My Journey to Publication: The Latest Email from a Literary Agent

Picture it. It’s a Saturday night and I’m at a neighbor’s house for an impromptu BBQ. Around 5:45 I see a notification come through on my Apple watch from my gmail account, the only account I use in my “professional” life. I can see it’s from one of the agents who I pitched at the NY conference back in June, one who’d requested the first three chapters of my suspense/thriller manuscript. Since my watch only displays the first few lines of the email, I can only read, “Thank you for your submission, I appreciate the opportunity to read your sample pages…” That’s it. That’s all I could see. I’ve read those words so many times before––they’re the tell-tale sign of a rejection. Essentially, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

I sat and debated whether or not to read the rest of it on my phone or wait until I got home. I’m at a party. Do I really want to ruin my whole night? Now mind you, one of the other agents who’d requested the full manuscript on the spot, two days later, had said it wasn’t for him, and his email started the same way, so what else am I supposed to assume, right? Figuring it was best to just rip the band-aid off, I picked up my phone and read the entire email, convincing myself that it wasn’t meant to be. We’re not the right match. It’s okay. On to the next. Keep on keeping, all of those anecdotes running through my mind.

As I read on further, she wrote, “If the manuscript is still available, I’d like to see more. Please send the full if it is.” My eyes flew open in shock and excitement! Not what I’d expected to see after that opening line! So upon returning home, I sent it off, fingers crossed with a glimmer of hope simmering in my apprehensive bucket.

And now I wait. I wait for at least three to four months to hear back. In the meantime, I did send out five more queries last week and will send out five more this week, too. It is the first round of submissions for this manuscript, so I’ve only just begun, but with a little luck and fortunate timing, hopefully I will find my perfect match soon!