Hi every one,

Just joined today and have been delighted to discover that I am not existing in a bubble and that there are other tormented souls like mine out there.

Have finished my first novel some months back and after constantly editing and 'improving' it I have finally picked up the nerve to submit it to a few agents.

In all their websites they say I could be waiting up to 3 months to hear from them. My poor post man thinks I'm stalking him waiting for news. If they like a book is it a good sign that you don't hear from them or should I have heard by now? (posted early Jan)

Would it be indecent haste if I emailed them begging for some insight and give the poor wee postie a break?

Hi Edel, and welcome to WW

The usual etiquette is indeed to wait for 3 mths (or whatever they say on the website if they do) and then if you haven't heard, to give them a nudge, asking when they will be able to let you know.

How long they take really doesn't tell you anything, because it's all about what their system is and very little about what they think of the book. It depends on when that agent or their assistant tackles the slushpile: half an hour every morning, or a day once a month, or just... well, y'know, when they get a minute.

There is a small risk, too, that if you ask them for an answer before they've been able to read it, that they give you the only answer they can give there and then - which is no. In any case, don't hope too hard for insight. The vast majority of submissions get a standard rejction, which tells you nothing about why, because that's all the agents have time for. Any rejection which has specific feedback is a positive in itself.

The only way to stop yourself going bananas is

a) to start writing something else. It is very difficult to settle to anything else while your baby's out there, but it's the only way. Don't worry if you're assailed by doubts - the fact of having something else out there can make you horribly self-concious. But it's still worth doing: if they come back as rejections, then at least you'll feel you're on the way to something new, if you get some interest you'll have a lively-sounding answer to the question 'are you working on anything else?'.

b) regard this time of trial as your first lesson in coping with booktrade time, which bears a strong resemblance to glacier time. If an agent rang you tomorrow, and in due course did sell your book, the chances are it would be between at least eighteen months and probably a good deal longer before it appeared in any bookshop.

c) come and moan on WriteWords. We've all been there - and at any given time a good many of us are there at the moment. If you become a full member you can join the rest of us on the Lifeboar thread in Private Members.

Emma

Hi Edel and welcome to WriteWords

January is a particularly busy time for Agents because they have a rush of submissions because people are making their New Years Day resolutions to get their novels out there. 3 months is about the average wait as they work through their slush piles, and it might get passed around the department to be read by a few people before they make a decision on whethe or not to contact the writer. Alll be can do is sit and wait, and as Emma advises, get stuck into the next novel.

As a Part Member oyu can join one group, and you'll see the list of them if you click on the orange Groups tab along the top of the page. There is a Womans Fiction group which you're welcome to join and introduce yourself, and post a link to your work, otherwise it's liable to be overlooked in the Archive.


- NaomiM

<Added>

Also, don't stop at a few Agents, but put together a list of a few dozen agents and keep submitting.

My agent says January is bedlam. So expect to wait a while.

My advice in the meantime is get writing another project. This will stop you going mad, it will also be an answer to the first question any interested agent will ask. 'So what are you working on at the moment?'
HBx

I personally don't think the length of the wait bears any portentous relation to the nature of the outcome. I waited for periods of between two days and eight months to receive both form rejections and requests to see the full manuscript. Patience, as others have said, is the name of the game. And - as, again, others have said - get writing the next one! Apart form anything else, ]it helps to numb the pain of rejection, because if you are nicely stuck into the next (and better!) book, you can think to yourself, as the rejection slips come in, 'Oh, that old thing...'

Good luck!

Rosy x

Hi Edel,
I think it took my publisher 8 months from receiving the first full draft of my manuscript to saying 'Yes, we'll offer you a contract'. So try not to fret and get on with your next masterpiece

Many thanks Emma for taking the time to reply, greatly appreciated and very helpful.

Many thanks to everyone for posting a reply. I really appreciate you taking the time and effort. Your comments were extremely helpful and I am starting the next project this weekend, well after the rugby anyway!

Well done - was just going to say, 'yup, only way to bear the agony is to write something else'!
Hope you get some good news soon and welcome to WW.