The search begins for me! In the past two weeks, I have submitted my manuscript (novel) to seven (UK) literary agents and one of them responded positively to my query and asked for three sample chapters the next morning! It's been five days since, but I have to remain positive. I would like to hear more from others who have gone through the same thing. Does a long wait mean they are taking you seriously, or does it mean they didn't like it and just can't be bothered to respond?
Fair play! I've sent out queries to three agents, and I've had two rejections and I'm awaiting another answer. Five days is nothing to read three sample chapters. Don't sweat it. As for the time limit, it just depends on their busyness. You really can't know what their reply will be until they've actually replied. Speaking of which, I need to send out some more queries. Tomorrow, methinks...
Good luck, Thomas! It's hard to be patient when you see said agent tweeting silliness every day. I was intrigued that she wrote to me so quickly. It shows they can do it when they want to.
5 days is hardly a 'long wait'!... what's the agency? that said, a truly long wait could mean either one, or neither... could simply mean your chapters are in the middle of a sizable pile of submissions and no one's gotten to it yet... could also mean they're being passed around the agency for a consensus... if you want a career as a writer, you'll have to develop a limitless patience... what do their guidelines say about response time?... my rule of thumb is to wait 1-2 months beyond that before bugging them with a follow-up...
It's a big agency, here. No worries about it being legitimate or anything. It just seems that for every J.K. Rowling story (no one wanted to know) there is a writer who gets a positive response in crazy-quick time. Okay, agreed- 5 days isn't a long time, but it's soo hard to wait. Perfect time to start novel #2, though, right?
@NovemberRose - It's the perfect time to start your next novel, or at least another writing project. You'd be surprised by how quickly you get wrapped up in another world again, and it can make the time fly by. Let us know through this thread when you get a response from them, yeah?
That's a good response. I've submitted to 3 recently - two have got back to me so far and that's taken two months! A year or so ago I went through a similar process. One agent got back to me positively asking for 100 pages - but it took a month for him to come back with a constructive no. I'd settle in and wait - could be a while!
