The nice kind of no

I said a few months ago that I was on a 'want to get an agent' swing (you know, from my to self-publish or not to self-publish conundrum). I'm still on it and it doesn't look like I'm coming back down anytime soon. Well, not until I've exhausted all possibilities. I've given myself to 20.

A long time ago (read 'when the first draft was finished'), I sent the manuscript to 3 agents. I can't remember if I've ever mentioned this. I didn't really tell many people at the time. I was more testing the water, I suppose, which is a really stupid way of burning a lot of bridges. But I was young and naive in the ways of publishing (hum...). Anyway, needless to say I only got rejections.

Then in September I contacted 4 agents. I got nos one by one, and hadn't heard from the last one so this weekend, having some free time, I contacted 6 more. So that's 10, half of my target, but also probably the ones I had the best chance with.

Then this morning I got the answer from the 4th agent I had never heard from. Quite a coincidence!
Anyway, until now all the rejection emails I'd received had been fairly bog-standard, a polite "thanks but no thanks."

The one I got today was slightly better, and so far the nicest no I've received. I know I shouldn't put too much stock by it - at the end of the day, agents can be nice people too, even when they're rejecting you, so it doesn't mean my novel is any good - but it does feel like the comments are personal and part of me is hoping. Hoping that this is a good sign.

Anyway, this is the email:

Dear Soizic,

Many thanks for sending me the first three chapters of your novel to me. I thought this was imaginative, well-written, gripping with strong and original characters – it was an entertaining read with plenty of pace and had a good commercial premise. Lacie was a nicely empathic character with a good voice and strong narrative drive.

However, while I did enjoy this and think it an engaging read, I’m afraid I didn’t love it quite enough to take it any further. That’s not to say another agent may not totally disagree.

I do wish you all the best with your writing and thanks you again for sharing your novel with me.

Best wishes,

Look! "Good commercial premise", she says. "Nicely empathic character with a good voice", she says. As nos go, this one has got me quite excited! I just need to stop myself from over-analysing and getting my hopes up. After all, she did say no.

Gosh, this agent thing really is like dating, isn't it?