Querying, Not For Those With Weak Constitutions
As I talked about last time, I didn't ultimately spend very long in the query trenches. It was enough to get a taste, but not enough to enter the misery spiral of being sure no one would ever like my book and I'd never get published. I spent two months querying, which at the time felt like forever, but in reality is such a short period, I hope it speaks well for my story's chances.
Initially, even the thought of emailing real agents gave me butterflies. Sure, I'd gone over the manuscript dozens of times, to the point where I was satisfied (or at least too sick of editing to worry about it anymore). I had a query letter and synopsis written. I was ready, technically. But when I tentatively googled "sci fi agents" and started reading a few bios, I got so overwhelmed with nerves and excitement I closed out of the browser. These guys are serious business!
After a few days, the excitement part of that overcame the nerves part, and even though I still wanted to obsessively fiddle with my manuscript, I couldn't contain my enthusiasm anymore. No more waiting, time to break the ice and send one out! I opened up the Manuscript Wishlist, searched for science fiction, and picked the first name off the list.
Now, it's recommended you do your homework on agents first. Some people, who are more savvy and dedicated than I, follow these agents on twitter, read their blogs, look up books by their clients, and get a real feel for them before ever submitting. Yeah, I totally didn't do that. I read over their websites, peeked at their social media, and went, "To hell with it!" As long as they described looking for something similar to what I write, it was good enough for me. I took that MSWL page and went right down the alphabetical list.
I got everything together, pasted it into the email, and addressed it to a real, live literary agent. After some last-minute fretting over whether my query and pages were really ready or not, I closed my eyes and clicked send before I could stop myself.
Once the first one was out, the rest came easier. I did them in small batches, sending a handful out every time I had a day off. I got into the groove of, "the more I have out, the better chances I have of hearing back!" I got two form rejections immediately, within twenty-four hours, and I was pleased to at least be making progress. I'd lost my querying virginity and was ready to send to more agents with more confidence.
More rejections trickled in over the following weeks, and then silence. It began to unnerve me. Was it the query? The pages? The word count? The alternating timelines? Did they just not mesh with the premise, or did they hate my writing?
Then I got my first full request, and I was over the moon. It wasn't a big name agent with a huge track record, but it was someone who seemed to jive very closely with my tastes. It affirmed that there wasn't some horrible fatal flaw that would prevent me from ever getting requests. However, after checking out Query Tracker, I was a little disheartened to realize it could be six months or more before I heard back--and even then it might be a rejection.
I clung to that full request like a lifeline. As more agents I loved rejected me, I kept reminding myself that I had that as a fall-back. For that novel, I've always felt the first 3 chapters are the weakest, because of the learning curve from getting thrown right into the middle of the story. While querying, I was convinced that if I could get them to read the full, they would love it--a fact which turned out to be true so far, as every agent who read the full made an offer. The tricky part was hooking them with the beginning.
In the end, I sent 24 cold queries (27 if you count requested ones--more on this next time!). The breakdown:
I ended up getting 3 full requests through other means, which I will talk about in part 3. Tune in next time for the story of how I got my agent!
Initially, even the thought of emailing real agents gave me butterflies. Sure, I'd gone over the manuscript dozens of times, to the point where I was satisfied (or at least too sick of editing to worry about it anymore). I had a query letter and synopsis written. I was ready, technically. But when I tentatively googled "sci fi agents" and started reading a few bios, I got so overwhelmed with nerves and excitement I closed out of the browser. These guys are serious business!
After a few days, the excitement part of that overcame the nerves part, and even though I still wanted to obsessively fiddle with my manuscript, I couldn't contain my enthusiasm anymore. No more waiting, time to break the ice and send one out! I opened up the Manuscript Wishlist, searched for science fiction, and picked the first name off the list.
Now, it's recommended you do your homework on agents first. Some people, who are more savvy and dedicated than I, follow these agents on twitter, read their blogs, look up books by their clients, and get a real feel for them before ever submitting. Yeah, I totally didn't do that. I read over their websites, peeked at their social media, and went, "To hell with it!" As long as they described looking for something similar to what I write, it was good enough for me. I took that MSWL page and went right down the alphabetical list.
I got everything together, pasted it into the email, and addressed it to a real, live literary agent. After some last-minute fretting over whether my query and pages were really ready or not, I closed my eyes and clicked send before I could stop myself.
Once the first one was out, the rest came easier. I did them in small batches, sending a handful out every time I had a day off. I got into the groove of, "the more I have out, the better chances I have of hearing back!" I got two form rejections immediately, within twenty-four hours, and I was pleased to at least be making progress. I'd lost my querying virginity and was ready to send to more agents with more confidence.
More rejections trickled in over the following weeks, and then silence. It began to unnerve me. Was it the query? The pages? The word count? The alternating timelines? Did they just not mesh with the premise, or did they hate my writing?
Then I got my first full request, and I was over the moon. It wasn't a big name agent with a huge track record, but it was someone who seemed to jive very closely with my tastes. It affirmed that there wasn't some horrible fatal flaw that would prevent me from ever getting requests. However, after checking out Query Tracker, I was a little disheartened to realize it could be six months or more before I heard back--and even then it might be a rejection.
I clung to that full request like a lifeline. As more agents I loved rejected me, I kept reminding myself that I had that as a fall-back. For that novel, I've always felt the first 3 chapters are the weakest, because of the learning curve from getting thrown right into the middle of the story. While querying, I was convinced that if I could get them to read the full, they would love it--a fact which turned out to be true so far, as every agent who read the full made an offer. The tricky part was hooking them with the beginning.
In the end, I sent 24 cold queries (27 if you count requested ones--more on this next time!). The breakdown:
- 24 cold queries total
- 7 form rejections
- 1 revise and resubmit
- 2 partial requests
- 1 full request
I ended up getting 3 full requests through other means, which I will talk about in part 3. Tune in next time for the story of how I got my agent!
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