Agents

It's now been 54 weeks since I finished my first novel and 51 weeks since I first started contacting agents about representation on that first novel. Please keep in mind that, at the time, my novel was little more than a first draft. Most of my reaching out was done in July 2008. I did a little more at the end of August and in the first week of September.

By this time, I'd re-read BENEFICIARY a few times. The flaws were clearer to me with some distance. I re-wrote the first few chapters, feeling the difference in my style from 2006 to 2008. It became obvious that more work was needed and I put brakes on the submission process.

In September 2008, I wasn't ignorant to economic conditions, believe me. I was out of work by choice and facing a failing job market. My public market investments were suffering, even as I sold them to generate cash to keep me afloat in the absence of a steady paycheck. BUT, was I truly cognizant of how the macro would affect the flooded fiction market? It wasn't until 6 or more months later that I read about publishing freezes at large shops. And it made perfect sense, of course.

Discretionary income is down, purchasing books (for most people) is something that can be dialed back. Readers can use their local library more often, borrow from friends, follow your mouse to GoogleBooks. I just didn't see it at the time. I believed my first draft beyond reproach.

--Naive first time author--

All that aside, what did I get from agents?

The first agency I contacted, perhaps the largest, took sixty days to request fifty pages and another sixty days to turn me down. The second agency responded in ten minutes, asking to see the entire manuscript. It only took him seven days to turn me down. From there, many form letters and emails followed and my spirits sank a little with each one. Two or three more asked to see the first fifty pages, but it never went farther than that. A former colleague of mine introduced me (via email) to a friend of his who had recently started her own agency. She took one hundred pages and offered my first "industry" feedback. The suggestions were part complimentary and part critical; and most of all, they were encouraging and helpful.

The rejection letters bothered me much less at the end of the three month process. I came to understand that I didn't have a manuscript that was ready for agents, much less publishers. It needed an overhaul and that is now my third bullet point on the literary "To Do" list (the first being to complete my second novel and the second being to attend a Mystery Writers conference in November 2009).

Frankly, I think "A Hunger", my second effort, will be agent-ready before "BENEFICIARY", and by then, I'll be in the beginning stages of working out my third idea.

To answer my original agent question, I got a few valuable things from the rejection process.
1) A feel for timing and what to expect.
2) Constructive comments (few and far between, but they were there)
3) A renewed sense that - Yes, with more work, I still believe I can get published
4) The feeling I needed to learn more about self-publishing ;)
5) Kindling