The Daily Rejection

[college boy]

I wrote to inquire how long it could be before I could expect to hear back on my full, and the agent's assistant wrote that their response time on queries usually one to two months. I guess that my full isn't exactly setting the office on fire.

[Carleree]

I haven't anything for a few days, but I ate the chocolate anyway. This week I should have a few more roll in. On the upside, my dream agent has not rejected me. Crossing fingers and toes.

[Hathor]

Originally Posted by college boy

I wrote to inquire how long it could be before I could expect to hear back on my full, and the agent's assistant wrote that their response time on queries usually one to two months. I guess that my full isn't exactly setting the office on fire.

I know they're busy, but sometimes you wonder about what has happened to someone's basic reading skills. I love it when my book gets rejected after a partial or full for being or having something quite explicitly stated in my initial query.

Have you checked QueryTracker for stats on this agent or seen if there is a AW thread?

Carleree, yes, that's the problem with having chocolate in the house. There is always some reason to eat it.

[Hathor]

Gee, I get on here and forget to post what I had planned. If you need a laugh, and particularly if you write mystery or crime, take a look:

http://www.theyfightcrime.org/

[Sydneyd]

Originally Posted by Hathor

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

Even after you said this I was fully prepared and ready to write the agent back and ask for clarification. I even opened up the letter, and hit reply. But then I read the letter again. And maybe I did get the wrong form, but the only difference was probably in one word.

When it comes down to it, I want an agent who is enthusiastic about my book, not one that I have to chase to get the right letter. So, even though I am upset and sad and feel like nothing good will ever happen, I will just put this behind me.

[Hathor]

Ah, Sydneyd, don't cry. Have some chocolate. Or wine. Or whatever else is your preferred self-comforting method.

When I have had a particularly devastating R, I like to go get ghocchi and chianti at our neighborhood Italian restaurant. Then again, I like to do this with good news too. I think I just really like ghocchi and chianti.

[Sydneyd]

hehe. Yes, Italian food will certainly do the trick. First I must study, and then go to class...THEN food and wine and misery

[Kandybar]

Nothing, nothing, nothing. It's enough to make a girl question whether her emails are actually going out.

[Carleree]

I hate querying. I feel like the girl who gets all dressed up for prom and waits by the door for her date to show up--but he went with someone else. On the upside, I have kids and Halloween is just around the corner--chocolate abounds.

[samitestar]

I'm getting ready to query again, after a year's break. The last round was torturous and I'm weak (minded, willed, whatever).

But reading everyone else's rejection stories is strangely heartening. I'm sure I'll be back here with my own rejection story in a few days. Wish me luck!

[Hathor]

Originally Posted by samitestar

Wish me luck!

[Erin]

Originally Posted by Sydneyd

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.

Sorry about the rejection. It's especially tough on requested material. But I wouldn't read too much into it. I've gotten plenty of strange rejections that had me scratching my head. Just file it away and move on to the next one. The agent probably cut and pasted the wrong rejection text. Send out a few more queries. FYI...more than half the request material rejections I got had NO feedback. It's normal.

[Erin]

Originally Posted by samitestar

I'm getting ready to query again, after a year's break. The last round was torturous and I'm weak (minded, willed, whatever).

But reading everyone else's rejection stories is strangely heartening. I'm sure I'll be back here with my own rejection story in a few days. Wish me luck!

Lots of luck for you!!

Crickets for me today. But I'm still getting chocolate!

[Phaeal]

Sydneyd, I know how you feel about the form rejections for fulls. The full has a mystique, a specialness, for us writers. However, I'm thinking that more agents are requesting fulls instead of partials, and requesting material in general more freely, because email makes submission (and the handling of submissions) so much easier. And, really. Why request a partial rather than a full when it's coming through the Internet? Both are weightless and take up essentially the same space, and the agent can read as little or as much as he wants.

The only specific feedback I've EVER received, out of scores of short story and novel rejections, was one line on a short story. One precious line that proved the editor had actually read the whole story. I think I cried.

Oh well. I also have a sense that very few fulls, or partials for that matter, are read from start to finish. I imagine an agent would only read the whole thing if she was excited by it and fairly sure she wanted to offer rep. As a reader, I know whether I want to continue with a book by the end of a couple chapters, if not before. Why would an agent be different?

Anyhow. I tell myself "Self, is this my beautiful house?" No, wait. That's David Byrne. I tell myself that no feedback is good! No feedback means the agent or editor couldn't find anything wrong to comment on!

