Back in October I submitted some sample chapters and synopsis of a completed novel to an agent (details taken from the 2004 Writer's Handbook), instruction followed to the letter - covering letter, SAE for return of the work.

To date - no reply. Zilch.

So how long should I wait before I move into stage two, which is .... No idea, actually!

Any suggestions?

jumbo

Jumbo,

I'm still waiting for a response to a picture book idea I sent to a publisher in June!! Actually, as I've gone off the whole idea now, I don't mind at all.

I think given that the agent would have had the run up to Christmas and isn't there a book fair in October, that you shouldn't give up hope - yet! You could leave it until the end of this month and then either call or write asking if they received it. I think you should send stuff out to other agents though in the meantime. I don't hold with the exclusive submission idea!

Good luck!!!

Sue
x

Jumbo - if it's any help, I send out multiple initial package submissions (keeping to just one at a time is too depressing, I find, as well as too time-consuming!), wait 3 months and then if no reply I cross them off my list and move on. If they reply and want a partial package (eg 1st 3 chapters if I haven't already sent them to them), then the same rule applies. If on the other hand, they want the whole novel, then I send, and chase politely after four or five months. The publishing industry is extremely slow, and sometimes you can wait for anything up to a year for a response, I'm afraid - it's just the way it is.

In the meantime, I get on with my next novel, write short stories and poetry and send at least 2 or 3 things out to mags/comps etc once a month. It keeps the enthusiasm up!

Good luck and keep on writing/submitting!

LoL

A
xxx

Jumbo, I say wait at the most three months then contact. Email and say something along the lines of 'your website, directory details say you take 6 weeks to get back etc etc'. This usually wakes them up and quite often it might have gone missing and they'll rush about to check up and get back to you.

Best of Luck
Julie

John, are you sure they got it? Did you include a stamped addressed postcard for them to acknowledge receipt? If not, I’d email them straight away and ask if they got it – and when can you expect a decision.

If you do know it arrived safely, I’d give them until the end of January and then email.

My agent told me last year – when we were all fired up and enthusiastic – that you can pretty much write off at least a month around Christmas. So there’s time yet.

Meanwhile, I would be sending out submissions to other agents. I used to submit to at least six at a time. It speeds up the process and, I found, softened the blow of rejection – I was always waiting for another one, which might be a yes.

Good luck

Dee
x

This is a good argument for multiple submissions. I do this, otherwise you really could be waiting around forever to find an interested party. I sent out a lot of submissions back in September. Most got back to me within two weeks, a couple took a little longer, but there are still a couple of agencies that have not got back.

Personally, I'm not going to lose any sleep over them. If they can drag their heels with submissions, I see it as a reflection of the way they run their entire business.

Colin M

Sue, Anne, Julie, Dee and Colin

Hi

Thanks to you all for your thoughts on this.

Multiple submissions do seem to be the way to go. I took a 'halfway' route and sent a second 'bundle' to another agent in November, (no reply from them as yet) and intend to send out another one this month (I took December off!).

Dee, I like the idea of the stamped addressed postcard to confirm receipt. I had thought of using something like that but wondered if they worked? Or do they just get binned and not re-posted?

And three months seems to be the critcal time for some. So I think I need to make contact!

Thanks also for the encouraging words. Very much appreciated.

All the best

jumbo

Postcards do work, John. I think most agents expect them and the system removes any doubt whether your work has been delivered.

For multiple submissions you need a way to identify who they’re coming back from. I used to hand-write on the message side something like:

Blah Blah Agency has received your submission of Title.

All they have to do is put it back in the post. Sometimes they add a note, letting you know when they’ll respond. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, there’s a name.

Dee
x

unless they do receive the submission but the postcard is lost in the post.

Now there's some food for the paranoid



Colin M

I always put acknowledgement postcards in - but, bizarrely, have a number of times had the acknowledgement card returned with the unacknowledged, rejected manuscript a few months later.

Der .....

Longest I ever waited to hear (although reply was very apologetic and apparently delay was because it was held back for a number of readings) was a year.

This is one of the problems with the larger agencies. If they like the look of a submission and it is passed onto a reader, then the report is considered, then a second reader or the agent read it, then the partner, then the janitor, then his dog, etc, etc, it leaves the poor sod who submitted the thing totally in the lurch. Would it not be possible for agents to let the author know that their novel has moved up a rung on the ladder? Even if they could only offer this service by email, it would be something.

Colin M

Okay, postcards it is. (Just added that to my list of how to submit an MS)

And Colin, perhaps that explains why I've heard nothing: the janitor's dog is trying to understand my synopsis.

Many thanks, once again.

jumbo

Just spent most of this afternoon trying to buy postcards - but with no luck.

Perhaps I should revert to my Blue Peter phase and make some out of half-empty cereal packets.

Also - thought you might be interested (or maybe not) I sent an email to the agent referred to above asking when I might hear from them. Twenty four hours later - no reply.

Do you think they're trying to tell me something?

jumbo

Instead of boring blank postcards, try naughty sea-side ones.

Colin M

Good idea, Colin! That'll get their attention!