Comments on Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: The Waiting is the Worst Part

Thank you all so much. Relieved to know I'm not th...

2010-02-24T09:26:58.033-08:00

Thank you all so much. Relieved to know I'm not the only one who lost it after two weeks "out there." :D

The worst part is that you grasp at straws. I liv...

2009-11-24T03:16:38.051-08:00

The worst part is that you grasp at straws.

I live in South Africa and there is no market in SA for the kind of novels which I write so I've sent through queries to agents in New York.

My cell rings the other day and the thing I hear when I answer is an American woman saying 'Please hold, your call is being connected.' My mind immediately leaps to the possibility that an agent would like to read more than just the query letter and my whole body goes numb.

Turns out it was only an electronic switchboard routing the call from a company in SA.

Oh well. Now I'm preparing for round two of submissions.

Lolcats. It's impossible to be sad when you look a...

2009-11-21T15:40:52.078-08:00

Lolcats. It's impossible to be sad when you look at a lolcat.

Ginger Clarks submitting my work right now, and I find I'm calm at the moment. Ask me again when Christmas rolls around and I still haven't heard anything...

Frankly, I no longer wait well at all. I did at f...

2009-11-20T09:20:47.343-08:00

Frankly, I no longer wait well at all. I did at first. But now that my rejections are mounting (on various projects) I don't wait well at all. I fuss at myself and despair that I will ever gain an agent, much less be successfully published. Then I get angry for moping. Then I think moping isn't so bad, after all this is what I want to do with my life. Then I start the process all over again...

It looks like others here have already covered all...

2009-11-19T14:37:18.795-08:00

It looks like others here have already covered all my coping strategies. Actually, I don't recall anyone else mentioning rocking slowly in a corner...but I know I can't be alone here, right?

Actually, I just try to forget about it as much as possible: focus on my day job, work on marketing myself and building my "Author Name" as a brand, blogging, and of course, work on other projects.

Don't get me wrong, I check the email address that submission replies will come into every minute (yes, the email client actually checks it every minute!) Aside from that, all I can do is keep telling myself that the work isn't going anywhere and that there's no "shelf life" on a good story.

Judging from your recent turnaround on my query, y...

2009-11-19T11:01:32.095-08:00

Judging from your recent turnaround on my query, you do a great job not keeping authors waiting.

As far as coping? Honestly I try my best to forget I've even sent it out. That doesn't always work, but when it does, I then dread the moment the submission comes creeping back into my mind, because as soon as I mention it, everything's lost. There's no faster way to get a negative response than to start wondering if the slow turnaround means something positive.

Okay, I know that isn't true, but it sure feels like it. Seriously, you've figured out the truth about writing. It's control. And as soon as I lose that control, the stress wins, so the best defense is focusing on something else until I forget I've sent it out. Oh, and one other thing? The universe is against us. No matter the space between submissions (though possibly this only affects short stories), the rejections return in clusters.

As someone else said, surround yourself with writers who will sympathize. Most people just don't get it.

I get all Eeyore and stuff. There's nothing quite...

2009-11-19T09:45:06.138-08:00

I get all Eeyore and stuff.

There's nothing quite like success when (if) it falls from a gloomy sky.

By writing some more. Really. I have a ms out wit...

2009-11-19T05:21:46.701-08:00

By writing some more.
Really. I have a ms out with a few agents right now, and the only way to keep from hovering over the inbox is to write. Constantly.
At least I'll have a new first draft done by the end of the year.

Best advice I've been given, though not following ...

2009-11-18T22:52:24.237-08:00

Best advice I've been given, though not following to well at the moment, is to start writing your next best seller as soon as you send off a work to agents. That way you have something to hold onto when the standard rejection letters come.
One point though I'd like to make, realising it has probably been said before but I've not read all 197 comments, is that IS A QUICK RESPONSE ACTUALLY THE BEST ONE? In this I mean, a 5 minute NO as opposed to a one month NO lacks one thing - any HOPE for the author. Because while there is something out there, there is HOPE. It's HOPE that'll keep us believing in ourselves. Clearly hearing back in 5 minutes is better than never hearing, granted. But at least with a NO after one month it feels like they've considered the project - and it gave me a little hope in the mean time, even if the result was the same as the 5 minute response. I know the reason for the 5 minute responses, I do. I understand. But we all need some hope as well at the end of the day. Just my thoughts, and I realise I've said hope like a hundred times already...:-)

nathan-nice to know you're human. seriously! how d...

2009-11-18T17:23:46.863-08:00

nathan-nice to know you're human. seriously! how do i cope? i don't know, right now, i'm still coping with rejection + procrastination. currently building my platform so i can one day get published.

Great timing since I have a book out on submission...

