Manuscript Request

Hello my friends!

I have good news, but first let me start with some statistics. So far I’ve submitted my work to 28 literary agents, I’ve received 5 rejections, and as of this morning I received my first manuscript requests! This is a big deal, because this means the agent liked my submission enough to want to read the entire book.

There are a few things that have me a little nervous. I was not expecting a request like this anytime soon. The turn around on this request was about 6 hours from submission to hearing back from her. I’ve received a few rejections that quick but this is a full manuscript request! Should I be suspicious? Is there something nefarious going on? Or is this good? I hope that this means my book is just so irresistible that a when the right person looks at the submission, they just have to know more.

Another thing that cools my heels a little bit, is the fact that this request comes from an indie book editor, not an agent. This means that they use a publishing press, instead of a traditional publishing house. I only submitted to 2-3 of these indie presses, not wanting to put all my eggs in 1 basket. I think I need to do some more research about this route.

So what’s next:

1) Celebrate, this is a next step and it’s always good feedback to find out someone in the industry is interested in my work.

2) Wait for her response. There is still the possibility that she can reject my work. That’s ok, I’m geared up for a lot more rejections.

She could also offer representation. This is when things would get busy. I would start contacting every agent that has not yet rejected me to let them know that I’ve received and offer. Basically, this is to give other authors the chance to review my work before a contract is made. A lot of agents pay closer attention to your submission is you’ve received an offer!

3) Research indie press publishing.

4) Keep editing, keep submitting, don’t get my hopes up.

5) Write you all a lovely poem for your troubles!