Last thursday, I sent my novel (well, the first 10,000 words) off to 13 agents, yep, 13. Quite a few. As I wrote a couple of blogs ago, when I started re-sending my novel out, I sent it only to the 4 agents who were interested in it the first time round (a writer contact advised not sending it to too many first time round as it can be rather painful for the tender writer to receive a sackful of rejection letters - ouch). Anyway, I've heard back from 2 of them (no ta, we still don't want it) and the others, no word. This was at the start of the summer and I'm wondering if I'll ever hear from them at all. Another writer friend, upon completion of his novel, sent it out to 20 people, received 11 standard rejection letters and 9 of them never got back to him at all. I mean, seriously, I know literary agencies are sometimes running on a shoestring and all the rest of it but how hard can it really be to just drop an email to say they don't want it? Hurrumph.
But back to me....as I said, last week I decided to thrown caution to the wind and send it to 13 agents. It's a good feeling. Of course I don't know what will happen, but just to be pro-active, to be sending it out to the world. Less than a week later, I have received 3 replies, all no thank you's. One was even quite complementary about my manuscript, saying what an engaging narrative style it had and how she was impressed by its originality. Why then, my mother asked the question, don't they just take it? Well, you see, therein lies the rub: you can't just impress an agent, you have to utterly bowl them over. And even if I get an agent, there is, frustratingly, no guarantee of securing publication. A third writer contact found an agent for her novel who was hugely enthused by her novel, yet simply could not find a British publisher prepared to take it on. Finally, she found a German publisher but the novel was never published in the english language. How crazy is that? But hey, I think I need to stop worrying about what happens to other people and just concentrate on my own book. I'll get there, I know I will.
But back to me....as I said, last week I decided to thrown caution to the wind and send it to 13 agents. It's a good feeling. Of course I don't know what will happen, but just to be pro-active, to be sending it out to the world. Less than a week later, I have received 3 replies, all no thank you's. One was even quite complementary about my manuscript, saying what an engaging narrative style it had and how she was impressed by its originality. Why then, my mother asked the question, don't they just take it? Well, you see, therein lies the rub: you can't just impress an agent, you have to utterly bowl them over. And even if I get an agent, there is, frustratingly, no guarantee of securing publication. A third writer contact found an agent for her novel who was hugely enthused by her novel, yet simply could not find a British publisher prepared to take it on. Finally, she found a German publisher but the novel was never published in the english language. How crazy is that? But hey, I think I need to stop worrying about what happens to other people and just concentrate on my own book. I'll get there, I know I will.
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