So your manuscript is done. You’ve birthed that beautiful brain baby and after cleaning it off, showing it to your friends and loved ones, and letting it mature a bit, you’re finally ready to query literary agents. Huzzah! 

Now to fire off a few emails and steel yourself for the immediate onslaught of calls from agents clamoring to represent your work…

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Maybe you’re one of those magical unicorn writers who sends a query, receives an immediate request for a full, and within a few days is gifted with an offer of representation—and if you are, bully for you (you lucky, lucky swan)! Otherwise, you will become intimately familiar with “The Wait.” Or, in other words, the interminable time between submitting a query and receiving a response from an agent…if one comes at all.

Yep, you read that right! Some agencies opt for “if you don’t hear from us in ‘X’ weeks, consider it a pass.” Given the bonkerballs number of queries agents receive (sometimes 50–100+/week), and the fact that they’re busy working for signed and paying clients, it’s completely understandable that they’re not rushing to answer every single query that pops into their inbox. Although it can be pretty agonizing for us writers to wait that ‘X’ amount of time.

So prepare yourselves, my friends. Because The Wait is real. Whether you’re waiting on an agent’s query response, an offer of representation, or a submission to an editor, nothing happens quickly in the publishing world. And if you don’t manage your expectations, you could find yourself on the long and twirly road to kooky town.

What is it like waiting for those first query responses? Allow my feline friends to illustrate.

So your manuscript is in tippy-top shape, and you’ve polished your query and finally sent it to your first batch of agents. Slay it, killer!

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You eat some ice cream to celebrate.

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Was that an email notification?

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Just an automatic response from an agency confirming receipt of your query.

Maybe if I work on my next book, I won’t think about it.

Let me just check Twitter for a minute…

Omg, my email dinged! I have an email! Is it from an agent?

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Nope. Thanks, Capital One, for that reminder to pay my credit card bill.

What to do…what to do…

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How long has it been since I sent those queries anyway? Days, right?

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Like three hours? Oh.

Must…not…check…email…

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But my hopes…my dreams…they’re riding on an agent saying she loves my work and it’s marketable and…AND…

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ARGH!!!!!!!!

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Some days, weeks, or months, but what feels like an eternity, later…

*Email ding*

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Omg omg, it’s from AN AGENT!!!

“Thank you for your interest. Regrettably, I don’t feel I’m the right agent to represent your work at this time.”

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*Sigh*

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Welp, on to the next query!

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And once you’ve waited longer than you ever thought you could endure, perhaps finished your next book, received a full manuscript request (OH HAPPY DAY!!!)—or even a few of them—and waited some more, you may just get what you’ve been hoping for all along…

*Email from agent*

“I loved your novel. Are you available for a phone call to discuss representation?”

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Congratulations, you slick kitty, you!

How do you deal with The Wait? Clearly, I spent my time creating a goofy cat post (and working on my next book). How about you? Share in the comments!

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This post was originally published on October 19, 2016 and updated on November 11, 2021.