When You’re Missing the Mark

>I'd ePub those rejected novels and keep writing. Her agent believed in her for a reason. That, and have the meeting you prescribed

>A lot would depend on the conversation. If I felt like the agent and I were still a good match, and he/she was still excited to rep my work, then I'd probably stick it out and get to work on new projects to send out. I think in this business you have to expect rejection.

Though, you never really know what you would do unless presented with the situation.

>I go along with catdownunder: I would hope for conversation/feedback along the way that would lead up to the big "strategy and action plan."
And I would hope those three books aren't all I have in my writing arsenal.

>I'm with Katie Ganshert on this one (though I love the Glee version).
In general, I think you have to feel as a writer that your agent is enthusiastic about your work and has done his or her best to sell it. If you don't feel that click, you need to find another agent. But if you cooperate and communicate well and have faith in your agent, then it's a matter of analyzing what the problem is. If your agent is someone like Rachelle, it can't be 'just' the writing. Maybe it's timing, maybe the book is not firmly within one genre, maybe it's controversial in some way or maybe someone just beat you to it and sold another book just like yours. In the end, if you can't sell a novel, write another one. The talent is there, now all you need is the right story at the right time.
That being said, I'm a firm believer in prayer

>I have a friend whose agent called her one day and said she couldn't sell her book, so she was letting her go.

Ouch.

Agents & writers are a team, so if that was the case for me, I'd hope my agent would come to me first to discuss the situation before letting me go. If it was the writing, I'd rewrite. If it was a difference between agent and writer, I'd consider other options. Whatever the case, I hope it would be a team decision.

>I like Phil's idea! Though, I think the what-the-heck pow wow should have taken place after the second book didn't sell. And this is the kind of question you'd want to ask an agent prior to signing with him or her too—what happens if my book doesn't sell? Just to see what they say. Of course, I think my agent could sell dog poo to a kennel cleaner…but I'm particularly biased. Great question Rachelle, and one we should all contemplate!

>There seem to be so many variables here. If it was my writing, and the genre, I would write something else. I would hope the lines of communication between the agent and myself were so good that we could come up with a working solution.

>Thank you for not giving up on me.

>I'm a writer who's been there. Twice. The perplexing part is that the editors who considered the books used the same fairly standard language of many rejection letters: "not right for us," without a more descriptive explanation. Ultimately, the agents and I had to devise our own conclusions. The downside was that this led me to assume it was me and my writing, when it probably had much more to do with the market.

The agency contracts eventually expired and I put both books away in a drawer. I then self published my third book, Veronica's Nap, afraid that if I tried again the same thing would happen and determined not to let my life's work fester in a drawer anymore.

>To add another musical take…maybe it's time to press stop on that old Sweet Child O Mine song on the cassette tape. Maybe it's time to let those babies go. I'm fairly certain two of my novels will never be published. My first two.

I'm a huge advocate of trying something new. You know the saying about the definition of insanity–trying the same things over and over expecting different results.

If it were me I'd tap into a different genre. Try it, at least.

And keep the communication lines open with my agent. Keep talking.

~ Wendy

>My agent and I recently parted ways after a couple of unsuccessful years.

My agent admitted to me that she felt she’d done a lousy job of marketing my work. One of the big problems, I believe, is that she tends to focus on genres I’m not writing in, so she was somewhat lost on the best way to market my work. I blame myself as much as anyone for that. I was so new to this business, and so excited that a well-known agent liked my work that I jumped at her representation offer without really evaluating how well we’d mesh.

Regardless, we chose to part ways in an amicable, business-like manner, and, in the long run, I’m better for it because of the lessons learned with this experience.

>I agree!

And, one way to "tell" if your agent is doing a good job – ask for the submission list and the responses from editors. I give these things automatically but some agents don't. If your book has gone to 20 editors who have all passed, likely it's not your agents fault. Stick with him/her and try a second (or third book) before throwing in the towel.

-Sara Megibow
Nelson Literary Agency

>I hope that I have good communication with my agent while he or she submits my work to publishers. It doesn't have to be a day to day thing but I hope to have feedback of some type as we go through the process together. Of course I also realize that my agent has several other clients. I'm aware of that fact at all times.

To me a good agent should provide some type of feedback as he receives it from the different publishers. This way, there's no doubt that she is submitting my work in the proper manner. If this happens there would be no need to ask for the list of publishers to which my work was submitted.

If no publisher is interested I would have to take in all of the remarks the publishers have stated along the way. I would then have to take a long look at my work to figure out why no publisher is interested and face the facts.

I wouldn't blame it on the agent. I would have to consider taking my work in a new direction.

To me, this process is not personal; it's to be treated and looked at as a business. My work either will or will not make an agent or publisher pick up the phone and call me. It's not about me; it's about my work and whether my creativity is unique and saleable.

>@Sara: Where's Kristin? Miss her posts on her blog… It's been days…

>This scenario would terrify me. My first reaction would be to question the quality of my work. A bout of 'what-ifs' might ensue:)

The calming agent would be prayer!

I pray my agent would hang in there with me, pray with me, and we both hear God before making any big decisions.

>Ugh Journey Don't Stop Believing?! I wished editors would've passed on that song.

>Nice point to look at here, thanks for sharing your advice.

>I'd say my first thought would be, if they're all the same genre, to try switching genres. Maybe even just try listing those stories as a different genre, because we might've been approaching it from the wrong angle.

Hope my agent would be able to open my eyes to why they're not selling though… I know that, if a writer gets an agent, their work has potential. It's just finding out how to release that potential. Might even be writing in the wrong perspective, or something stylistic like that. There's a million options.

I might put those stories up on a writing site — like writing.com or WEbook or something — and see what other writers think might be the problem. That'd be a huge help.

>Let me get this correctly. The writer has an agent and still only has three books for the agent to work with?????

And the writer wants to blame the agent?????