12 posts tagged “querying”

Well, you want it alphabetically or in order of importance?

Specifically, this is how it is:

I was just making a spreadsheet to help me keep track of my WS queries. I sent what I thought were "a bunch" on Sunday. Turns out I sent six. But I put in a lot of research as well, which is probably why it felt like a bunch. Of the six, one is closed to subs through June 1. That info wasn't on the agency website so that was a bit of a surprise. I'll try again June 1 if I haven't heard from others by then. I don't expect to.

So anyway...

I decided I'd use my RFM queries spreadsheet as a template. The date on my most recent query-related activity? 5/15/08.

WTF is wrong with me? I sat on two completed mss for a year? Granted, I was revising and also doing fresh writing on Nine, "Inheritance" and some other shorts, plus articles and editorials and TC editing. But still. What am I waiting for?

At least I can say I have some queries out there now and if/when rejections start rolling in, I have to remind myself to kick my own ass about staying with it.

I have to admit that I know sometimes I'm shooting for the top and that the top is, well, most likely out of reach. But aiming for a certain goal (or over it) costs me nothing so I go for it.

You might remember that I queried an agent at a certain agency and that he fell off the face of the earth. Then the namesake of the agency got back to me personally. I hadn't heard from her but someone with that level of agentitude, I didn't want to push & pester. She was kind enough to ask for the first 100 pages so I was beyond myself with glee at that.

That said, she finally got back to me today with good and bad news:

Thanks so much for giving me a chance at this – and my apologies for taking so long to get back to you.  You’re right, there is a Tawni O’Dell quality to your writing and to this story – which means that I’m very impressed by the way you set down sentences.  But it also means that in many ways this story feels too familiar to me.  I know you’re going to get a wonderful agent, but I’m afraid I’m going to pass.

So just when I was beginning to think maybe I should give up on RFM and that I might have better luck querying WS, I got some wonderful encouragement, the first really encouraging thing I've had on the piece for a long time. I'm not surprised she'd pass (I think I might have melted into a puddle of goo if she'd said, "Send me a whole") and I thought it was very nice for her to write a personal note instead of a general rejection or something that's like what agents say in lieu of "no thanks" (like "this piece isn't right for me").

I have some more queries out and I wrote a couple of sentences on Nine this afternoon. I really need to reread it b/c I'm blanking out on what's happened in it. Then I can do some new work provided the kids stop dragging chairs around the kitchen in order to get snacks out of cabinets or play "tower."

That's the state of things. Plus the kids are playing semi-quietly in Zoe's room and Hawk is supposed to bring us dinner from McD's. Things are pretty good.

Thought it was time for an update on queries. Dream Agent #2 passed. Oh well. I have to stop calling people "Dream Agents." I did some more research last night and found another agency that feels like a perfect fit. I made a list of "try" agents, ones I'll possibly send something to after I check out their sites & authors. I sent two new queries last night as well. This means I have three out, one with 100 requested pages and two plain old queries.

DA#2 said in part, "However, I'm afraid that your story just doesn't resonate with me. I'm going to pass. However, I'm sure there are other agents out there for whom this would be a better fit." Then in her blog she wrote this, "However, while I often share agent Nathan Bransford's dismay at the state of dreadful query letters I've been receiving, I do want to thank those of you who not only put real thought into writing your queries and pitches, but actually made a genuine effort to research my submission guidelines and personalize your query letters a little, too. Maybe you think I don't notice. I do. Even if you received a rejection from me, I did notice all the effort that went into your query. And ultimately that effort is what will help you finally land the right agent for your project."

Well, I did that. So I'll assume that I'm among that group.

I also have a couple of subs out right now. I sent "Curve" to an online journal (it's also out at a print journal with a long turnaround rep) and excerpts from RFM and Nine are out to a themed issues of different journals. I have a flash piece out too but it's a place so big that they usually don't send accept/rejects; they just publish and you can assume it's a reject if you're not there. Meh. But hey, free to enter w/ a prize so why not?

Remember Dream Agent? Dream Agent fell off the face of the earth. To be truthful, it wasn't so much Dream Agent and Dream Agency but for clarity here, that's the term I used.

So since my second follow-up e-mail went unanswered, I decided I had nothing to lose by contacting the agent whose name is on the letterhead. I told her that I'd queried this guy, that he asked for a full and that I never heard from him after that. Told her I contacted him twice since. I asked if he was still there. I asked if not, should I query the agency again? And I explained why I'm keen on the agency (they represent a certain author whose work I like). I sent this e-mail this morning.

This afternoon -- a Saturday -- she wrote back and apologized. She said that he left the agency about 6 weeks ago (which is after my January follow-up). She also told me to send her my query and the first 100 pages. So I prepped it tonight and it'll be on its way. She told me she'd be out of town for a while but that she'd get back to me upon her return. Even if she passes, hey, I know someone's definitely going to read it this time ;)

I still haven't heard from Dream Agent #2 and that's the only other place I have an active query.

