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Time to wait

I am in the process of sending work off to prospective agents and wondered if any of you also have the same response sometimes, which is no reply at all? Upto now, I have been sending work to only one agent at a time and even those who request email submissions sometimes don't seem to reply. If they read it within days of receiving it, I could be waiting 6-8 weeks for nothing. Any tips on dealing with this would be appreciated (other than writing a best selling book in the first place)

Asked by: Gilly Ansell

  1. Adrian Sroka on August 1, 2012

    To make sure your work is in the best possible shape, I advise you to have a literary editor do a constructive critique on your work before you send it off.

    In a few months, I will be in the same position as you. But I am in no rush. I will not send it off without the approval of my private literary editor.

    .

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  2. Louise Hughes on August 1, 2012

    Six to eight weeks is the minimum, and yes, no response is pretty common. Its actually more common with email. With a SAE they will go to the trouble of putting a form response in, but with email they don't often bother.

    That said, I've had quite a few responses, albeit form. Check the guidelines and often they will say if they respond or not. If they do and you haven't heard back after, say 90 days, it might be an idea to send off a query.

    There is really only one way of dealing with it and that's patience and perseverence.

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  3. Louise Hughes on August 1, 2012

    Adrian, not everyone can afford to hire a private editor at upwards of 25 quid an hour. The original question was about agent response times (or lack thereof), and specifically said that "writing a best selling book in the first place" wasn't really a helpful response. I'm sure Gilly already knows that :)

    I'm not trying to criticise or anything, you just seem to push getting a private editor an awful lot and its not always an option for everybody.

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  4. Adrian Sroka on August 2, 2012

    Louise.

    I understand that not everyone has the resources to employ a literary editor. But even if a manuscript has potential, will an agent respond if a manuscript is full of errors? It is why I have stressed the importance of editing as a question. It is vital to have your work looked at before you submit.

  5. Gilly Ansell on August 2, 2012

    I don't think I will be paying out for a literary editor Adrian as 1) I can't afford it and 2) I have a couple of good friends who check my work for me for free.

    Thanks Louise, I found your answer really helpful. Looks like I need to learn some patience :-)

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