'First three chapters'

[Tirellan]

There will be a writers workshop at Eatercon this year which would be a good opportunity to get your opening 5k words reviewed by experienced SF/F writers.

 

[Troo]

Ok, this is driving me mad - and given time, I WILL get over it (the fact of the errors, at least, maybe not so much if it tips the balance a certain way - of course, it might not!), but I was wondering what peoples' opinions would be on if I contacted, by email (or phone if there is no email address), the two or three agencies that I really liked (impressions over the phone, website, or whatever) and briefly mention these errors and the corrections.

Leave it, leave it. Back away from the keyboard. Put the phone down. Step away from any other means of communication available to you.

Don't harass them. I'm sure you won't see it as harassment, but all it takes is for your missive to come at the wrong time to come across as "needy writer with unreasonable expectations of response time" and they might just be in a bad enough mood to go "Fine. Rejected."

It's your baby, but sometimes you gotta let your baby explore the world on its own, and all you can do is sit at home and occasionally wire money for their flight home

 

[John Jarrold]

Exactly right. Leave it alone.

 

[Havlen]

Here's the breakdown:

If they didn't catch the errors (or wouldn't have caught them), you've just pointed out mistakes in your package and thus hurt your chances.
If they'd already caught the error (or would have caught it), you telling them about it isn't going to change their decision making one way or the other.

The basic rule of thumb: If it won't help you then don't do it because it can only hurt you at that point.

Also, I'm very fond of querying only a handful of agents at a time. This allows me to evolve my query letter, and if I do catch some mistakes in the query package, I can correct them for the next round.

Last, don't worry about it too much. I'd wager that 98.6% of agents would give a big thumbs up to a brilliant manuscript with a few grammatical or spelling errors in it. And the other 1.4% would only turn it down because they were running a high fever at the time.

A few grammar errors are much easier to fix than even a single plot problem.

 

[Scarfy]

The only time I've ever phoned an agency over a manuscript I submitted was when the reader scribbled some rejection reasons on my cover letter.

I then called for a 10 minute chat. They said that if I did what they suggested (such as bringing up the word count), they would be happy to take another look at it. However they also said that if I sent it to them the following week, they'd know I clearly hadn't put the work in.

That was last August, and I just sent it off again yesterday. Keeping my fingers crossed, but I'm also being realistic that they might still not like it because it doesn't quite grab them.

 

[Doctor Sax]

That's a pretty positive step, though. A personal reply is always good news, and an invitation to re-submit better.

 

[Teatime]

Thanks for all your replies. I resisted the urge to phone

 

[Troo]

Thanks for all your replies. I resisted the urge to phone

Good man

If it helps, I'm not immune to that urge. Only yesterday I had to bash my head against the desk to prevent myself chasing up a short story submission before the deadline had even passed. All because I know someone else who's already received a "Yes" from the same anthology.

Silly Troo!

 

[Doctor Sax]

That's not for *cl*ps* 2, is it?

 

[Giovanna Clairval]

If it helps, I'm not immune to that urge. Only yesterday I had to bash my head against the desk to prevent myself chasing up a short story submission before the deadline had even passed. All because I know someone else who's already received a "Yes" from the same anthology.

Did this person submit at the same time?

Anyway, editors often keep a few short stories on their desks for further consideration, and maybe to ask for some rewriting.

 

[Troo]

Being an editor, I know this. I had to slap myself about the head and upper body regions as punishment for my foolishness.

My friend submitted later than me, but I know that she only writes Flash Fiction, usually around 1,000 words. It'd be a few minutes to give such a piece a "yay" or "nay", whereas my longer contribution can safely wait until after the deadline.

And no, 'tis not for *cl*ps* 2. 'Tis for a new biannual magazine due later this year.