Agent Search Update

Unfortunately, I'm not updating to announce that I've signed with an agent. The agent search goes on. For those of you interested or just following the stats out of morbid curiousity, here's the latest:
127 Agents queried (About half were queried the first week of January (email and on-line forms) and half the last weekof January (snail mail))
81 Responses so far
11 Requests for a Full
8 Requests for a Partial
7 Fulls Rejected
4 Partials Rejected
Four of the rejections on the full came with comments and two of the patial rejections with comments.
The thing I find most interesting is that the comments are all over the place. One agent found a key element to be 'too convenient'. Of course, that was a part that I'd labored over. One agent, who read a partial, didn't like much of anything. A couple of agents wrote a LOT of comments and one of them made notes on the manuscript and returned it at her own expense. I'm so impressed with someone that dedicated to his or her profession.

The entire experience shows me just how subjective it all is. One agent thought the pace was slow and the text overwritten and uneven. Another agent thought the writing was whip-smart, the over all pacing good, characters well thought out and the narrative clipped along at a good pace.

So, when you get those rejection letters that say no and then tell you that this is a subjective business and another agent might love it -- well, they're right.