If you're tired and you feel like taking a break or you feel like moving on, consider this your permission slip. You can totally move on. If you just want a break from querying a story and if it's just no longer fun for you, that's totally fine. The decision to stop querying it's going to look different for every writer and it will depend a lot on each person's goals and their stamina and whether or not they have other projects that they're excited about. Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo and I'm here to help you write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming, so each week, I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away. So whether you're brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft, this podcast is for you. So pick up a pen and let's get started.

In today's episode, we're going to talk through how to interpret agent rejections, and we're specifically going to focus on three of the most common rejection scenarios that writers find themselves in, and then what to do if you find yourself in one of these situations. One of the biggest roadblocks to getting published is the dreaded literary agent rejection. But finding the right literary agent and getting rejected by others along the way is just a part of the traditional book publishing process. So if you've ever wondered how to interpret the rejection letters that you're receiving, then you're going to love today's episode. As someone who's worked with hundreds of writers who have queried literary agents, I've seen all kinds of responses Enthusiastic yeses, personal yet polite rejections, form rejections and, unfortunately, the dreaded radio silence. But through reviewing hundreds of query letters and helping writers turn no's into yes's, I've come to better understand what even some of the most vague rejection letters mean. So we're not going to get into the nitty gritty details of agent rejections today. It's more like I'm going to show you how I think about rejections and how I help the writers I work with interpret what's happening with their rejections and how I help the writers I work with interpret what's happening with their rejections. So, for example, getting a form rejection to a query letter means something different to me than getting a form rejection to a query letter and a handful of manuscript pages. These are different scenarios and I would likely recommend different actions depending on what exactly the agent has rejected. So, with that being said, let's just dive right into it the three most common rejection scenarios writers face when querying agents and how to take the next steps if you find yourself in any one of these situations.

Okay, so rejection scenario number one is that you've queried agents but you're not getting any responses other than radio silence or form rejections. If you've never heard this term, form rejections before, it basically means you're getting a response to your initial query that rejects your submission in a few short and often generic sentences. So it might sound something like I will need to pass on this manuscript at this time. I wish you luck with your future submissions. So very generic and usually not personalized at all. Now, if you're receiving form rejections or even radio silence to your query, this most likely means that your query letter didn't pique the agent's interest enough to take the next steps, whether those next steps be requesting to see sample pages or even your full manuscript. So, in other words, this tells me there is something wrong with your query letter.

Now, this might sound simple, but many writers take radio silence or form rejections to mean that there's something wrong with them or their story, and this is just not true. So if you find yourself in this situation, the first thing I want you to do is go back and listen to episode number 58, which is called 10 Querying Mistakes and how to Avoid them, and determine whether any of these mistakes might be responsible for the rejections that you're receiving. After that, it's time to revise your query letter to make it more impactful. Once you're done doing that, you can get some outside feedback from a critique partner, developmental editor or book coach basically someone who can help you identify whether those critical pieces of your query, like the conflict and stakes and things like that, are missing. Now a small caveat here radio silence doesn't always equal rejection. It can take agents a long time to respond because remember they are getting hundreds and hundreds of queries each month. Usually, agents will give an expected turnaround time within their submission guidelines, so always make sure to check that out when researching which agents to query. Okay, so that's rejection.

Scenario number one You've queried agents but you're not getting any responses other than radio silence or form rejections. Common scenario number two is that the agents you've queried have asked to see your pages, but then you're getting radio silence or polite but slightly more personalized rejections. Now, a polite but slightly more personalized rejection is exactly what it sounds like. It's a slightly longer email than a form rejection and it's a little bit more personalized. You might receive this kind of response if an agent has requested sample pages or a partial manuscript, or even your full manuscript, and the personal nature of this kind of email comes from the time that the agent and their support staff took to read your work. So it should highlight in very brief detail the reasons why they couldn't take on your manuscript at this time.

And if you've reached this point, it's safe to say that your query letter works. So something in your query letter is making agents ask for a set of sample pages or your full manuscript, but then something in those pages is not living up to their expectations. So what you'll need to do here is read between the lines of the agent's feedback. If they mention something specific like your plot or your main character's journey didn't grip them, then you might need to evaluate what's at stake in your story and if those stakes should be higher. If the agent liked your opening pages, but then they said the story falls apart, there might be a pacing issue, so you'll need to look into that. If the agent said they had a hard time connecting with your protagonist, you might need to flesh them out a bit more or add some interiority to the page. All this to say is that your next steps are to assess the agent's feedback and then revise your pages before sending out more queries. So again, it's safe to say your query works. Your next step is to revise your pages before you send out more queries. So how do we do this? Well, first you need to assess whether or not you agree with each agent's feedback. If you do, then you can review your manuscript and see if there are any ways that you can improve it.

