UPDATE 9th FEBRUARY 2016
It's just over nine weeks since I sent off the full of my latest completed MS. Seems like a long time, but in the publishing industry that's just the blink of an eye. How much longer will I need to wait to get an answer? I might as well ask 'How long is a piece of string?'
There was a time when I used to fret over such things. These days I take a much more relaxed approach to the issue. The agent concerned obviously enjoyed reading the first 20% to make a request. If they like the remaining 80%, they might make an offer. If they don't it isn't the end of the world.
When I set out on this little journey I did so with the intention of self publishing. I could have done so long ago but was held back by self doubt. When I compare the latest version with the draft I had a year ago I'm glad I did.
This time last year I received a request from another agent based on a fifteen page sample. To cut a long story short, I increased the word count by 20K, at their request, which launched me on a series of revisions. By the time I finally gave up waiting for this person to make a decision I was left with a much better MS than I had before. In this respect I don't think my time was wasted at all as a submission to another agent came back with yet another request for the full.
Whilst I'm still not inclined to go the self publishing route with this one at the moment, I'm much more confident about doing so than I was.
The lesson I've drawn from my publishing journey so far is that patience is the key. So many people give up when the rejections roll in or rush to self publish before they have brought out the full potential in their work. My advice in both cases is DON'T.
There was a time when I used to fret over such things. These days I take a much more relaxed approach to the issue. The agent concerned obviously enjoyed reading the first 20% to make a request. If they like the remaining 80%, they might make an offer. If they don't it isn't the end of the world.
When I set out on this little journey I did so with the intention of self publishing. I could have done so long ago but was held back by self doubt. When I compare the latest version with the draft I had a year ago I'm glad I did.
This time last year I received a request from another agent based on a fifteen page sample. To cut a long story short, I increased the word count by 20K, at their request, which launched me on a series of revisions. By the time I finally gave up waiting for this person to make a decision I was left with a much better MS than I had before. In this respect I don't think my time was wasted at all as a submission to another agent came back with yet another request for the full.
Whilst I'm still not inclined to go the self publishing route with this one at the moment, I'm much more confident about doing so than I was.
The lesson I've drawn from my publishing journey so far is that patience is the key. So many people give up when the rejections roll in or rush to self publish before they have brought out the full potential in their work. My advice in both cases is DON'T.
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