...20 (or more) agents refuse you, saying they can't market it or they don't like it. You give up or you continue finding an agent? Of course it depends on everyone's own character, but will it be possible for you to find an agent if many refuse you?
Keep trying and if you get any constructive criticism from them, take it! Of course it's going to be possible, and if you genuinely believe you have something good, don't give up on it. And if you have enough confidence, self-publishing has been a lot more common lately. Agents are very selective and difficult to get through to - you have to break the barrier, and to do that you will need to keep fighting with quantity (assuming you've already got the quality) until you find someone who's willing to take a look. Out of curiosity, what type of book are you going for?
The first order of business after 20-some rejections (especially of the form-letter variety) is to reconsider your query. If it's lame, it doesn't matter if your ms sparkles. You might also want to make sure you're only approaching agents who work in your genre. There's little likelihood of success pitching a fantasy novel to an agent specializing in romance. That being said, 20 rejections is a drop in the bucket. But if none of them express anything positive at all, you really should take a hard look at your query and perhaps get some feedback on it from your peers. Good luck.
I'm going for the historical novel and the historical thriller. I have in plan two, one of them being already here (I posted 2 chapters), and I'm currently working on the thriller which is going to hopefully be my first one (it's smaller than the other one, so I want to start small). Regarding the agents, I have the Guide to Literary Agents which is very very helpful but I was curious about the rejections. Thanks for the info.
Eddyz Aquila, As was indicated, your query letter may need some work/improvement. Some authors will tell you that finding an agent can be more difficult than finding a publisher. Exhaust all of the agents on your list, if that's the route that will best serve you and your goals. Some publishers take unsolicited submissions (slush), but most of the major publishers don't. Still, it may be something to consider. It may be that the writing isn't quite what they're looking for or quite good enough for them to consider. Without input other than form letters, it can be difficult to tell. Good luck, hang in there and complete your second project while you're seeking representation for your first completed manuscript. Terry
good advice from frank... you should follow it! as far as the number of rejections, wm faulkner got something like 99, before his first published work was accepted and he sure didn't give up!
Gotta love the encouragement given around here. Right now I didn't seek representation but I was somewhat scared of the fact that I might get tons of rejections, so the replies helped clear it up.
I found a publisher, Dorchester Publishing, who is accepting unsolicited queries, but not full manuscripts...thought I would pass it along, they are looking for historical romance. Edit: I lied, they are accepting full manuscripts through email.
since this 'publisher' also touts their for-a-fee 'critique service' [$1/pg for full mss; $100 for 1-60pg partials], it falls into the semi-scam category of not-quite-legit 'publishers'... you should always steer clear of any supposed agent/publisher that charges any up front fee for anything... the legit ones won't! the reason they let you send in your ms without an agent or even a query, is to get plenty of fodder for that paid service... go ahead and send in your ms and see if you don't get a 'gee, this is great, but could use a bit of work...why not let us critique it for you']!... and you'll end up getting a bill, but no publishing contract...
Crap, I didn't even see that when I was looking through different sites. Yeah, I wouldn't use that one now that I see that. I wouldn't send anything to any publisher that has that kind of service, definitely scamish.
they wouldn't bother stealing mss that most likely aren't good enough to publish... and even if one was, they're not stupid, just greedy and deceitful... despite so many beginners' worst fears, mss are next to never stolen and published under someone else's name... it wouldn't make any sense to do so, since the perp would be caught, as soon as its legit author saw it in print... it's not like stealing a watch that can be hocked on the q.t....
