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Topic: How long to hear re a book prop.
| Author | Message |
| 1978 | Posted – 7/7/2008 2:51:26 PM | show profile I was approached/encouraged to write a book proposal about 6 months ago and finally finished the darn thing and sent it off to the agent ... it's only been a month but I haven't heard anything and am getting ansty. HOWEVER, I don't want to be a nag so I'm just wondering how long it usually takes to hear back? I don't really have any experience with this; I'm sure they're all incredibly busy/etc. so probably should hold my horses. Thoughts? |
| scribble | Posted – 7/7/2008 4:12:23 PM | show profile | email poster my experience I was in touch with an editor about a proposal I was working on. He told me to send it to him when I was done, which I did. Two months later, I checked in, and was told I'd hear from him shortly. Another month went by and no word. I then sent it out to about 40 literary agents over about six weeks. During that time, I heard back from most agents (a few within hours or days, some within a month or so), and six wanted to represent me. I'm about to sign with one and have still never heard from that initial editor. Two sites I found helpful when researching which agents to contact were agentquery.com and absolutewrite.com. The latter has an active bulletin board (look under "forums" and then "bewares and background checks") of writers talking about their experiences with different agents. Different agencies will also specify on their websites, sometimes, about how long it takes to get back to you. Good luck. |
| snappiness | Posted – 7/7/2008 4:12:50 PM | show profile Yeah, a month is too long. I usually hear back within two weeks or so. Did you call and tell them it was coming? It might still be sitting in a slush pile if you didn't warn them to keep an eye out for it. Six months is a long time for them to wait, they probably forgot about it. |
| ywrite | Posted – 7/8/2008 9:03:27 AM | show profile Scribble, Thanks for sharing your experiences. I've never been good at the follow up thing. I go back and forth between not wanting to be a pest - so i don't call - and calling too much... I was encouraged to call a certain local publisher about my columns ... he said to send him 10, and i did... 6 months later when i called he said he still hadn't had a chance to even look at them, he wasn't sure he was still doing publishing, there was more money in copywriting... told me to call back in a couple weeks... i did... he said he still had not had a chance to look at them and to take them someplace else... it was a disappointment. www.wordsaremyworld.com |
| 1978 | Posted – 7/8/2008 12:25:07 PM | show profile Thanks, all ... I did email my contact there and she promised to get back to me next week, so we shall see! |
