Why Do Agents Offer Revise & Resubmits?

...instead of just offering representation and revising together?

This question, back when I was an unrepresented writer deep in the query trenches, drove me mad.

R&R’s—or “Revise & Resubmits”—have notably grim statistics. I’ve read “out there” (various links at the end of this post) that on the acquisitions side (i.e. when an editor offers an R&R), they only have a 20% success rate. I’d imagine it’s similar on the age…