Query Quest: Full Manuscript Request

I started querying my novel SECOND DAWN back in early June, and I expected to rack up a bunch of rejections and change my query and synopsis half a dozen times before I even sniffed a full manuscript request. Well, I’m delighted to be wrong. Early last week, I received a full manuscript request from a great agent. Let’s discuss that.

Remember, these posts are observations based on my admittedly limited experience with querying. In other words, this ain’t gospel, just me recounting my own experiences. Also, as usual, I won’t be identifying the agent in question, just like I don’t identify the publisher in my posts about short story submissions. With the declaimer out of the way, let’s look at that manuscript request.

Dear Aeryn,

I would love to see the rest of this! Please follow the instructions below to upload your full manuscript. I’m looking forward to reading.

The request for a full manuscript came 47 days after the query, which included the first three chapters of the novel (about 7,000 words total). If I were to compare this letter to something from the short story submission world, I’d say it’s like making a short list. It tells you the project is not without merit, and that even if the agent ultimately passes, it makes sense to keep querying. (And to try that agent with another project if the current one doesn’t pan out.)

So what happens now? Well, the first thing I did was upload the entire manuscript shortly after receiving the letter. Now I’ll wait for the agent to review it and make a decision. Based on the numbers I see on QueryTracker, that could be a couple of weeks to a month. Seems reasonable to me for a 90,000-word novel. From what I’ve seen and heard from other authors, an agent will likely respond with one of three responses. One, a rejection. That would certainly be disappointing, but I’d hopefully get some feedback that would help me improve my manuscript. Two, a revise and resubmit. If the agent likes some of the manuscript but thinks other parts need big (but doable) improvements, I might get this response, which would be encouraging to say the least. Finally, THE DREAM–the agent thinks the book is strong enough to offer representation. I should note that even if an agent offers representation, they’re still likely to want edits on the manuscript before they start shopping it to publishers.

One more thing. See how the letter asks for a “full manuscript”? Yeah, that’s why it’s imperative you have a complete manuscript before you start querying. You don’t want to get one of these letters and then have to explain to the agent that you haven’t finished the book yet. That’s not a good look.

This is obviously good news, and though there are no guarantees it’ll go further than this, getting the full request this early is validating and tells me the book might not be complete garbage. Of course, I’ll let you all know the outcome of this full request, and even if I don’t get an offer of representation, the outcome should be educational.

Thoughts on this letter or the querying process? I’d love to hear it in the comments.