.

I recommend that you do work on your query and you do work on editing, but only in doses that are balanced with writing something else. Your mind and your mood need that recovery time.

It's all in the balance.

Lucie

Getting down to 100k is going to help you a lot. 140k is enough to not have you even considered by some people.

That being said, two is far, far from where you should be aiming. I sent in batches of 10~15 each time, just to give you an idea. Think of it this way: If you're hoping for at least a 1 in 10 request rate (which is about the minimum usually stated for expecting to get an agent), and then if you can expect about a 10% chance of having a full request turn into an offer of representation, then that means you'd need to send 100 queries to really have a good chance.

Obviously those are just general and some people have gained representation off three queries and others four hundred, but as a general rule it's a good one to follow.

I'm just saying it's far too early to be discouraged.

I know exactly how you feel, I'm in the same boat.

Ditto to what everyone else has said.

And I'll add: three years? Took me TEN years. And the book that has an agent was number...6. The other five sold, to micro and small presses. They are in print, but none got me an agent. Number 6. Ten years.

Keep going!