My agent rejections...

And the day I finally got my yes!

Hello everyone, happy Sunday!

Earlier this month I wrote about the rejections I had from publishing houses (before my first book sold) and I promised to follow up with some of the responses I had from literary agents. So here you go! You might want to grab a cup of tea....

I sent my first book out pretty widely to agents, and I kept a spreadsheet listing who I had sent to, on what date, and what the response had been. It is best not to query multiple agents at the same agency, so it was useful to keep track, and I also used to try to send out another query if a rejection came in, with the (not particularly valid) theory that then there were the same number of chances circulating in the universe. Looking back, I had too scattergun an approach to all of this, but I did not have the industry insider knowledge that I have now (I would find it excruciating doing it now because I have relationships with lots of agents! But I didn’t back then).

I have written about how to get an agent here and interviewed literary agents for this Substack here, here, and here so please do have a read of those if you are currently at the stage where you are thinking about querying and want some advice on what agents are looking for.

So I began querying my first book, The Doll House (it had a different title) about eleven years ago now, and I sent out lots of emails (and even some in the post, which makes me feel old!) all at once. I did have a copy of The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook and I did try to send to agents who were representing the sort of fiction I thought I was writing (though in all honesty looking back I don’t think I really knew what genre I was writing!). Below are some of the responses I got…(not naming any agents).

• Thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to consider THE ARCHITECT’S DAUGHTERS. As I’m building my list I can only really take on projects that I feel I can champion wholeheartedly and, while I was intrigued by premise of the book and thought your writing was strong, I ultimately didn’t respond with the rare enthusiasm that tells me a book is right for my list. Thank you again and I wish your project every future success. [This one was after she had called in the full script, so double disappointment!]

• Thanks for your query letter. After careful consideration, I have unfortunately come to the conclusion that this is not something I wish to pursue, and therefore, must pass. Thank you for thinking of me and I wish you the best as you move forward with your project! [There were lots of generic ones like this, and they all made my stomach drop.]

• Thank you for your query but I’m going to decline this at this time. The publishing industry is very subjective, so what may not work for me could be just what another agency is looking for. So I encourage you to continue your pursuit of publication. In your search for the perfect agent you may want to check out Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to Literary Agents blog. I have found it to be a great resource for finding new agents that are looking to build their lists. Thank you for considering me for your work and I wish you great success with your writing career.

• Thanks for letting me take a look. I’m afraid this doesn’t seem like the right project for me, but I’m sure other agents will feel differently. Best of luck placing your work!

• Thank you very much for the opportunity to read your submission. Unfortunately, after careful review, I have decided to pass on this submission. This industry is incredibly subjective, and there are many agencies out there with many different tastes. It is for this reason that I strongly encourage you to keep submitting elsewhere in the hopes of finding an agent who will be an enthusiastic champion for you and your work. All the best of luck and success with your writing.

• Thanks so much for thinking of me. I love stories with family drama at their heart so took a look at this immediately. Lots I like here, you can certainly write, and some nice twists coming up by the sounds of it. I struggled with all the voices though - it felt confused and I would definitely recommend pulling this right back so you have just, perhaps, the sisters’ voices. I’m sorry this wasn’t quite right for my list but wish you the best of luck elsewhere.

• I finished your ms this morning, and I’m afraid to say that I won’t be offering representation: I did enjoy reading THE ARCHITECT’S DAUGHTERS and your tone of voice was very readable. I liked your exploration of sisterhood and you peeled back the layers of family life in a very interesting way. But, for me, I found it difficult to engage with all your different voices. I think stripping back your narrative so that you tell your story from the perspectives of just Corinne and Ashley would allow your characterisation to be more developed, and consequently we would invest more in their stories and struggles. You do write well and another agent may well feel differently – I wish you the best of luck with that.

• Thanks so much. I loved your letter, and you write very well indeed. I have the strong sense that you WILL be a published writer one day, but I’m not convinced that this book would be the most explosive opportunity for you – don’t forget you can only get all that debut author attention once. In essence, I think that the more you practise, the better you’ll get, and if you don’t get an agent for this book, do PLEASE come back to me with your next one. You’re tantalisingly close. PS I once cut off the plait of the girl in front of me. She was called Aye Sanguansak from Thailand and I was 6. [This one was probably my favourite rejection, and the plait point is relevant to the book, although I don’t think that part made it to the final manuscript actually!]

