Nudging and Updates
I was sitting here taking a quick break from the WIP, and I was trying to come up with a blog post for the day. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind other than today’s experiences with the world of agents and writing.
First, nudging. To do or not to do? I think this depends on the agent. I have a partial out with a certain agent who tends to respond quickly to queries, partials and fulls. He’s very laid-back and friendly. He seemed interested in the novel. Four weeks went by with no response. In the publishing world, this is nothing. However, due to my research, this seemed uncharacteristic. I was worried the partial sent via email got sucked into the deep dark hole of spam filters due to being a large attachment. I thought this over a lot before deciding that at the four week mark, there was no harm in sending an email checking in to make sure he received the partial. So, I sent one. Turns out, he actually did not receive that email and asked for it to be resent.
The moral of this story is that sometimes materials do get lost from your outbox to their inbox, and a nudge after a reasonable time (according to each agent, some agents would prefer longer than four weeks) is a good thing. In fact, from now on, I’m going to request a receipt confirmation after any partial or full requested submissions.
Second, WIP update. My goal is not to quit writing tonight until I surpass the 10k mark. At this point, that requires a little less than 1,000 words. I think I can manage that. Did I mention I love this story?
How’s your WIP or querying coming along?
Filed under: GotS, TG, agents, drafts, query letters, writing
I think it’s great that you gave the agent a nudge and he got back to you right away. I never would’ve considered doing this myself until a little while ago when I read something over on the BookEnds blog. Sometimes stuff does go shooting off into cyberspace never to be seen again. So, I tried the same with a partial request, and it ended up being a full. =o)
On the WIP front, everything is moving along. I didn’t write/edit anything yesterday, but a day off every once in a while is okay. As for querying, I’ve been lazy and need to get back at it. Thanks for that nudge to me, too.