Commiserating on waiting times?

[Sandbox]

Yup. Me, too. I have 5 fulls out now... I've been querying since January... the oldest one is from April.
Been at this quite a long time, and it is a bitch out there in the querying world.. with the non-responses on queries and then the ghosting on manuscripts! (Completely Unacceptable) And then
you hear through the grapevine how dismal the publishing world is, and you start to wonder if it is even possible. I've had the best and closest rejections of my "querying career"--and yet it has become painfully clear to me that it is SO very, very SUBJECTIVE--and on top of that, involves a huge amount of serendipity and timing and mood and the alignment of the planets and what the agent had for lunch that day...I could go on.

But then there is that thing called hope.

Glad to hear Butters got an agent!

We must keep fighting the good/bad fight! SB

[Butters99]

Do you mind going into the process a bit? I have two fulls out and I'm on tenterhooks.

   I had two fulls out for months with no word when I got a request from a third agent early last December. In January she sent me a lovely note with about a page of notes and gave me an R&R. We had one additional email exchange with her sending me additional thoughts that came to her about the book. I then spent the next six or so months revising (I was plagued with self-doubt so my speed was not great). I sent off the rewrite but didn't hear back from her, so after three weeks I started querying again, sending out something like twenty queries. I then got three requests from those within days -- and three rejections within days and was feeling pretty dismal. But then, I got an email from the R&R agent apologizing for not getting back, that the email ended up in her spam. She wanted to set up a call -- But was it THE CALL? Talk about tenterhooks. The phone call was going great, we seemed to see eye to eye on my vision for the book and she said she had some notes for more revision. So I asked her if I would be carrying them out as her client? ? ? And she said, absolutely! Praise be!!!  All together I sent 72 queries out over 15 months and got 8 requests -- 5 rejections and two I withdrew. Querying is not for the faint of heart, or the impatient, that's for sure. And now back to my revisions...

[LStein]

@Butters99,

Thank you for sharing! It's interesting that your agent got back to you with the R&R after about a month. It does seem like an agent taking a long time with a full is a bad sign. I've had 1 full out since, I think, May, so perhaps I should assume it's dead in the water. My other 2 fulls are 6 weeks and 2 weeks old, so I have more hope for one of them planning out.

Great job on the R&R and congrats on getting an agent! I'd love any advice you have to share.

[LStein]

@Sandbox

5 fulls is so impressive! I really hope of them turns into an offer.

[Sandbox]

Thanks, @Butters99, for sharing--and Thanks @ LStein, for the wishful thinking. @LStein--I wouldn't worry about the timing of agents getting back--so many variables. I'm thinking good thoughts for you!