Advice regarding agents?

[natzia]

Last year after I finished an MA in Creative Writing I received an email from an agent, who had read one of my stories and liked my writing. On January I sent him a synopsis and the first chapter. Last week I asked his assistant and she told me he will reply to me, soon. I am still waiting. It is so frustrating. He has an excellent reputation. Meanwhile I sent a query to Conville and Walsh.. They do not accept email submissions unless the author is already in correspndence with an agent. So, I sent a query to the assistant of an agent and he replied immediately, asking for three chapters and a synopsis. By then I thought that this was an actual accomplishmetn, that they were impressed by my query letter. Then on querytracker I discover that someone else had sent via email full ms only to be rejected two weeks later...
Has anyone else submit to Conville and Walsh?

[Tabris]

I think you have unrealistic expectations.

1) Submissions get rejected far more often than not. Last year, for example, Kristin Nelson's agency signed seven new clients, but had requested 618 partials and 69 fulls.
http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2012/01/2011-year-end-stats.html

So yes, it's good that you got a partial request, but yes, getting a rejection is pretty much standard.

2) If the agent's assistant said the agent will reply soon, relax. "Soon" to a writer means "this week" and "Soon" to an agent may mean "within two months." Remember that rejections come quickly and acceptances come slower because the agent only needs to read about three paragraphs of a truly lousy manuscript to recognize its lousiness. Whereas a truly good manuscript gets read to the end, and then the agent may re-read it, and may ask a colleague to give it a read as well.

3) If you're serious about finding an agent, you need to query widely. That means you need to send out batches of eight to twelve queries at a time, and you need to steel yourself to query maybe a hundred fifty agents. (Although obviously you might get picked up sooner, and if you're getting nothing but form rejections, you might want to stop sooner and reassess your query and opening chapters.)

[TrixieLox]

I queried Conville & Walsh, they're a really good UK-based agency. Sorry to say this but they ask for 3 chapters and a synopsis at query stage anyway so sorry, it's just them asking you as per their query instructions. Not an actual partial request. I feel bad for US writers who get 'requests' like this from UK agents, thinking it's a partial request when it isn't, it's just what they ask for when you query them. I think someone posted on AbsoluteWrite about this too.

But to get that request via your MA course is GREAT and yes, be patient, can take 2-3 months for agents to read a full! The way to deal with this? Query more agents. Loads more!

Good luck!

[Falen]

I've never submitted to Conville & Walsh, but i have had quite a few full requests in my querying career and you just kind of have to go into it assuming it will be a no. Or at least i do, because then i'm not that disappointed and one day when it is a yes, i'll probably pee my pants.
Mostly, i just write something new and focus on that. It makes the whole process a lot easier. For me anyway

[natzia]

Thank you all for your advice. Submitting, queries, agents, response can be a confusing process. But patience is a virtue.

[vcanfield]

I think you have unrealistic expectations.

1) Submissions get rejected far more often than not. Last year, for example, Kristin Nelson's agency signed seven new clients, but had requested 618 partials and 69 fulls.
http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2012/01/2011-year-end-stats.html

Too true. I was one of the lucky 618 to get Kristin to request a partial. Alas, she couldn't connect with my character. But the fact she even requested a partial had me floating on air for a week.