In episode number 18 of this podcast it's called 5 Mistakes Writers Make in their Opening Pages I laid out some of the most common mistakes that I see people make in their opening pages, so I highly recommend going and listening to that episode just to double check and see if you've made any of those mistakes. And, ideally, what you're aiming for. You want a set of opening pages that does five things, so you want to give your readers a glimpse at the big picture. Basically, where are things headed? You want to introduce readers to your protagonist right away. So we really do want to start with their point of view.

To ground readers into the story, we want to clarify what's at stake for the protagonist or why readers should care about them at this point in time. You want to open with meaningful action. So why does what's happening right now matter? We want to build a sense of urgency and curiosity into those opening pages, to make readers care about what's happening right now. And then, finally, you want to show how the plot affects your protagonist, both internally and externally. So again, go listen to episode number 18, where I talk about this in more detail. But essentially, you just want to start with your opening pages and say if this is all the agent has read, what in here can I identify as something that might need to be improved upon? And then actually take the steps to revise those pages before sending out more queries. Okay, so from there you can take a look at the rest of your manuscript to carry through any of the changes that you've made to your opening pages.

And then, once you've made all of your revisions, I recommend getting some outside feedback on your pages from a critique partner, beta readers, developmental editor or a book coach. And the reason this is so important is because it's often really difficult for us to see our stories objectively, especially after we've spent so much time working on them, right? So objective feedback is really, really important, especially if you're at this stage of the process. Now, what happens if you don't agree with any of the agent feedback you're receiving? This is something I see quite often, actually, and my advice is always this Technically, you can do whatever you want with your story because it is your story, so you can keep trying to query with it as is, or you can self-publish it if you really don't want to make any of the changes that agents are hinting at or requesting.

But if traditional publishing is your dream and if you've received the same kind of advice or insight from multiple agents, then it might be time to take a step back to seriously and objectively consider if that part of your manuscript needs work and, again, if you need help with this. This is where a book coach or a developmental editor can be of really great assistance. So you don't have to do this alone, and it's a great time in the process to get feedback, especially if you're having trouble being objective with your work. Okay, so that's common rejection. Scenario number two the agents you've queried have asked to see your pages whether that's a set of sample pages or your full manuscript but then you're getting radio silence or polite but slightly more personalized rejection letters. Common scenario number three is that agents have asked to see your pages, but then they're responding with personalized and enthusiastic no's. And if you're in this situation, congratulations. This means there's likely nothing wrong with your query or your pages.

You just haven't found the right agent match for you and your story just yet. So what a personal and enthusiastic response look like. Well, it probably sounds something like this I loved your manuscript, but I can't offer representation at this time. Have you tried reaching out to agent so-and-so? She's great and would love a story like this? Or maybe it would sound something like my colleagues and I read your manuscript, but we've decided to pass. There's a lot to like in your story and I think you will sell this. We just weren't all in Right. So it's something a little more personal. It's something that feels enthusiastic. It just wasn't a right fit for them. So what does this mean for you? Well, like I said, it just wasn't a right fit for them. So what does this mean for you? Well, like I said, there's likely nothing wrong with your query or your pages. It's just that you haven't found the right fit for you and your story. So the perfect agent is still out there. So keep querying and you can feel good about the fact that your query letter and your pages are working. Eventually, you will find the right agent who loves your book as much as you do. So just hang in there.

That's common rejection scenario number three. Agents have asked to see your pages, but then they're responding with personalized and enthusiastic no's, and those are the top three most common rejection scenarios I see writers go through. However, there's also another scenario I wanted to talk about, which is the revise and resubmit scenario, and the revise and resubmit, or an R&R as people like to call it, is just about the best kind of no that you can get from a literary agent. This kind of response means that you're almost there, but your manuscript needs a bit more work before the agent is willing to offer you representation. Now, this is similar to common rejection scenario number two, where you get more of that polite and more personalized rejection, and that's because these type of emails will often advise you on why the agent said no or what specifically they're asking you to revise in your manuscript.

So again, if you get this kind of response, just consider what you want to do with it, right? Do you agree with the feedback? If so, then go ahead and implement it. If you don't agree with it and only one agent has said this so far then you know you can put it aside and think about it later and keep querying. If you don't agree with the feedback, but more than one agent has mentioned the same thing, then this might be where you need to stop and reassess to determine if there are really some things in your manuscript that need attention.