I just sent a new query. Maybe I'm not supposed to pore over every single agent, research the agency, figure out if the agent might actually like my stuff, etc. but I really do pick and choose the agents I'm querying. So I think sometime in the next 10-20 years, I'll be able to exhaust the querying process for RFM and switch over to WS.

I never heard back from the one who still has the full via e-mail. I wrote and asked him if he could tell me that he got it & never replied to that either. So I don't know to be passive-aggressive and sit back & wait in a case like that or get all up in his grill. I think I'm going to do some more querying and then if nothing pans out, I'll send a brand new e-mail asking if his silence means he's passing or what the deal is. *sigh*

Ah, querying. ;)

I currently only have one active query out there and it's in Dream Agent's hands (or more accurately, his inbox). As I said before, I don't query far & wide. I research carefully and look at who's a good fit for what I write.

The rejection on the partial includes this: "Though I found your material to be unique and intriguing, unfortunately I've decided this project is not right for me. As a reader, I did not connect to your narrative enough to take on the project." Then he said he was sorry it wasn't a good fit and it was signed.

So that's a pretty good rejection. I know the story isn't for everyone and it's going to take a certain agent with a certain level of chutzpah to say "Yeah, I'd like to shop this around to publishers." More than WS would take, I know.

What else I take from the letter (and maybe I'm reading into it) is that it's the story he didn't dig, not the writing. Thing is, as an editor you can help fix up bad writing. You can't really change the story and if you don't like it, there's not much that can be done to remedy that.

But I was waiting to hear from this guy b/c I sent out this ms (land mail) on the same day I got the "yeah send me a full via e-mail" from Dream Agent. So I'm hoping that's a sign that I'll hear from DA sooner rather than later. He never responded to my nudge but I'll give him until March before I nudge him again.

I got a request for a full from my #1 choice of agent.

*deep breath*

Of course it stings a little but it's most definitely not the end of the world. WS spoiled me. The first query I sent asked for a full; the second they wanted a partial. Maybe it's worse to be rejected on the work than the query. It was also a form letter. So it goes.

But hey, nothing to lose. No time wasted and one agency to be crossed off the list. I didn't expect to get picked up by the one that's already responded. They say they want lit fic but their site was full of chick lit. I figured it was worth a shot anyway since maybe they were looking & just didn't have anything yet (or sold yet). It was a beautifully-worded and encouraging rejection though. The only other form rejection I got was cold & had a note scribbled on "20k too long," so I got something useful out of it.

If I could change one thing about the rejection it wouldn't be that it is a rejection but that there'd be a note like that. Not for us. Not my style. No lit fic kthxbai. Hate your name. Hate your font. Badly-written synopsis. Whatever.

Back to editing...

... which is slightly different from the welcome wagon.

I've been working on a short story and it's been like trudging through thick pudding to get from one line to the next. I'm pretty sure it sucks but I'm going to write through to the end and let a friend tell me whether it sucks or not and how much.

More importantly, I've been querying! I sent three e-queries this afternoon and printed one. For the printed one, I need to include my first three chapters. So I'm taking a break from the computer (after I write this) and I'm going to sit & edit tonight. I thought my edits had taken but apparently not. I may have done them in Word instead of Open Office or something and just printed the wrong version when I went to print a copy not long ago. In any case, I needs to be editin'.

Maybe I'm too picky about querying. Maybe I should just blanket the entire literary agent marketplace with my query. I don't. I've been using Agent Query. I do a search for "literary fiction" and "accepting queries" and I go from there. I read the agent profiles. I go to their websites, when available, and I read what they're looking for and what they've sold. And if it sounds good, I write up the query and I say why I think it sounds like a good match. And I send it. And maybe it'll work.

For the first time really since my previous post, I've been able to sit down and get back on track about selling RFM. I began writing my query letter with the help of AgentQuery. I managed to make a one-sentence hook. It feels run-on to me but that might be b/c RFM is full of short, choppy sentences. Let me know what you think:

In January 1992, Seth hitchhikes to State College, Pennsylvania where he blends in with the student population, audits a poetry-writing seminar and discovers that the work, plus the personal connections he creates, can help him confront his traumatic past, stop the destructive cycle he’s been on in the three years since he’s been running and look toward to the future for the first time in his life.

That was also w/ the help of Theryn's summary when she read it.

I tried the "era/location" approach, since it's set about 15 yrs ago.

So okay, I boiled the story down into a single sentence. Now I think the 2nd pp, the synopsis, is more of a "here's what happens in what order" type of thing. Once I get that written, I'll add it to this post.

Later that afternoon...

Using the Coal Run book jacket as a template, I have my one-pp synopsis started. Why Coal Run? B/c it's my current read and when I went to rock H to sleep, I picked it up and half-memorized it for this purpose.