Sometimes, you get a rejection letter from an agent. In theory, you sometimes get a request for more information but this is an exceptional case. On the plus side, I am yet to get a restraining order so that is a positive.
.Sometimes the agent doesn't respond. Well, that is fair enough, I suppose. Agents are busy people. How long you should wait before assuming that this is the least formal version of "Thanks but no thanks" depends on the agency. Some will tell you that they will look at submissions within 3 months. Some say that they will try to look at submissions within a certain time frame and in those cases it is becomes a judgement call as to when you should move on. It makes sense to keep your book in front of a reasonable size pool of agents. Too small and you are hurting your chances. Too large and you run the risk of irritating the very people that you most need to impress. It is a balancing act and, since you have no idea what happens after you send the submission off, it is a blind-fold balancing act.
Since several agents have been silent for 3 months and I know that another is on maternity leave (I don't stalk them but twitter is public), it is time to send out a few more emails but I have decided to pay for an editor to review my submission. I know that there are a lot of sharks out there and advice may not be worth what you pay for it but I have been impressed by the integrity of Agent Hunter (http://www.agenthunter.co.uk/) and I am going to see if they can help me
As I said in a previous post, an author has at most minutes to make an impression and perhaps as little as a few seconds. I would be a fool not to want to make the best possible use of that time.
Will I follow their advice? Well, probably most of it. We shall see. I am planning on publishing a "lessons learned" post as soon as I can claim to have learned anything.
The quest continues...
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