Post by Nittanylizard on May 27, 2008 12:34:44 GMT -5
I got a rejection a little while ago from a literary agent who had asked for a partial - the first 30 pages - of one of my manuscripts last month. While I would have been even more excited if she had replied back asking for the full, I hadn't even expected her to ask for the partial to begin with because what young adult she does represent is somewhat different from my stories, and she is a very highly-queried agent (somewhere around 30,000 queries last year).
What I'm excited about, though, is that she added a very helpful personalized note to the end of the form rejection telling me specifically what made her pass (it's an easy thing to fix), and saying that she "really liked the writing" and can see the manuscript "totally working for another agent." This is a big thing for me because, typically, you have no idea why the agent passed, and on top of it, she noted that she really liked the writing. It was just something about one of the characters that she wasn't clear on, but as it is something that I've got explained later in the story, it will just be a matter of making the earlier hints of it a bit less subtle.
I have a few more queries still out, but had been waiting to see what the reply was on this partial before I sent out any more. I'm glad I did now, as I can now do some editing based on her comments.
Crazy thing to be all happy about, right? But, hey - all rejections are not created equal.
What I'm excited about, though, is that she added a very helpful personalized note to the end of the form rejection telling me specifically what made her pass (it's an easy thing to fix), and saying that she "really liked the writing" and can see the manuscript "totally working for another agent." This is a big thing for me because, typically, you have no idea why the agent passed, and on top of it, she noted that she really liked the writing. It was just something about one of the characters that she wasn't clear on, but as it is something that I've got explained later in the story, it will just be a matter of making the earlier hints of it a bit less subtle.
I have a few more queries still out, but had been waiting to see what the reply was on this partial before I sent out any more. I'm glad I did now, as I can now do some editing based on her comments.
Crazy thing to be all happy about, right? But, hey - all rejections are not created equal.
