Thanks for the advice, Anthony. I agree, 205K words is quite a lot, and did indeed contribute to the reasons for rejection (although it was normally the "pace" of the novel that was criticised, which surprised me, because on reflection I thought it was too gung-ho with too many set-pieces and the agents thought it was too slow to get started and didn't grab attention from the offset!) The problem is that at the moment I have very little spare time (I've just started a new business), so although I fully agree that the manuscript needs substantial revision, I just don't have the time. :< Hopefully, this situation will change over the next year as parts of the business can be left to run themselves. Or not. :# Of course your're right in what you say about not "going for gold", but the experience I gained in writing this novel has, IMO, increased my abililty 3-fold, so I don't feel like I've lost out in any way. I suppose I just need to be careful that I don't let any skills I have acquired stagnate. However, as you clearly know what you're talking about I will bear in mind what you say and I will contact you shortly. Thanks again for your post. :)