So there were quite a lot more and they basically fell into two camps - standard no responses, or responses that were a little more encouraging, and gave more detail as to what I could work on. Those were the ones that kept me going and I am still so grateful for them! There were also some that never replied. I think a handful of editors asked for the full manuscript, and each time this happened I was SO excited, but then usually they would come back and say no.

But THEN I had this response:

Dear Phoebe – thank you for being in touch. I took some time to read your sample this morning. There’s impressive ambition here and a nice calmness to your writing. Normally at this stage I would ask to see the rest of the novel, but actually I have some feedback/comments on what I’ve read which I’d like to give if you’d find it useful. I’m also keen to hear more about your hopes for and ideas behind this novel. Would you be interested in meeting for a coffee sometime?

From a really lovely agent who I then met for coffee. They then helped me revise the script and gave me some really detailed feedback, but did not yet offer representation. So during that same time period, I got this email from my now agent (this was two days after I sent her the query, as I was doing it all at the same time).

Hi Phoebe

Thank you so much for allowing us to consider THE ARCHITECT’S DAUGHTERS and it is lovely to email meet you.

In THE ARCHITECT’S DAUGHTERS you have created something intriguing, captivating and yet deliciously dark. There’s an amazing classic feel to the story and your writing and I really, really enjoyed reading your chapters. Your characters are incredibly hypnotic; they are honest and flawed but so fascinating and I was gutted when the chapters ended.

Overall I do think you need to do some editorial work but so far this is very fixable and you have achieved and pushed so much out of the structure, characterisation and pov jumps that it is 100% to be expected.

What I’d absolutely love to do is read the full manuscript and am so excited to see where you take the reader. Due to the time it takes to read full manuscripts we do ask for this to be with us exclusively and I hope this is ok? I’d also love my editor and also our TV Agent to read the ms too so this might take a bit longer than usual but I will push them to get back to me within the month, I’d say quicker but with Frankfurt next week it’s all absolutely crazy here at the moment.

I really look forward to hearing from you and thank you so much again for allowing us to read your work. I’m so excited!

So that was the first of a series of emails that changed my life. I then had this a week later:

Hi Phoebe

I just wanted to say I’m halfway through THE ARCHITECT’S DAUGHTERS and really loving it. It’s a brilliant/bad (as I’m supposed to be doing Frankfurt things) distraction from everything else in life and I was gutted to get to my tube stop this morning.

I’ll be as quick as possible in getting back to you properly but I wanted to tell you how much I’m really loving it so far. I’m currently reading it on the sly at my desk whilst eating my lunch.

Have a great day and more from me asap.

So then there were a series of emails, and my brilliant agent gave me lots of notes and I went away and revised the script. By this point we had met for coffee and I had also met with an external editor the agency was using at that point, and I had worked SO hard to revise it. I told the first agent who had showed interest that someone else was keen too, and they were very supportive but still did not offer to rep me, so I continued to work on the new draft for the person who became my agent. After a few months, I sent a new draft to her and then waited… and THEN she sent this:

Thank you so much for your patience, the Fairs have thrown us a bit but XXX and I have just had a really great meeting and chat about you and she’s done you some notes for TAD. You have done an amazing job on this draft and your talent shines through. The amount you achieved in only one re-write is incredible and we’re thrilled. At this stage we feel that now we just need to make sure the hook and central plot line has enough grounding and impact – Corrine is so good she does at times distract the plot – but you have all the brilliant ingredients and it’s now a case of making sure June seeking revenge doesn’t feel as more of an afterthought but a pushing drive. I’ve attached XXX’s notes for you, and also she’s marked up your manuscript for you so you can read through everything.

Overall you have more than proven your incredible talent, drive and focus and so with everything in mind I’d absolutely love to offer you representation! I wanted to call you and say this but I’ve been through all your emails and don’t have your number so wanted to send this now.

The other person she refers to is the editor the agency was working with, who gave me great notes. My agent and I met up after that and I signed the contract and the rest is history! Although of course, there were then more hoops to jump through to get published, and ten years on THERE STILL ARE! I am about to start revising my draft of book six, and that feels really daunting and scary and I am kind of writing this instead because I’m putting it off…

Anyway, I hope this gives more of an insight into my agent journey - as with my other post about publisher rejections, it is intended to provide hope and to show that not everyone’s journey is smooth, but that you can still prevail despite a series of rejections! I promise! It happens! And everyone gets rejected, genuinely. Sometimes, it doesn’t happen with your debut - I was lucky - but it does happen with another novel. You have to keep going, take feedback on board, and believe in yourself.

Please feel free to share your own stories in the comments below and thank you as ever for reading The Honest Editor.

Phoebe x