I want to state upfront that this is absolutely not a 'newbie author gets rejected, weeps, sulks' thread, though I've only queried one other novel. During that time, I got all manner of requests, responses, and rejections you can imagine (on fulls): kind ones, thoughtful ones, incredibly insulting ones, forms. I wouldn't hesitate to query any of these agents again, even though I got one rejection that made me cry because it was basically 'everything that distinguished this novel disappeared after page 50 and it was horrible' (paraphrasing, but only just). However, now I've got some perspective, I still love my first novel - there were a lot of good points in it, amongst the dreck, the melodrama, and the plot holes :tongue - and I really thought it was ready to query at the time. Now I can reeeeeeeeally appreciate what those agents said to me and wouldn't think twice.
But.
The two most 'prestigious' rockstar agents that requested the full? I don't know, but I think they treated me 'pretty badly.' I know that this is a tough business, agents are insanely busy, and I really do understand that. But these two agents didn't just not respond. After the first nudge, one said first that she wanted to talk, then disappeared and I never heard from her. I got up the courage to nudge twice more, thinking that my e-mails might be lost in the shuffle because I know they get thousands of e-mails every day. She responded to the second nudge - a full 12 months, not rounding up, after she requested the full - saying, "I'll reread my notes and get back to you." Then...disappeared again. I didn't nudge again and just gave up.
The second agent again, requested really fast, and then disappeared. I nudged them twice; they responded to the second, saying they would get back to me in 2 weeks and if not, I could nudge again. I nudged at 3 weeks. They responded saying, 'my bad, been really busy.' Okay, fine. Then, again, the disappearing act. I nudged once more (a month after?) and gave up.
Typing this, I'm beginning to doubt my own sanity. But believe me, though there were times when I wanted to call the agencies and beg for a response (note: never, ever do this) or tear out my hair because the hope, more than the disappointment, was killing me, I've done my research. Hell, I've been a member of AW for forever. All my e-mails (I swear) were really polite and courteous. I had to reread them a million times to make sure they were brief, to the point, and not betraying any of the desperate hope I felt.
I waited a loooooooong time - 6 months for the first nudge for each? - to nudge. They were always really nice when I spoke to them, and they are rockstars. But, to be honest, I think it's even shadier than not responding at all, to respond and keep waffling about getting back to me, then not to respond. I know that, if it was any other agent, I wouldn't re-query them because I would assume they were dodgy. But these aren't. I know they're really good and, like I said, I probably wouldn't have signed my novel now that I've had a lot of hindsight and experience. It's not the rejection I mind. I would happy re-query them and get rejected if I hadn't had this experience. Is this a common occurrence? I just worry about what it could mean for our 'relationship' IF I did sign with them in the future for my new novel, even though that feels like a pipe dream now.
Gahh!! Sorry if this is really long and painful.
Querying an incredibly well-respected agent who treated me 'badly' as
