PRESENT-DAY SNIPPET: SEEKING AN AGENT AND MY PUBLISHING JOURNEY UPDATE

Not the news I wanted but I had excellent feedback from a top New York agent

For my longtime readers, thank you for being here. Did you see that I wrote a guest post – my first on Substack – on what it’s like to work with developmental editor Kristen Weber?

The Power of Developmental Editing

Welcome to new subscribers who came here from

Kristen Weber

publication, Inside and Editor’s Brain, and other means. I’m excited to have you on board. And I’m always grateful for those subscribers who come over here from

Maya Misikir

’s publication, Sifter.

I was going to do a roundup post that summarised my Why We Met journey, but I’ve moved that bit of the draft for next week; otherwise, this post will be ridiculously long.

A little about me

I’m Elaine, but my close friends and family call me Lainey. I’m an elder millennial, thirty-eight-year-old married cat lady. I don’t have children – by choice – but I do love children, which is, perhaps, unusual for someone who doesn’t have them. My husband, Michael, turned forty-seven last week! We are obsessed with our geriatric cat, Kit Kat, whom we inherited from my late father.

I manage a European copy editing team for my day job in petrochemical and fertiliser journalism (i.e. plastics and other commodities/chemicals), so it’s not quite the glam Seventeen magazine editor job I fantasised about as a teen. Anyone remember Atoosa? Just me? I thought I’d be going full 13 Going on 30. Maybe even including the bad parts, such as dating the hot, sexy baseball player. But life had other plans.

Like many writers on Substack, I’ve also dreamt of being a novelist, but it was some faraway dream. Someday I’ll write a book.

How I actually eventually wrote a novel (or three)

Books are absolutely perfect in your imagination, aren’t they? A little different when they come on the page. Of course, I’d have loved to have been published at twenty-three and shot to stardom, but now, I’ll settle for being published by age forty. Or anytime really. Please let this dream happen. Heh!

And I’ve now written not one but three manuscripts. One should probably forever remain in a figurative desk drawer, but I’m very excited about the novel I hope will become my debut: THE BROKEN ENGAGEMENT CLUB and another one I wrote right after it (which may need a better title), IN SEARCH OF GOLDER RETRIEVER BOYFRIEND or ORIELLA NEEDS A GOLDEN RETRIEVER BOYFRIEND? How long can titles be anyway? Suggestions?

I’m still waiting for a reply from the fancy New York agent who very excitedly requested “a full,” which means she asked to read my entire book based on my query letter, the opening pages, and my synopsis.

I hope to the benevolent universe, God, the flying spaghetti monster, whomever that she likes my novel and asks to represent me, launching my amazing novelist career in the process. But until then, I’m waiting, not so patiently.

Since I wrote the above, there’s been an update which I’ll share at the end. I’ve heard it can take months for agents to get back to you, but she read my manuscript in 20 days, give or take.

This agent requests manuscripts at a rate of 1.6% so I feel very lucky and elite (for once).

I sent off queries to 8 agents and only 2 have replied so far.

I’ve now sent off to another batch of agents and am waiting for replies. But so far 3 agents have replied.

I received a “form rejection” from Nelle Andrew at Rachel Mills Literary. Am I allowed to mention the agents I queried by name? I have no clue. But I plan to be transparent so anyone on their own journey can see how the process unfolds. And maybe just how long it can take.

I queried Nelle because she represents Jennie Godfrey (The List of Suspicious Things) and Candice Carty-Williams (Queenie), both brilliant novels.

According to Query Tracker, Nelle only requests manuscripts at a rate of 0.4% and she’s accepted none this entire year, so I don’t feel as bad, but it’s still pretty disappointing.

Also, in hindsight, she doesn’t really represent rom coms, so I was just so excited about her as a person and agent and her authors (via things seen on socials), but didn’t really think about what she represents, which was an error on my part.

Here’s what Nelle said in her rejection email:

Dear Elaine,

Thank you for sending me your submission which I have now had a chance to read.

I am afraid that after consideration I do not feel able to offer you representation but please do not be discouraged. This is a very subjective business and another agent may feel differently. Due to the volume of work, I do not give feedback to submissions at this stage – only if I call in a full manuscript. I wish you all the best of luck in finding representation for your work.

