Full Manuscript Request?

[Kelly Michelle Baker]

Hello all,

I want your honest opinion on something. In mid-March I got my first full manuscript request. The publisher liked the synopsis and first three chapters enough to consider the whole book. At the time, this was shocking and exciting. Then it all went quiet (as it does). A week or so ago I sent a follow-up email, asking for an update. They replied, "We assure you that we are still in the process of reviewing your submission, The Waters of Nyra. We will inform you as soon as a decision has been reached. "

As of today, my manuscript has been with them for nearly 6 weeks. Is this any indicator that they are not interested? I ask because I know of another author who sent in her full manuscript around the same time and was given an offer within a week. I figure that's bad news. Right now, I'm TRYING to resign myself to the fact that they are not interested. Still, the suspense is killing me. I want the plug to be pulled either way, but there's really nothing I can do to hasten the process.

Any thoughts? Have you ever been in a similar situation?


Thanks!


~Kelly

 

[Kitty]

There can be lots of reasons for the delay. Perhaps the agent has been attending Bologna and LBF and is behind in their reading. But normally 3 months is not an unreasonable amount of time to wait on a full. It's best not to try second guessing. You need a lot of patience in this game. The fact they have replied is encouraging, and I'm sure they'll get round to it as soon as they can.
Have you granted them an exclusive? If not or the time limit you set has expired then carry on submitting to other agents.

 

[Jennifer Stone]

If I might ask the name of the company? Some of us may have had dealings with them in the past, and could give some advice.

 

[Kitty]

Oh, and in general publishers will take longer than agents. If the editor likes something then it has to go to an acquisitions meeting and then everyone else has to read it and the whole process can take months, so the fact they're still considering it is a very good sign. IMO

 

[Kelly Michelle Baker]

Kitty, thank you for your thoughts. Yes, this is a publisher, not an agency. And you bring up a good point. I know with an agency, only one person has to like it (usually). I didn't know that multiple people had to approve the manuscript in a publishing house. In that case, a delay makes sense.

Jen, this is Jolly Fish Press. They are small and based out of Provo, Utah.

 

[Kitty]

Jolly Fish have a good reputation. Fingers crossed for you

 

[EPHahn]

I would let yourself be encouraged by the delay. Honestly! If they didn't like it, I feel like you would have heard a hard NO already. The fact that they are still passing it around means at least someone is going to bat for you, IMO.

 

[Kelly Michelle Baker]

Kitty, glad you've heard that too! And thank you!

EPHahn, it's good to know that someone over there might be throwing me their support. Thanks!

 

[AliG]

I agree; no news is good news. Easy to reject you outright, harder to keep considering. Hang on to hope. Good luck with it.

 

[Kelly Michelle Baker]

I actually got rejected late last night. They didn't specify why. I'm taking it much harder than I should. But over the course of 4 years, this manuscript has been rejected nearly 400 times by agencies and publishers (I keep a spreadsheet). This was the first time anyone read the first three chapters and liked them enough to review the rest. So it's been a tough blow. A bad day.

 

[Jennifer Stone]

I actually got rejected late last night. They didn't specify why. I'm taking it much harder than I should. But over the course of 4 years, this manuscript has been rejected nearly 400 times by agencies and publishers (I keep a spreadsheet). This was the first time anyone read the first three chapters and liked them enough to review the rest. So it's been a tough blow. A bad day.

Chin up Kelly, try not to let it get to you. I know it's hard not to take it personally, but keep braving the harsh climate, summer's just around the corner!

 

[Kelly Michelle Baker]

Jen, you are sweet. Thank you.

 

[Emurelda]

Kelly, I am gutted for you too.

Have you written many more books apart from this one? I just assume writers keep churning out books regardless of the responses from the outside world.

 

[Kelly Michelle Baker]

Emurelda, hold on to those guts! But thank you.

I have completed one other book, but I don't like it. The dragon books are far superior (the first of which was rejected). I'm working on another one now. It might be ready in two years. We'll see. In general, I think most novelists keep churning out books regardless of rejection If it's in your blood, there's no escaping the pump.

 

[Emurelda]

Guts in place now.

Glad you are forging forward. I'm intrigued by one thing that sticks out for me...are there really 400 publishers or agents that are open to fantasy novels? I have counted barely 17 for publishers although a few more for agents. But then I am in the UK

Some reasons that seem to stick out is that an agent/publishers immediately throw out on the basis of 'dear sir/madam'. So named agents is a good start.

Bear in mind I'm only at the beginning stages so clearly running over stuff you already know so this is more of a an exercise of going through the obvious rather than anything else.

 

[Emurelda]

I hope you don't mind me dwelling a little longer on this issue to figure out maybe some of the reasons for the rejections assuming novel is top notch.

You mention that 400 agents and publishers have rejected this novel over 4 years...that's an average 100 per year. Wow that's a lot of submissions!
My own impression is that mass submissions are sussed out and automatically rejected by many agents and publishers. Could that be it maybe?

Many reject on the basis of a 'Dear Sir/Madam'

Have you had feedback on cover letters? Are they all the same or tailored to each agent? Do you follow them on twitter and read some of their own novels they publish to see whether yours fits in with their list?

These are some of the questions I am asking myself when I look at the agents that I want to approach - and I only counted 2 or 3 that might be relevant for the book!!! A little worrying but with my juvenile experience in the industry that is what I am comfortable with for now.

 

[Kelly Michelle Baker]

Haha, I don't mind dwelling.