2009-11-18T15:52:59.903-08:00

Great timing since I have a book out on submission now :).

Two things have helped me in the past couple weeks (now I feel like a super star for having passed the week and a half point!):

1) Having a totally awesome, communicative agent who keeps me up to date and is always there if I need to check in.

2) Being insanely busy. Between the day job, starting additional freelance work, networking, etc., I'm can't find time to write on my next work-in-progress, let alone remember to freak out about being out on submission...

When #2 inevitably wears off and the freaking out seeps in no matter what, I'll be glad to have #1 - and two other projects in the works - to rely on.

Waiting is like having your teeth extracted withou...

2009-11-18T14:26:11.757-08:00

Waiting is like having your teeth extracted without pain relief. Need I go on...

Good post :)

I only have one question... How the heck did you ...

2009-11-18T12:29:38.869-08:00

I only have one question...

How the heck did you manage to make it a week and a half?

It's been less than 24 hours since I had a publisher tell me he was interested in my novel and I'm checking email every ten minutes!

What's the secret to your patience?

Ah, this is a rather endearing post. And empathic...

2009-11-18T12:23:59.747-08:00

Ah, this is a rather endearing post. And empathic. :)

When I'm waiting for something I really, really want, I engage in an extremely mature and rational discussion with the Universe. It starts with:

Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please,

Then I'll throw in a few bribes on the order of how good I'll be if I get this. Then I'll throw in a few threats about how bad I'll be if I don't. Then I'll move onto more sophisticated methods, like trying to make the Universe feel guilty and/or sorry for me, so it will give me what I want. If I really want it, I'll throw in a bargain: give me this, and I'll recycle all my water bottles. Forever.

Then, when I've exhausted all the other options, I go back to begging:

Please, please, please, please, please.

I haven't measured the effectiveness of these methods, but they must work, because I continue to apply them every time.

What a great post. It's nice to know that someone ...

2009-11-18T12:12:11.217-08:00

What a great post. It's nice to know that someone "in the biz" gets as crazy with the process as us lowly no-name writers.:)

Thank you for sharing, as others have said. I cope...

2009-11-18T11:50:08.938-08:00

Thank you for sharing, as others have said. I cope by staying busy and by telling myself this is the fun part of being a writer. Some day I'll be published and there will be deadlines, promotions, edits... Right now, I can just write and love every minute of it.

Nathan, it's great (for us) to hear that you under...

2009-11-18T10:09:08.067-08:00

Nathan, it's great (for us) to hear that you understand. Not that I wish the waiting on anyone.

I bet your clients are loving how prompt you are!

Let me tell you, it doesn't help -- though I know ...

2009-11-18T09:33:35.570-08:00

Let me tell you, it doesn't help -- though I know they're sincerely trying to help -- when family and friends are all chorusing, "Your book needs to be out there so people can read it and learn something important," etc. I know they mean well. But it takes all the grace of God in my heart to keep from shouting, "I KNOW! WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO ABOUT IT???"

This blog post is so perfect for me today! I compl...

2009-11-18T09:27:18.561-08:00

This blog post is so perfect for me today! I completed my MS yesterday. Sending queries this week and I guess gonna overeat, nap, cry, spazz, and write (not nessessary in that order).

I am an optimist; I think the best way to live is never believing you’ll fail. Maybe if I can keep that momentum it won’t be so bad.

Write something new.

2009-11-18T09:23:32.386-08:00

Write something new.

Hah - it's funny because I just found out I made t...

2009-11-18T09:18:56.609-08:00

Hah - it's funny because I just found out I made the final cut in Stuart Neville's Ghosts of Belfast contest and instead of getting ready for school, I'm obsessively checking into Twitter to see if I have any votes.

If I ever thought I'd be cool about this sort of thing, I was wrong.

I tend to overeat. Or vomit. Like I did in the car...

2009-11-18T08:53:56.075-08:00

I tend to overeat. Or vomit. Like I did in the car on the way to my very first workshopping experience.

Doggone it, Nathan, you've done it now. I've got ...

2009-11-18T08:42:59.380-08:00

Doggone it, Nathan, you've done it now.

I've got to go crank up some Tom Petty because I've got that song running through my head,

The way-ya-ting is the hardest part!

It really is. I cope by writing. And more writing. And, may I also say, a bit of writing?

Onward and upward - I've got 4 more ms to refine and polish while way-ya-ting for a response.
:-)

How do you cope with the waiting? I basically en...

2009-11-18T08:38:27.927-08:00

How do you cope with the waiting?

I basically engage in activities that help me forget it's even out there. May I suggest a single malt?

I deal with it the way I deal with most anxiety: I...

2009-11-18T08:38:18.668-08:00

I deal with it the way I deal with most anxiety: I eat my students' candy.