May 10, 2005

Request For A Full Manuscript

Today I got a phone call
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(and for those of you not in the writing biz, you WANT a phone call. Mail is usually bad news.)
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Anyway I got a call (at work, no less) from an agent requesting a full (the term used when they want the whole thing) of my chick lit novel. I was in shock, tongue-tied and suddenly unable to calculate simple math. As I came to my senses, I realized, I already have an agent (who's doing a great job of getting it read by New York publishers...what more can I ask?)

I asked the woman when she received my query letter and she said it was dated August 2004...JEEZ!!!!! I could be dead by now... She further explained that she'd been busy. I'll say! It took her 9 months to open her mail??? Just another real-life example of how the wheels move ever so slowly in the publishing arena.

Anyway, she was very nice and told me to let her know when the book is published so she can buy a copy. Yeah, right...let's all hold our breath...
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5 comments:

Duke_of_Earle said...

Karyn,

See, I'm running up your hit meter.

No, this is a real comment on you post. Did I tell you about the time an agent asked me for a full, and I sent it, and didn't hear anything for a few months? During that time I'd done maybe three complete re-writes and the newer MS was now MUCH better than the version she had. I wrote her asking her to please trash the first one and let me send her a better version. She wrote back immediately and said OK, do it!

I sent off the new MS and waited. And waited. Nearly 6 months later she sent me back my ORIGINAL, OLD MS that I'd asked her to trash, along with a form letter saying "not right for us."

I wrote her and explained that there must have been a mistake, but never heard from her again. Weird!

Karyn Lyndon said...

Thanks for the hit, I appreciate it. I know it's frustrating dealing with sending your baby out to people who don't care nearly as much as you do and then have them reject it with a form letter. The new and improved version is probably holding her door open. : )

thewriterslife said...

LOL, Karyn, this was priceless and came at the right time indeed. As if we have YEARS to wait!

Karyn Lyndon said...

Thanks, Dorothy. Good news comes to those who wait--if we live that long...lol

thewriterslife said...

At the rate I'm going, it might not be that much longer!