So, what was I doing yesterday instead of reading contest results??
Well, watching this
And I think you'll understand why after you watch the trailer.
and also: reading my requested fulls! I'm making progress and feeling VERY happy to be responding to people who've been waiting for more than a year (I hang my head in shame at that, truly) in some cases.
What's the longest you've had to wait to hear back on a requested full?
(Yes, I'm trying to believe I'm not the slothiest sloth in slothdom)
21 comments:
I never got any response AT ALL on a couple of requested fulls. Not even when I sent the notice that I had an offer of rep six months or more after the request. Another person with a query responded to the offer of rep with a request for a full...didn't reply within the time frame -- or for months, and finally sent a rejection the same week my now-agent made the publishing deal (probably before she could have known about that). Bottom line: we know publishing is harsh and glacial -- and you, our Shark Queen, are decent about it and never forget that you are dealing with actual humans and their hard work. Many others don't.
I do not remember. I withdrew my last book in query trenches. Only had a couple of fulls. However, I will keep careful record this time out.
Starting in 2 weeks. Provided Word doesn’t completely obliterate my book. Why did I make separate files for each chapter? Who knew putting them all into one file would be such an ordeal?
With respect...
6 months
3 days
2 hrs.
3 minutes
9-1/2 months to respond to a picture book query. But at least they responded. That's a win in my book!
Like KMK, I never got any response on one of my requested fulls. Like Elise, I had to withdraw the manuscript. It has some structural flaws. Also, like Elise, the hope is to start again in 2-3 weeks with a new manuscript and see what the responses are.
One full has been out ten years and counting :-)
Although I completely understand how utterly buried agents are, I do believe that at least a full deserves a response. When last year someone offered to recommend me to that same agent, I said no. I will never work with him because no matter what, I really, really, really believe that a writer deserves a response if a full has been requested. I just do.
On the other hand, I'm in the next stage of waiting for editors to make a decision. 9 months and counting. But at least now I have a very nice agent to help me. It's all good!
I never had many requests for partials or fulls when I was querying, but I don't recall waiting a long time for a response. Sadly. :)
If we talk short story submissions, however, I have been kept waiting 8 or 9 months for a rejection. Most normally get back within a few months.
I tell ya, submitting shorts is good training for the query trenches!
A. I love that film. And there are some awesome magazine articles on her as well
B. Longest response on a full 18 months
-I’m not including the manuscripts that ended up with zero response ...that would be several years
Two years
Minus the months I pulled it to revise POV
Minus the months I pulled it to change the storyline
Minus the time for requested revisions
As you say, it’s a glacial pace.
E.M., I keep my chapters in separate Word files, too. I find it overwhelming to work in one long document. And I really lucked out with one of my editors who said it was fine to send it in the separate files, and the production team would put it all together. I don't expect that experience will repeat.
For agented book proposals, I don't think I've ever waited longer than 2-3 months to hear back from editors.
Muchos respect to agents for the amount of material they need to digest.
I looked at old spreadsheets. Most of my responses were within the 1 month to 6 month range. Never had a full that didn't receive a response, although a few I needed to nudge on. I had several PRs and a few fulls that responded within 24 hours, including the one that ultimately got me an agent. Those lightning fast responses always take my breath away.
Never had one go a year plus, but if a superstar agent like Janet had my full I wouldn't mind the waiting. Sure beats not reading the material.
I have learned to slow down with my expectations and with my writing. I take weekends off now. Hurrying to wait seems kind of silly. Plus, the time off lets the work percolate. Sometimes I come up with some really good stuff when I'm rereading something or daydreaming and doing something else. This job will probably never make me rich -- might as well enjoy it.
I've had a full out for three months now. I'm tempted to nudge, but part of me doesn't want to know - at least while it's out there I can live in hope...
(I had two requests for fulls in the same week, and the other agent got back to me after four days, so I think that gave me a false impression of how quickly things tend to move in this industry.)
I'm not sure if this counts, since it's an R&R, but one agent has had my R&R manuscript for about 18 months. I haven't written them off because when I inquire, they do indicate interest, and I've done enough research to see they're very busy.
277 days, but who was counting? It was a conference request and it received a very polite but signed form rejection.
And I'd like to add that any response, in any time frame, is much better than a NORMAN.
I got very lucky the first time I was looking for representation. I had several fulls out when THE OFFER came in. I was ecstatic, and contacted everyone with a full, explaining I had an offer in hand and gave them a week or two to respond. This was around the holidays, so almost everyone got back with "Sorry, I can't read it that quickly; goodbye and good luck' emails. Except for one agent.
I signed with my then-agent, and didn't think anything of that one non-responsive agent. I figured she was just super busy and either didn't get the e-mail in time, or realized she couldn't make the deadline and had bowed out silently.
Fifteen months later, I get an email from silent agent. In the email she simply said she had finished reading the manuscript, but found it wasn't a good fit for her. I was stunned. UNTIL I realized that this was the one agent whose original query/ request I couldn't find in my Gmail, and that I'd had to write an email to her about the offer minus the original email chain.
I learned an important lesson that day. Always find those original emails and use the chain. I felt terrible I had wasted her time after the fact, but I would've felt MUCH worse had she offered rep.
E.M.: I use Word and have found the Navigation Pane an easy way to keep track of my chapters. It's under View/Show. You can label your chapters however you want, and assign them a heading type under Home/Styles. When you want to move them around, just click on the chapter heading in the Navigation pane and drag them where you want them.
Much easier to relabel the chapters when you're done, than to combine all those files into one master.
Hope this helps!
Jenn I wish I had done that from get go. Thank you. I am doing that with the new book and ever after. Big help.
I had a bunch of full requests last year, and the longer agents took to answer, the worse the rejection felt. The longest one, which came about a month after I'd accepted a publication deal, was just over six months. However, I appreciated every request and also every agent who took the time to reply at all, request or no.
The one that stands out was the shortest. It was just a few minutes- maybe five. This was after a query that included the first five agents per their guidelines. A rocket slide up Mt Everest and right back down.
Yes, the longest is forever, never. I got a rejection in less than 5 minutes once, not really long enough to read the query.
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