Been a fairly miserable month. Not been good for the wife and myself; doctors, dentists, and other ‘professionals’. Lots of running to and fro – not a lot of getting things fixed. Costing lots of money, though …
Have been through the latest batch of submissions.
One acknowledged receipt (no human intervention required) but said if you don’t get a reply within 3 weeks, assume that they are not interested. I guess that, after 6 weeks, they will not be getting back to me.
Others proclaimed that they would ‘reply within 4 weeks’ or ‘a month’ or ‘always reply within 6 weeks’. Been 6 weeks. Nobody bothered their arses. (No apology for crudity!)
I have to ask myself …
“Is my story worth the effort?”
and
“Would I ever want anything to do with an agent whose word is not worth the (electronic) paper that it is printed on?”
To answer first question. It was worth the effort to write it. Others can judge if it is worth the effort to read it. Perhaps, if I let it slip that my real name is J. K. Rowling …
As for the second question. One of my previous would-be agents stated that “if you don’t hear anything after 6 weeks, give me a prod!”. I do NOT have a cattle prod! If I did, then I might have been tempted.
Marlon James, the 2015 Man Booker International winner, had his first book rejected 70 times before it was finally published. I will never win that prize because I do not write ‘literature’, I simply write stories. But it encourages me to keep hanging on.