It was nearly a month ago that I made this entry in which I discussed my fear that nothing is going to happen with my first-choice agent. I still haven't heard anything from her. Nothing. Some might say that I should give up on her. I'm considering it. But I know that she's a great agent. I've met her in person and really liked her. And I've had contact with some of her clients and they all have nothing but good things to say about her.
So before I write her off and forget about her forever (or until I have a new manuscript to query), I just want to make sure that she really doesn't want to pursue this project.
She had indicated previously that it would only take eight to twelve weeks before I received a response. My USPS Delivery Confirmation indicated that she got the manuscript five full months ago. I believe that it did arrive. But maybe she has since misplaced it? And maybe she has so many things on her plate that she has no idea that she's misplaced mine? I don't know.
I was thinking of either emailing or mailing her one more time - just to make sure. I mean, it seems clear to me that she isn't interested and that she is just too busy to tell me so. It just seems out of character that she wouldn't just plop that rejection letter into the mail if she really wasn't interested. Why drag it on longer than necessary?
I'd hate for the truth to be that she lost my manuscript somewhere along the way before reading it and that my lack of confidence to follow up made me lose this chance. I'd hate for our lack of effective communication to be the thing that made what could have been a good working relationship fail absolutely before it even started!
But I don't want to seem pushy and impatient! (Even though I am certainly getting impatient!)
What should I do? What would you do?
In case you're curious, here's what I wrote in my email status request that went unanswered:
Dear Ms. [Agent],
Just a quick note to see if you'd had a chance to look at my manuscript FADED AS MY JEANS. It was submitted to you via U.S. mail the last week of January. (If this helps for a quick reference: I refer to it as the story of fifteen year-old Carah Greene who loves the music of Janis Joplin, fears high school letter jackets, and hopes that her father will come back into her life.)
Have a great Tuesday!
Best,
Mindi Scott