They seem to prioritise prompt turnaround, indicating within 2weeks on the guidelines. They also accepted up to 3stories, which I sent so maybe that should count as three rejections? They were true to promise and just a 10 day turnaround.
Got a couple more; a 17-day and a 62-day agent rejection. The form letter from the longer one felt a little harsh, haha - "I regret to inform you that I won’t be requesting additional materials or offering representation." Up to 34 on the year now. Haven't received as many from the last few batches than I expected, but it's a small sample size and all the agents and agencies are different, so who knows what that could really mean.
There aren't really rules to this, but when places allow multiple pieces like a flash fiction or poetry package and it all comes back rejected I count it as one rejection since they were sent as one submission.
But if one was accepted and two rejected, it would surely count as one acceptance and two rejections. I’d still count it as three rejections, personally. It’s three different pieces!
One or three? An analogy comes to me that might not be entirely useless. Q. If Mike Tyson lands a three-punch combination, does he get a point for each one? A. Probably. Doesn't matter, though, because you're fleahed out on the floor dreaming of buttercups and tweety birds.
That brings up an interesting point regarding the word range of novels that agents are likely to accept or reject. I've been shooting for at least 80K but sometimes I see novels that are significantly higher than that. The novel I'm working on now is already over 90K. Anyone have a similar concern?
Both of my manuscript are between 110 and 120k.... One of them, originally was 132k but like 10mins after i submitted it, the agent emailed me back and said it was too long for a debut author and that i needed to edit it down. (Frustrating because she didnt even read the the sample chapters but focused only on the word count.... But it did bring up some valid concerns for me). Im currently editing that one and dropped it down to 120k. Im not even halfway through the novel, so i expect to drop it down more...
Thanks for the reply, Woody. Can't understand why word count has anything to do with being a debut author. Since she evaluated quantity instead of quality, I'd take her off my agent list. But I like your comment about editing for quantity while striving to retain quality. I've had to kill my darlings more than once to meet quantity and quality. But I don't actually "kill" my darlings. I just put them in my Darling Archive in case I discover a home for them in another story...
I'd guess the thinking is that readers are less willing to take a chance on a new author when the debut novel is longer than most. Makes sense to me. Most novels I've read that ran over 100,000 words could have used a little tightening, anyway.
It also could be a holdover from the days before ebooks when printing cost was a bigger portion of publication costs, when they made a lot of money on hardbacks. That still may be a factor.
The wordcount thing is pretty normal. For most genres, you don't want to go much higher than 100K for a debut. Between 90-100K seems to be the sweet spot. You can get away with maybe 120K at the top, top end with SFF. I think it's mostly for publishers to minimize risk on an unknown commodity. More words means more hours of line editing. More pages means more paper, which means higher shipping costs per unit, and more space per unit on bookshelves. Once you have established sales and are no longer an unknown, it becomes less risky, and the increased investment of time and money makes much more sense.
I’m currently writing a novel that isn’t yet finished and is already over £96k. It’s a new adult one so will need drastic cutting (I think 80k is really the top for that age…).
idk.... there have been some books i've read (or started) recently that could benefit from a few extra k's...... One of them is a 114k fantasy, but some parts just move so fast, you blink and you miss something. Some parts seem to just happen at random and is not expanded on or touched on, but only briefly mentioned in passing toward the end. it might have been cut to meet word count, but I feel like the book just really isnt that good because of it. I was super excited when it came out, because its a sequel and I enjoyed the first book. This one just feels..... rushed. Its one thing if you plan to write a 80k-90k novel and pacing just works. Its another thing to write massively and then try to cut chunks (my current situation). I just hope mine flows and that I can smooth out the choppiness.
