A Tale of Five Agents: Agent #3

Reno Bobcat

In January 2011 I heard back from another agent concerning a query I had sent out in October 2010.  Agent #3 echoed many of the initial reactions Agent #2 had given me about my book: there was a lot to like, but enough points in need of drawing out that she didn't feel she could make me an offer of representation.  From my blog she had read that I was already working with another agent and it sounded like I was on the right path with those revisions.

We exchanged a few emails.  I thanked her for her interest and told her that my work with the other agent was going well.  She asked that I keep her in mind if something happened and I said I would.

Then, that something happened.  The same day I received the rejection from Agent #2 in email, I contacted Agent #3, re-replying to our last email exchange.  Did she remember me and my book?  Was she interested in seeing the revision?

Within the hour Agent #3 responded.  She did, indeed, remember me and, even better, she'd love to read my revised manuscript!

I sent it out before the tear-stained pixels were dry on my monitor.

And then I waited...

And waited...

A polite, "Hi, remember me and my manuscript?" email many weeks later was returned by and out of office message.  A few hours later an actual response came, saying she was on vacation but had taken the manuscript with her and would get back to me in a week.  And then silence.

Three weeks later I sent out another, "Hello?" email.  This was followed up by an email that began by saying my manuscript was making its way around the office.  It ended by saying how Agent #3's Agency was committed to working with a writer for their entire writing career, not just a single book, and did I have sequels in mind? Could I send some sample chapters, perhaps?

Surely that was a good sign!  I scraped up the latest full revision of Book Two and sent it out along with pitches for Book Three and Book Four as well as two other story ideas.

And waited...

Somewhere back during one of those long waiting periods I decided I had a writing career to be responsible for and so I sent out another round of queries.  I let Agent #3 know this and dutifully updated her whenever I received a request for a partial or a full.  When one of those queried agents expressed an interest in working on the manuscript with me (more revisions!) I asked Agent #3 if we could speak sometime in the coming week so I could know what the status of my manuscript was within her agency.

Several days later I received a "Thanks for your patience, we've all be out at conferences" email that mentioned the members of the agency weren't united in their opinion of my book.  And since I had another agent interested in working on it, they felt it best to pass.

Luckily, I had had a good phone call with Agent #4 days before.  This meant my disappointment/frustration/annoyance was kept to a minimum and I was able to concentrate on Thinking Good Thoughts, even if they included yet another round of significant revisions.


Moral 1: Clear communication between yourself and an agent is essential.  If either side isn't willing to give it to the other, it probably means there are problems.  

Moral 2: It's YOUR career as a writer.  YOU have to be your own best advocate.  While patience is a necessary component to the process, know for yourself when it's time to move on. 

The Waiting Game

On my list of Things Not To Do Today is the following:

Do not obsessively check my gmail inbox for agent responses.

In theory, this sounds like a completely reasonable idea. A number of agents have my query. A happy subset of that number actually have requested partials or fulls of my MG manuscript. Better yet, patience has generally been one of my strong suits over the years.

So, what's the problem?

The Waiting Game is killing me.

Okay, so maybe not killing me. It's not as if I'm gushing blood here or my limbs are being severed or I'm being fired upon--and hit--by bullets, rocks, and/or slings arrows of my outrageous fortune. It's just that this drawn-out period of limbo is eating away at my stomach. That, and a very uncharacteristic buzzing, swirling thought pattern has settled into my head that alternates between "This might just happen!" and "There is no way this is going to happen."

Everything I've ever read on The Waiting Game has recommended the following advice:

• Immediately begin work on another project
• Prepare your Agent List; for every rejection you receive have your next query ready to send out

So far I have line-edited the second story in the series I'm querying on and am about to dive headlong into the already started third book.  And thanks to QueryTracker.net, my agent list has been ready since before the first query went out.

Still, there's this constant droning in the back of my head.

One of the agents who responded asked for a month-long exclusive.  At the same time she admitted she had a lot to read already in her Kindle and was still not likely to get back to me for at least three or four weeks.  That helped to put a timeframe in better perspective for me--someone who saw potential in my story still couldn't get back to me any sooner than three weeks. 

Intellectually, I understand this process takes time and I'm fine with that.  I'm fine with agents not falling in love with my goofy story.  I know it's not for everyone and I want to find that one person who believes in the story and the characters as much as I do. 

Emotionally, each rejection hurts and I wish that email and that call would come.  Like now.


What do/did you do while you're waiting for word back from agents?  What worked best?  What didn't work at all?


--Tom