All best wishes,

Nelle

For those in the early stages of writing your novel, you can do it. I believe in you. Now might be your time, or a few months from now might be your time. Even ten minutes per day can get you further than nowhere.

How I wrote my novel around a full-time job

I wrote my three novel manuscripts in snatched moments. Ten minutes, thirty minutes, an hour in the morning before work. Sometimes I left what I was writing mid-sentence, which helped me come back to it fresh. Writing also happens in the in-between thinking moments. For me, often the hazy times upon waking where plot problems would be solved, and I’d have been dreaming about scenes between my characters that I knew I had to get down on the page.

I acknowledge, though, that having a brilliant, supportive husband who does lots of the domestic load and only a cat to look after, a decent salary, a comfortable home, and all that gives me immense privilege, and even the ability to invest in my novel.

I work 35 hours per week. I start later in the day, so I had time in the morning to write whilst my brain energy was freshest. I also work from home, so no draining life-sucking commute to contend with. Anyone who has caring duties, longer hours, multiple jobs, commutes, and so forth has it much harder.

I’ll talk about it more in another chapter and break it down but I’ve invested a few thousand in this novel (£3k ish) between developmental edits by Kristen, beta reads, a final copy edit, and coaching calls and that’s just not feasible for many, so I do hope that if I ever become a moderately well-off writer that I can invest in other writers, help them pay for these things that have given me a leg up. Or that I hope has given me a leg up because I know how difficult it is.

I know that in the past, I never had the mental space or calmed nervous system to write. I’ve lived in very learn times, and if you’re constantly worrying about money, there’s no space for creativity, even if you want to be creative.

And when I was “better off” financially in my first marriage, the constant criticism and not measuring up to this man’s idea of what he wanted a wife to be also left no room for creativity. Failing at everything is quite exhausting, as is two jobs (not that financially we needed that), domestic work, and a packed social calendar. I digress.

Second round of queries and one reply so far

During my second round of queries, which I only sent out this week, I queried Jessica Faust at BookEnds Literary.

She has a really helpful TikTok account for new writers. I liked her vibe, and I thought I’d have a slight advantage given that she already had a working relationship with Kristen Weber back in the day, but two days after sending out my query, I got a form rejection.

For those not interested in publishing, that just means a cut-and-paste job with no personalisation.

Jessica does say in her videos (and in her rejection email) she is lucky she has a full client list and rarely accepts new authors these days. She only reads the query letter, and if that doesn’t grab her attention – like browsing the back of a book at a bookstore – she doesn’t request, which is fair enough. She gets thousands of queries, and she’s found that method works for her.

All agents let you know that it’s entirely subjective, and I also read something that authors have a 1 in 6,000 chance of being published. I don’t know if that’s with the Big 5 or in general, but I believe it.

Yet I live in hope.

Here’s Jessica’s form rejection below:

Dear Elaine,

Thank you so much for querying BookEnds and for giving me the opportunity to review THE BROKEN ENGAGEMENT CLUB. I did read your letter and am going to pass on looking at further material.

There are typically a few reasons that might lead to me passing on a query. The obvious two are that the book you’ve written falls too far outside standard and required word count ranges — for adult fiction that’s traditionally between 75,000-100,000 words— or that you aren’t writing in a genre I’m currently representing — this could be memoir, anything in children’s, or another genre that might not have been on my list. And lastly, and most frequently, at the end of the day your pitch just didn’t grab me. I read my queries as if I’m browsing for a new book in the bookstore. I wander to the genres I’m currently looking to read, glance at covers and titles, and then read the back cover copy. It is based on the back cover copy that I buy a book and it is based on a pitch that I request to read more material.

I’m sorry I don’t have better news. I am lucky to have a full and active client list and for that reason, I’ve become very particular about taking on new clients. This is by no means a criticism of your work. It’s quite possible you’ll find someone else who feels differently. I encourage you to keep querying and even consider other BookEnds agents for your work. I also encourage you to keep writing and keep me in mind for future works.

I wish you all the best in your search for representation and thank you again for giving BookEnds the opportunity.

