New member here, trying to figure out if I have a problem or not. My sci-fi novel was accepted by a traditional publisher in Canada, and the acquisitions editor unambiguously said they would be sending me a licensing agreement to look over. After a few inquiries, she told me I could expect it by the end of October. Long story short, end of October came and went, and all further inquiries have been met with either no response or something along the lines of "it's still in the queue, and I've forwarded your question on to the head editor, because that's his department." The head editor has never gotten back to me, and it's now been 7 1/2 months since their initial acceptance of my work. I'm not leaving the name of the publisher for now, because, as this is the first unsolicited work I've submitted, I have no idea how normal/abnormal this is. I've extensively researched and never heard of a publisher accepting something and then just never sending an agreement for it, but I'm beginning to think that's what's happening, which would be extremely unethical and unprofessional of them. I don't have an agent yet to help me with this, though I've started shopping around for one. Any advice?
I live in Canada, but I work with American publishers so I can't be much use. In general terms I can say that publishing is SLOW in mysterious ways. Like, waiting months to get a contract isn't at all out of the question. But seven and a half months is really pushing it! And a head editor not getting back to you is another warning sign. Do you want to send me a PM with the publisher name, @robert fisher? I can do some discreet digging...