Since I have a bit of a quandry, I thought I'd ask readers here what they would do if they were in my situation.
Here's the deal. I'm just about ready to start sending Manhunter out into the world. (Okay, maybe a month or so, but what can I say, I'm excited.) But I still have RTL out there in query land, with a couple of requested partials still out. Sooooo...
Should I wait until after the partials/queries all come back? Or should I start querying for Manhunter as soon as it's ready for public consumption? If I'm still sending out queries for RTL, can I even take the leap and query for other novels? (Not to the agents I'm still waiting on, but to the agents who rejected RTL, and maybe a few others who weren't on the list because of genre differences.) For that matter, I still have Caldera which deserves to see shelfspace in a big store, and poor Blink has been cooling its heels at the back of the line.
Truth be told, I really expected RTL to capture an agent by now. But it hasn't yet. I've got some positive reactions from it, but no commitments. *shrug* Manhunter is most likely what people are looking for - nothing too deep, for one thing, and it's a romantic suspense that would sell nicely alongside Allison Brennan, Roxanne St. Claire, etc. It's gripping, it's edgy, it's got a good concept and, if I say so myself, damn good writing.
*sigh*
I really want Janet Reid to look at Manhunter. I think she'll love it. But she didn't love RTL. (True, I screwed up in my query to her, but it was minor enough she would've asked for pages if the concept grabbed her.) She didn't love RTL, and I don't want that book to become a new location for the dust-bunny olympics.
Then again, the agents who requested partials (and the one who already loved the partial enough to request a full) might offer representation. They might get RTL published, and if I find an agent for Manhunter instead, that may never happen.
I know, I know... I obsess too much.
So, what would you do? Anyone out there in a similar boat? Do you just drop one manuscript and start pushing another, or what?
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The Long Trek Back
2 weeks ago
3 comments:
Huh. This is a tough one. I don't know what I'm talking about, but I'm going to offer some advice anyway.
Start sending it out into the world. If you get an offer for representation on it before the full and partial requests for the other get a response, email those agents and let them know you've got an offer but you wanted to give them a chance to respond before making a decision. And vise versa. That way, you don't have all your eggs in one basket.
I only have one partial left out for SG. When I finish the new WIP, I'm thinking about contacting that agent and letting her know that I have something new she might want to look at.
Scratch that. I now have ZERO partials out for SG. *sigh*
I can see why you're unsure. But I think I agree with Jenwriter on the basis that (a) it's very hard to get an agent and (b) the more you try, the more chance you have. But, also like Jenwriter, I don't know what I'm talking about! Best of luck.
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