Best,

Jessica Faust, President

Since my book was in a genre she represents, within the word count, and so on, I’m going to go out on a limb and say my pitch didn’t excite her enough.

Kristen said that it was disappointing, but there’s no way to know what she’s working on, or what her clients are doing or if she has capacity.

Jessica Faust has a 3.3% request rate, a fast reply rate, and Query Tracker says she’s requested 8 full manuscripts in the last 30 days, and double digits in the last 90 days, but I wasn’t one of the lucky ones.

Who is this super-secret top New York agent who requested my full manuscript 36 hours after querying?

Now, finally, the super-secret big-deal agent who requested my work: Jenny Bent at The Bent Agency.

I can finally reveal it…but maybe not for exciting reasons.

I sent my query to Jenny Bent on 1 September. 36 hours later, on 2 September, she requested my full manuscript. I copied that email into this post.

PRESENT-DAY SNIPPET: 36 HOURS AFTER SENDING MY QUERY TO AN AGENT, HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED

Jenny Bent represents some amazing big-name clients, and I was beyond excited and flabbergasted, quite frankly, even to get a reply.

You may have heard of some of her client authors: Richard Osman (The Thursday Murder Club series and Pointless on the telly),

Hattie Williams

(Bittersweet, gorgeous debut – lovely Substack), Claire Douglas (The Girls Who Disappeared and many others), and Kristen Perrin (How to Solve your Own Murder series).

When I got a full request from Jenny, I thought how amazing would it be to be in these amazing authors’ company? I built cloud castles of this amazing author career I would have…but alas! This path is not to be.

As I said, Jenny requests manuscripts very rarely (1.6%), and she wanted to read MY book, and that was super exciting.

But yesterday, 23 September, I got a pass. Here’s what she said:

Dear Elaine,

Thank you for sending me THE BROKEN ENGAGEMENT CLUB. You’ve created such an engaging premise and done an excellent job of filling your book with interesting characters that contribute to the group in very different ways, and highlight different facets of your protagonist. However, despite all the great work you’ve done, I’m going to respectfully pass. I found the pacing uneven for much of the manuscript. There were many instances where a scene would begin, you would cut away from it, jump forward a few days or weeks, and then pick up with Kathryn recounting what had taken place in the prior scene. I felt that this device led to a lot of the urgency of these scenes being lost, took me out of the story, and made it difficult for me to stay fully engaged to the end.

I’m sorry this was a pass, but I’m grateful to have had the chance to read your work. I wish you all the best as you continue to seek representation.

Sincerely,

Jenny

I mean how lovely is this reply? She said some kind and constructive things. I agree with the feedback.

I’m super disappointed, but if trying to be an author has taught me anything, it’s to take rejection a bit like water off a duck’s back. That’s not to say I haven’t been a bit crushed. I didn’t sleep well last night, but I want to succeed, and I’ll do what it takes.

Now, I’m going to revise my manuscript. I know the places she’s talking about, and she’s given very good, actionable feedback.

I think in one of Jessica Faust’s videos, she said something like “why don’t agents take on your manuscript if they just need a few tweaks” and the reason is agents are busy. They know their existing clients can take notes and deliver, but they haven’t built a relationship with potential clients, so Jenny doesn’t know that I can fix my manuscript and get it back to her, which is fair enough. Jenny’s at the top of her game. She doesn’t have time for manuscripts she doesn’t see are ready.

That’s why authors, agents, and publishing professionals do say publishing is more competitive than ever. Agents and editors want incredibly polished work as their day jobs are now so understaffed and so demanding they often have to edit client work in their home and weekend time, and I can’t blame them for not wanting to take on anything that feels just that little bit too, too difficult. Even if it sucks very badly to hear that when I thought my manuscript was there.

I asked Kristen if it’s the “done thing” to ask for a second chance, a revise and resubmit, I think they call it in the industry – and she said go for it. Kristen said something like if she says no, you’re no worse off than now sort of thing, so this is what I replied to Jenny.

Still waiting to hear back, if I ever do, but in the meantime, I’m thankful I’m off on annual leave this week and can get cracking on my manuscript again, from page 1.

