A question of timing (For attn of Mr Jarrold)

[NewWriter]

Dear all,

I have a question both for people generally and for Mr Jarrold in particular. How long, on average, can one expect to wait before hearing back from an agent? In a previous incarnation of his web-page, Mr Jarrold said 4-6 weeks. Does that still hold? Any and all answers welcome. Thank you for your help.

NewWriter

 

[BaileyD]

I think someone mentioned somewhere (awesome researcher in the making here or what? that it might be longer. It isn't stopping me hitting, 'send and receive' about twenty times a day after having submitted six chapters,a whole... gosh, four days ago.

 

[Anne Lyle]

I just had a look on the Forward Motion forum (a lot of the sections are members-only, so there's not much point linking directly to it), where the Agent Quest board has lots of sample turnaround times posted by members.

Times range from under two hours (email submissions, obviously!) to four months or more, but around four weeks seems to be typical. Query letters get rejected faster than submissions packages with sample chapters, for the obvious reason that they're quicker to read!

On the whole no news is generally good news, as a fast response is likely to mean you've been kicked into touch...

HTH!

 

[NewWriter]

Is there a time after which it would be ok to send a sort of...prompting letter? Like if it has been a while. The main reason that I ask is that I know agents frown on simultanious submissions, but how long is one supposed to wait before trying someone else?

 

[Anne Lyle]

Simultaneous submissions usually refers to whole manuscripts, not queries - if an agent is interested enough to want to see the whole book, he doesn't want to be pipped to the post by a rival!

But if you haven't heard anything after a couple of months, a polite enquiry as to whether your letter/sample chapters were received is acceptable, I think. Packages and even emails do sometimes go astray...

 

[Kith]

Agent response times will vary from agent to agent, I'd imagine. Some will have guideline response times on their website/blog or what-have-you, and I've heard querytracker can be useful. Time of year is probably going to play a massive part, too - and summer is of course busy with things like conventions and holidays.

I was under the impression that you should only nudge if the agent has not responded to requested material? And even then only at 3-4 months/whatever the agent has suggested is an acceptable time to inquire (if they have suggested anything at all). With queries, I thought no response was usually equivalent of "not interested." But I may be wide of the mark.

 

[NewWriter]

Well what I sent was a querry, but it did contain a prologue and six chapters. I don't know if I should be expecting a reply or not. Nothing more has been asked for, I'm just wondering if I should expect a rejection/request for more, or if I hear nothing if I should just move on.

 

[Kith]

Speaking personally, if it was a query I had out (whether or not that included manuscript pages as part of it) and I hadn't heard anything, I'd move on and continue to query other agents (if that's the wrong advice to give, I hope someone more knowledgeable wades in to say otherwise!). It may be that you eventually get a reply, it may be that you don't; in the meantime, you should be querying other agents - because the one thing I'm pretty sure of, as Anna Lyle said, is that multiple submissions refers to requested fulls and partials, not to initial queries. You can query agents in batches as small or large as you like; it's when you start getting requests for more material that you would need to be more careful - an agent is not going to want to spend time seriously considering your manuscript only to find out that in the meantime you have accepted an offer from elsewhere.

If you have any real reason to think that the query has gone astray (besides general writer's paranoia!), then perhaps an enquiry as to whether it was recieved might ease your mind. Otherwise, either the agent is swamped and you will recieve an answer eventually, else no answer is not interested.

 

[Susan Boulton]

Well what I sent was a querry, but it did contain a prologue and six chapters. I don't know if I should be expecting a reply or not. Nothing more has been asked for, I'm just wondering if I should expect a rejection/request for more, or if I hear nothing if I should just move on.

Check the agents submission guidelines. If they say to nudge them, do so say after three months. If they guidelines say they don't reply if not interested move on. If the guidelines say neither, a polite query as to status after three months is ok.

 

[Anne Lyle]

in the meantime, you should be querying other agents - because the one thing I'm pretty sure of, as Anna Lyle said, is that multiple submissions refers to requested fulls and partials, not to initial queries. You can query agents in batches as small or large as you like...

Yep, that was me. You pretty much have to query in batches, otherwise you'll probably grow old and die before you sell a novel! You only have to do the maths - J K Rowling got 12 rejections before selling Harry Potter, which would have taken approx four years if she did them one at a time...

 

[Boneman]

Well what I sent was a querry, but it did contain a prologue and six chapters. I don't know if I should be expecting a reply or not. Nothing more has been asked for, I'm just wondering if I should expect a rejection/request for more, or if I hear nothing if I should just move on.

Did you get an email acknowledging receipt? ie from JJ? If you didn't, then it's worth asking if it was received. Otherwise, I'd say patience is a virtue, and wait for at least a couple of months before nudging.

 

[BaileyD]

Did you get an email acknowledging receipt? ie from JJ? If you didn't, then it's worth asking if it was received. Otherwise, I'd say patience is a virtue, and wait for at least a couple of months before nudging.

Oh the feng shui of agent and publisher tickling, I bet Champollion found it easier cracking the stone

I've also recently sent some chapters to Mr Jarrold, (with his permission) but didn't receive a confirmation email to say he had received them. Does the skinny from his hood (props to the SFF massiv) suggest I should have done? I didn't notice anything about it on Mr Jarrold's website, but that isn't to say it isn't there, only that I might have missed it.

Ta muchly.
BD.

 

[Anne Lyle]

He probably gets too many submissions to acknowledge them all personally in addition to replying. OTOH, if you didn't get an automated response from the website, the writer of his submission form needs a slap. Jeez, it's not exactly rocket science. We've had CGI (computer interface gateway, not computer-generated images) since the last century...

 

[BaileyD]

He probably gets too many submissions to acknowledge them all personally in addition to replying. OTOH, if you didn't get an automated response from the website, the writer of his submission form needs a slap. Jeez, it's not exactly rocket science. We've had CGI (computer interface gateway, not computer-generated images) since the last century...

Ah, I didn't send them via the website, that might be the reason there wasn't a receipt, it makes sense when (if) I think about it, thanks Anne. I'll go back to my pit and worry about misplaced commas.

 

[Anne Lyle]

No worries. It's just I was visiting his website recently (trying to motivate myself to finish this damned manuscript!) and I noticed there was a funky new submission form, so I just assumed that was what you'd used.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I sent Mr. Jarrold a question about something or other and neeeever got a reply. However, when I sent a submission he was pretty prompt (4-5 weeks I think) and gave a nice reply, even though it was a rejection.