Query and proposal, 1/11/21, 135k true crime/me too memoir

1/19 very nice "just didn't happen for me" letter.

form query: 2/5/21
nudge since it'd been two months: 4/4/21
message from her saying that she was still considering: 4/6/21
full request: 4/20/21

Quressa says she does respond to all queries, so if it's been a while, she might still be considering!

EQ: 3/9/21
Form rejection: 4/20/21

Adult science-fantasy 118k

FQ 4/8/21
Nudge with offer of rep 4/13/21
Reply saying she'd let me know soon 4/15/21
Personalized rejection 4/19/21

I appreciate the communication throughout and she was quite complimentary in her rejection message.

Adult Fantasy 120k

FQ: 4/5/21
FR: 4/12/21
Fantasy 78k

FQ: 3/29/21
Form Rejection: 4/8/21

Contemporary Children's

FQ: 3/21/2021
FR: 4/8/2021

Adult Dystopian SFF

@Find_the_Fabulist

Agents owe us nothing... We are seeking their representation, not the other way around. And based on the spelling and grammar within your rant, it is fairly easy to see what factors led to your rejection. The truth is, agents don't have to respond to us at all. Especially since this agent, in particular, stated on her profile that she is swamped with queries (specifically YA) at the moment. So, to try and destroy her professionalism and character is far from the logical response, especially for your own career. All you did was leave evidence on the internet, showing that she made the right decision by exemplifying just how unprofessional you are capable of being.
Take it from someone who has received his fair share of rejection letters, both personal and form. Use a rejection letter as another scrap to throw on the fire that inspires you to keep writing. If you take it personally, you're only stepping into that fire and letting it engulf you. Do no demonize or denounce agents for not finding interest or passion in your work. I am honored to have at least been deemed worthy of a response and, one day, it'll be a positive one. Remember: To each their own! Live and let live! Keep that in mind, wish your journey and process well, and hope that the next agent doesn't make the mistake of passing on you because I'm sure you're a great writer. Keep working hard.

Be good. With love,

SN

Gotta agree with @suzell11 here.

I've received form rejections that are one sentence long. Once, I got one that only said, "No thanks." Getting rejections sucks, but I appreciate agents that go above and beyond to be kind in their rejections. This is a pretty cutthroat business with a small chance of success, and agents know it just as well as writers do. Rather than directing your anger at an agent, you'd be better served to focus on *why* you got that rejection and adjust your query/pages accordingly.

@Find_the_Fabulist
...are you okay? Genuinely. It's a form rejection, and one that's trying to be polite. It's hardly unprofessional (she thanks you for your patience, wishes you luck, etc.) and and more substantive than most form rejections/more polite than most business correspondence I receive. Form rejections suck, as does all rejection, but to do a pirouette off the handle over this? To try and turn your run of the mill form rejection into some 'borderline sociopathic' woe is me moment? To openly 'despise' agents while you're actively querying?

All I gotta say: that's REALLY not the move.

"It may not seem this way, but saying no is tough for me. I'm sure hearing it is tough for you, but it's really important for me to fall in love with a project and that just did not happen in this case. Please know that I really appreciate your patience during this process and I truly wish you the best of luck in finding the right agent! I'll be rooting for you!"

This is disgusting.

As it is, I despise agents, especially this ridiculous "We're all friends, we're all in this together" toxic positive culture they create around themselves. I hate this faux personal relationship they try to create, with the chummy little questions they lace through their forms and their ridiculous Twitter posts about how much is pains them to have their assistants blast out form rejections. Bad enough that I'm a dirt-eating supplicant begging at the gates for asylum, but this expectation that I pretend to have warm feelings toward the gatekeepers is more than a little sick.

This response, though...It's incredibly unprofessional, which is bad enough, but beyond that it's emotionally manipulative to a borderline sociopathic degree. She's just rejected me, and yet it seems that I'M supposed to feel sorry for HER. What kind of cheesy little narcissist thinks that this is appropriate business correspondence? And that's without getting into the whole "form letter meant to resemble a personalized response" trend, which itself does nothing but elevate the hopes of already fragile people so that they'll be hurt that much worse when they fall. It's cruel.

Oh, how I long for the day when those gates are finally torn down for good and all...

EQ: 3/15/21
ER: 3/22/21

YA fantasy 101,000

Form query: 2/23/21
Form rejection: 3/9/21

Adult fantasy 89k words

EQ: 2/17/21
Form rejection: 3/3/21

Queried on February 23, received a reply on March 2. Very fast and empathetic in the rejection.