Here’s my reply to Jenny:

Dear Jenny,

It was an absolute honour for you to request my manuscript to read. (I know how rare that is, so even being selected is incredibly exciting and encouraging.)

Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and providing invaluable feedback; I agree with your assessment.

May I submit to you again once I revise the manuscript, lengthen those scenes that are uneven, and correct the pacing?

Kind regards,

Elaine

Should have been “provide” instead of “providing” but oh well. Hopefully she will say yes, but if not, I will have a better manuscript for if and when the next agent requests a full. But until then, I’ll be dreaming that Jenny will love my rewrite and say yes.

And if not, then another agent will request a full (once it’s ready) and offer me representation instead. (I hope. Gotta keep positive and manifesting all the good things to happen.)

What I’ve been up to in the last few days

In the meantime, here are some images of some little day trips in the past couple of weeks: Michael’s 47th birthday with my in-laws; local walk (in the Todmorden hills near our house); leopard dress (didn’t get good pic with Michael but wore this for my anniversary brunch with Michael – and my cousin Pam and her husband came, too, which was amazing); Kirkstall Abbey (near my Grammy’s house with my Uncle Steve who is over from Florida); Chatsworth House (on the very wet day The Queen’s Reading Room literary festival was happening and I hadn’t even heard of it – Richard Osman, Jojo Moyes, Helen Fielding, Celia Imrie, Sheila Crowley and others were in the same vicinity as me for the first time ever and I saw Dominic West not once but twice from a distance with his wife. He’s still very handsome IRL, but also smaller than I imagined. And I saw Lord Billington, who is the current Duke’s son who runs the estate – also the closest I’ve been to aristocracy); Lumb Falls (just a local walk between Hebden Bridge and Keighley with a connection to Sylvia Plath’s husband Ted Hughes); and Skipton Castle (this was actually brilliant – my brother-in-law is an architect in Skipton but Michael and I had never actually been – besides driving through).

Michael and I plan to go to St Anne’s tomorrow to Lytham Hall for Georgian Afternoon Tea.

On Saturday, I’ll be going to an author talk in Haworth for the Bronte Women’s Writing Festival to hear

Jennie Godfrey

speak, which I’m very excited for.

Coming up next, for new readers and those not here from the beginning, I’ll summarise my dating journey as quickly as possible in case you want a TL;DR version of my Substack to give context for future chapters.

Anyone else an aspiring novelist? I’d love to hear from anyone, and I’m always happy to give my (limited) advice. Aspiring writers should read this

Katherine Clements

post as I had a shocking number of these “must delete” words in my manuscript.

Delete These Three Words To Instantly Improve Your Writing.

I’d also recommend subscribing to

Evelyn Skye

’s Substack Creative. Inspired. Happy because she’s just a delight, and also I’ve learned lots about what I “know” about publishing from her behind-the-scenes looks and posts, which are super helpful. And she writes lovely books, too.

How Authors Make Money: Advances, Royalties, Foreign Rights, Translations & More

The photo round-up

Michael's 47th birthday meal, the in-laws; walk in the local hills near our house; Kirkstall Abbey with my Uncle Steve; anniversary brunch with Michael (celebrating 4 years married)

Chatsworth House in Derbyshire – home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire – maybe better known as the Pemberley filming location for the Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen version of Pride and Prejudice. Lyme Park is the Colin Firth filming location. No lakes involved in the 2005 version. It was absolutely pissing it down so we were in the house during the dry bit of the day and got outside to the gardens during the absolute heavens opened pissing it down bit. We were there the same day The Queen’s Reading Room literary festival was happening and I hadn’t even heard of it – Richard Osman, Jojo Moyes, Helen Fielding, Celia Imrie, Sheila Crowley and others were in the same vicinity as me for the first time ever and I saw Dominic West not once but twice from a distance with his wife. He’s still very handsome IRL, but also smaller than I imagined. And I saw Lord Billington, who is the current Duke’s son who runs the estate – also the closest I’ve been to aristocracy...

Lumb Falls – a local walk and this day was gorgeous and mild.

Skipton Castle, which was brilliant actually.

Skipton Castle, a shared scone (we brought butties and crisps and fruit to eat on a bench in the grounds), and it wouldn't be a day out with my husband without walking in nature...