Nathan Bransford - The Forums

for the sake of this thread's integrity...

updated rejection stats, since I started querying in December '09.

64 queries sent (4 currently pending)
29 rejections
24 no response rejections
2 partial requests (1 > full request)
6 full requests (1 pending)

literary fiction

I'm kind of surprised how generally few queries have been sent by those reporting in this thread. I'm used to seeing stories about writers who found their agent after 75 attempts. I hope you guys putting your stats up are keeping on sending those queries out! Continued best of luck to all! I was on...

Rejections on a full AND a partial today. And the full rejection was form. I'm starting to think that this book just isn't going to happen. That happened to me back in March. Right after I received the email reject on the full, I went outside, checked the mailbox, and there's the form reject to my ...

Genre: literary fiction Total queries sent to date: 10 Queries still awaiting a response: 3 Rejections to date: 5 Form rejections: 3 Personalized rejections: 2 (1 extremely nice / 1 very, very mean) Requests for pages: 3 (1 pending) Requests for manuscript: 1 (pending) thought I'd update this (and ...

It might just be the dreaded "no response" response. I got a bunch of nothing, when it appeared others were getting quick form rejections. (Quick form rejects can be anything, though. Some people query agents who don't rep their genre, and that's an easy no. Thus, QT can be misleading, dis...

EvelynEhrlich wrote:Hopefully tomorrow will feel better.

Thanks. I might take Ryan's advice and give myself a couple of uppercuts upon waking up tomorrow.

if an agent doesn't like (or doesn't respond to) the query, move on.
It's much worse when they reject the manuscript, itself. I just received back-to-back rejections today (one on a partial, the other on a full). After waiting so long, the hits come 1, 2. I'm taking it personally.

Really, I'm not depressed. I know I've come a long way already - and I'm very proud of that fact. Very proud. But it was the first rejection on a full MS. I'm disappointed because I don't know why . That's the hard part for me. There could be a million reasons. He liked the story, but it wasn't a f...

I think it's like being a shoe in a giant shoe store... like a DSW. Agents are milling around the aisles, looking for something perfect, and you're thinking "I know I'm just a penny loafer, but I'm classic and I'm comfortable and I'll work well with those jeans and we can really 'go places toge...

Thanks, guys. I don't hold any grudges. I just figure it was a rough day at the office.
Maybe the assistant took some grief for requesting pages, I don't know.

I think one of my queries falls in the Assumed Rejection category now. It's been 30 days, and he's a notorious non-responder.

d minus, you have me extremely curious about this mean personalized rejection. I'm going to go out on a limb here and ask if you would share it with us (sans any identifying information, of course). Sorry if I'm being forward, but I'm just too curious. That definintely sounds like a kick in the tee...

Genre: literary fiction Total queries sent to date: 10 Queries still awaiting a response: 3 Rejections to date: 5 Form rejections: 3 Personalized rejections: 2 (1 extremely nice / 1 very, very mean) Requests for pages: 3 (1 pending) Requests for manuscript: 1 (pending) I like that thesaurus list. I ...

an agent (who represents both fiction and nonfiction) notes on his website that he is not considering politics or sports (or food, or history, etc.). I've taken this to refer to nonfiction subjects. Now, I'm thinking that I might be wrong in that assumption. Do agents reject literary fiction that ce...

Now I know that there's nothing easy about this business in the slightest. Especially not now, when publishers are looking mainly for sure things. do publishers ever tell you why they reject a manuscript? Do they ever explain (too x, too y, not enough z), or do they just pass with a simple No Thank...

Writing is a lot like golf, everyone has advice for you. My advice would be to take what sounds good to you . that's an excellent analogy. I spent ALL summer struggling with fairway woods due to advice that someone gave me in the spring. She meant well... but it was a frustrating experience. In the...