There is a caveat to those 400 rejections. It took about 250-300 tries before I actually formed a good query letter. In fact, the first 100 agents got a TERRIBLE query letter. I was learning, and it took a long while to get the handle of things. In fact, I owe much of my current query letter to the old Litopia forums. I received sage advice. As a result, I'm fairly confident that my query letter is at least okay. I've had a few agents tell me that they really liked it, but they just weren't interested in the subject matter. I never use Sir or Madame. I always use the name of the agent in question. The letter itself is fairly standardized, although I tweak it to fit the agent or publishing house. I usually don't read the novels by the publishing house or agency in question simply due to cost and time constraints. However, I will see what titles they represent and if they are recognizable or might be similar to The Waters of Nyra (my book).

But here is my biggest issue: genre. I can query all the YA and fantasy agents in the world, but the fact remains that I'm writing in a dead genre. The Waters of Nyra is written in the tradition of Watership Down, AKA adult/young adult animal fiction. Today, unless you are maybe 12 or younger, you don't want to read about talking animals. My book is about an 11 year old dragon. At face value, this is middle grade. But I wrote it in an older voice, sort of like an adult looking back on childhood. In the opinion of many, the voice is TOO adult for children. It's inappropriate or anything, it's just more verbose than what is on middle grade shelves today.

Your problem sounds similar to mine, in that we are able to find very few people who will represent our specific works (what do you write, by the way?). I'm no expert, but even if an agent doesn't represent EXACTLY what you write, they might still be interested. You never know, and a letter never hurts (other than a blow to the self-esteem when/if you get rejected). Personally, I'll write anyone so long as they are open to both fantasy and books for children, either middle grade or young adult. It's a shot in the dark, but you form a callus against rejection (unless it involves a full-manuscript review--I didn't take that with much dignity today, haha).

 

[Emurelda]

Yes! That's it. I look at one agent who accept all children's books but no science fiction in general and wonder if they mean not children's sci fi too! So confusing.

I was about to query then read further - don't query just submit to us. Lol!

I enjoy writing novellas (under 40,000 words) series for the MG sci-fi market with puzzles and twists in each. It accompanies my card game series so that each novel/la has a starter deck game that reflect a specific battle. One of my characters is my icon . I love making puzzles and games and have tested them with kids. This series has emerged from one of my games and now growing. I have already started sketching the next story in the series and am looking at sustaining it to at least 6 books or for as long as the puzzles and stories unfurl themselves to me.

 

[Emurelda]

Your problem sounds similar to mine, in that we are able to find very few people who will represent our specific works (what do you write, by the way?). I'm no expert, but even if an agent doesn't represent EXACTLY what you write, they might still be interested. You never know, and a letter never hurts (other than a blow to the self-esteem when/if you get rejected). Personally, I'll write anyone so long as they are open to both fantasy and books for children, either middle grade or young adult. It's a shot in the dark, but you form a callus against rejection (unless it involves a full-manuscript review--I didn't take that with much dignity today, haha).

Have you self-published then? Having looked at a list of many publishers there are lots I crossed off - partly because they don't fit for me as well as I for them. And if it came to it the self-publishing route is what I would do rather than get a publisher who doesn't fit the bill. I think it's important to recognise the value of our manuscripts and choosing goes both ways. I certainly wouldn't look at submitting to any old publisher. Having owned a publishing company for card games I know how difficult it is to build brands and sell to shops. Years and years of building relationships within the market and then cultivating that costs a lot of money. I focused on the education market which worked for a while but entering the toy market was a different kettle of fish altogether. I had no experience at all or very little. I entered it through Toy Fair in London and also the Games Expo but funds ran out. I am mentioning this to give the context of my decision on choosing experienced agents even if they are a small niche company.

I found one agent that has warning signs all over it. They keep incorporating with a slightly different name and I have found complaints by other authors due to lack of royalty payment despite sales. Also customer complaints too with unfulfilled shipment orders. Crossed that right off my 'Writers' & Artists' yearbook' list. There's another one I'm uncertain about still. This little exercise made me think a bit..well a bit more than usual ...even if we got an acceptance it might just be a case of fool's gold unless you do your due diligence on each agent/publisher beforehand. So if my small list of agent and publishers reject manuscript..self-publishing may be back on the cards .

 

[Kelly Michelle Baker]

If you want to get a list of agents by genre, try agentquery.com. Not everyone will fit the bill, but it helps to narrow the search! Also there is a website called predators and editors (unable to look it up on my company laptop, but I'm sure it would come up in a google search). There, you can find more about untrustworthy organizations/people.

It's AMAZING that you have so many stories in mind. There is definitely a market for MG sci-fi. Keep on the lookout! Furthermore, your experience in business can only be an asset.

Yes, I am self published. I decided to take that route about a year and half ago after striking out with so many agencies. But marketing as an indie is exceptionally difficult. I have 4 reviews on Amazon, and I know of only 30 people who have read it (I'm trying to get more of them to post reviews). I've been fortunate in that I've had a very positive response overall. But I accrue readers at an extremely slow rate. If I ever settle down in one place (I'm a nomadic ecologist) I hope to enter some cons and sell books. An editor once told me that cons are a great place for hard-to-place books, as you are targeting people of eclectic or unusual taste. I was actually invited to a con this year, but with only 24 hours notice. I didn't have time to order books! Lesson learned--always have a few dozen stocked in the basement

 

[AliG]

Maybe the price is why...hefty price tag. $999.11 is quite a lot... Is there an error somewhere?

 

[Kelly Michelle Baker]

That has to be an error, or someone trying to sell a used copy for an unreasonable price. It's actually $9.89 for the paperback: http://www.amazon.com/dp/150058732X

 

[Kelly Michelle Baker]

Okay, I got it. You are looking at the first edition, which I discontinued months ago. I am actually trying to get Amazon to remove it, but seeing as it was once a product, I don't think it can be taken away. I try to advertise the second edition as best I can so to avoid confusion, but I'm not always successful!! EEK!