My self believes whatever I tell it, the schmuck.

[IHeartWriting]

Originally Posted by Hathor

Gee, I get on here and forget to post what I had planned. If you need a laugh, and particularly if you write mystery or crime, take a look:

http://www.theyfightcrime.org/

That's fantastic!

I particularly liked this one,
"He's a notorious zombie messiah from the Mississippi delta. She's a radical winged snake charmer descended from a line of powerful witches. They fight crime!"

[Drachen Jager]

Originally Posted by Phaeal

Sydneyd, I know how you feel about the form rejections for fulls. The full has a mystique, a specialness, for us writers. However, I'm thinking that more agents are requesting fulls instead of partials, and requesting material in general more freely, because email makes submission (and the handling of submissions) so much easier. And, really. Why request a partial rather than a full when it's coming through the Internet? Both are weightless and take up essentially the same space, and the agent can read as little or as much as he wants.

Which is why, to me, it's not a REAL full unless the agent requested it off a partial. If they request a full off a query it's pretty much the same as requesting a partial, they just want to have a look.

If a partial (at least a chapter) was part of the initial query OR they requested a partial before asking for the full, THAT is a significant development.

I think it's actually the lazy agents who often request fulls right from the start. They know they can just wipe it when they're done and it saves them time. I've actually had less luck getting responses and feedback from agents who requested fulls from the start than I've had on partials. Several agents simply never got back to me and ignored my prodding with fulls.

[Sydneyd]

Oh I hate to sound contrary, but I was excited because the query I sent out had the first 10 pages attached. So when the agent asked for the full, I think the agent said something like, I would love to read more please send me the full. So I thought. Yay!
I'm still holding out for the idea that it was allll a biiig mistake. and that one morning I will wake up with a message that says, oh no! I loved your book! hehe. I know, it is dillusional. But it will help me sleep better.

On a seperate note, as per Daily Rejection tradition, I did send out a couple revenge queries. Here is to hoping. I have a lot of unanswered queries to look forward to. Plus another agent still has my partial. I will try to remain positive

[Carleree]

I had one time out today. Another is due to time out tomorrow, but my dream agent still has my 50 pages and hasn't said a peep. I'm taking that as a good sign and am breaking out the chocolate.

[Sydneyd]

How much time do you give before a time out? I have a few that are hitting the past one month mark...but I was thinking of giving them three before putting a big R next to their name. Does that sound about right?

[Drachen Jager]

Two to three months is about right. Sometimes an agent will get back to you after longer than that but it's well below 5% odds they'll reply at that point.

Even if they do respond, any agent who's that busy will likely be uninterested unless your presentation blows them away, and if you had a presentation that blew agents away you wouldn't be waiting three months on Joe Slowpants. I can only recall one time when I had an agent make a request after a month and she said she'd been on vacation when I sent the query. Normally requests come in the first week or two in my experience. Those are the agents which are hungry for new clients.

[Carleree]

I usually wait about 8 weeks before dropping them into the R list. But this particular agent put a 2 week limit on waiting for a response.

[Erin]

I move queries to R list at 8 weeks unless agent otherwise states. If query included more than 1 chapter, I give it 12 weeks.

[Peggy Blair]

Listen guys, I got an offer of rep'n from an agent who'd had my manuscript for four months: so much depends on what else is on their plate. If they have a large stable of writers, the priority has to be reading their revisions, getting contracts in place, negotiating their deals. I think you should always, before writing them off, email them to remind them they've had your ms for X number of weeks and ask if they have any feedback. Sometimes, honestly, they get buried under paper, and forget.

[Kandybar]

Is it worth it to send prods on queries, or do you guys just write them off and only prod on partials/fulls?

(It is still lonely in my e-box.)

[Drachen Jager]

Originally Posted by Peggy Blair

Listen guys, I got an offer of rep'n from an agent who'd had my manuscript for four months: so much depends on what else is on their plate. If they have a large stable of writers, the priority has to be reading their revisions, getting contracts in place, negotiating their deals. I think you should always, before writing them off, email them to remind them they've had your ms for X number of weeks and ask if they have any feedback. Sometimes, honestly, they get buried under paper, and forget.

The topic is Queries, not manuscripts.

I agree, with you though, a lot of people just write off manuscript submissions after a few months. You should always prod after 2-3 months, it really can't hurt as long as you're polite (even when THEY are not).