So again, up to you how you respond to a revise and resubmit request. But one thing I don't want to see you do is do a cursory line, edit and then resubmit. Right, the agents who ask for a revise and resubmit are not looking for minor changes in the way that you've worded things. In most cases, if an agent is willing to reconsider your manuscript, they expect to, at least a few months down the line, a second draft that has been overhauled and improved, at least on the story level or that content editing level. So this might mean that you've improved your pacing. The character arcs have been revised, maybe a subplot has been removed or added or beefed up, whatever that looks like. It's just bigger than your sentences and the grammar and spelling and things like that. Okay, so that's another scenario that you might face. It's not one of the most common scenarios I see, but it definitely happens from time to time.

Now, a question I get asked all the time is how do I know when I should stop querying? And the answer to this question is going to look different for everyone. But there are five things I want you to look out for that might be telling you that it's time to stop querying. So number one is if you no longer feel excited about your story, it might be time to stop querying. We don't want you to not have fun with this process, right? Number two is that it's been longer than 18 months, or about one and a half years. So if it's been that long and you're still not getting the responses you want, it might be time to pause and reassess or stop altogether.

Number three is that you've reached the end of your dream agent list. So if you've kind of you know, made a list of all the agents you want to query and you've reached the end without getting the kind of response you like, it might be time to at least pause and reassess or stop querying if you want to move on to something else. Number four is if you're not getting any requests. So if you're not getting any requests for sample pages or your full manuscript, it might be time to pause and reassess or move on to something different, if that's what you want to do. And then, finally, number five if you're tired and you feel like taking a break or you feel like moving on, consider this your permission slip. You can totally move on. If you just want a break from querying a story, consider this your permission slip. You can totally move on. If you just want a break from querying a story and if it's just no longer fun for you, that's totally fine.

So again, the decision to stop querying it's going to look different for every writer and it will depend a lot on each person's goals and their stamina and whether or not they have other projects that they're excited about. If you're not sure if you should stop querying or if you want to talk to somebody about it again, this is where a developmental editor or a book coach can come in and help you talk through your options and maybe even give you a second opinion on the kind of feedback or rejections that you're receiving. Okay, so I hope these insights have helped you to better understand the rejection letters you're receiving, and I hope they've given you a fuller picture on how agents approach the query review process. Remember that querying is a marathon, not a sprint. It's going to take time, but it will be worth it in the end to find the right match for you and your story.

So, even though it's hard, don't let the rejections get you down. I see this happen all too often, where writers give up on their publishing dreams because they're discouraged from being ghosted or rejected by agents. And I totally get why. Writing is such a personal process, and getting rejected by somebody, whether they're a literary agent or not, it can feel really crushing. Right, it's not the most fun thing to experience, but if it is your dream to be traditionally published, I encourage you to push through the rejections and just hang in there.

So before I let you go, let's do a very quick recap of the three most common agent rejection scenarios I see, and a quick note on what to do about each scenario. So rejection scenario number one was that you've queried agents but you're not getting any responses other than radio silence or quick form rejections. If you're in this scenario, there's probably something wrong with your query letter. So I would focus your next steps on revising that and making sure it has all the necessary parts that would pique an agent's interest. Rejection scenario number two is that the agents you've queried have asked to see your pages, but then you're getting radio silence or a polite but slightly more personalized rejection. If you're getting to this point, it's likely that your query letter is working, but something's wrong with your pages. So your next step here would be to revise your pages, focusing on those first 25, 30, 50 pages and then, of course, incorporating any of the changes you've made in those opening pages to the rest of your manuscript, but really focusing on revising those pages and then continuing your querying journey. Common scenario number three is that agents have asked to see your pages, but then they're responding with personalized and enthusiastic no's. And if you find yourself in this situation, congratulations. There's likely nothing wrong with your pages. You just haven't found the right agent match for you and your story just yet, so keep querying, all right. So there you have it, a quick little cheat sheet for interpreting agent rejections.

If you need help crafting your submission materials, I'm going to link to some older episodes in the show notes. One of them is on how to write a query letter that gets requests. That's episode number 142. And the other is episode number 58, 10, querying mistakes and how to avoid them. So that's it for today's episode.

As always, thank you so much for tuning in and for showing your support. If you want to check out any of the links I mentioned in this episode, you can find them in the show notes listed in the description of each episode, inside your podcast player or at savannahgilbocom forward slash podcast. If you're an Apple user, I'd really appreciate it if you took a few seconds to leave a rating and a review. Your ratings and reviews tell Apple that this is a podcast that's worth listening to and, in turn, your reviews will help this podcast get in front of more fiction writers just like you. And while you're there, go ahead and hit that follow button, because there's going to be another brand new episode next week, full of actionable tips, tools and strategies to help you become a better writer. So I'll see you next week and until then, happy writing.