Well . . . I'm ready to query . . . I guess. I was ready, but Jody hasn't gotten back to me with her comments about query version #3B. (Just kidding, Jods! I still have a synopsis to write!)
I HATE this part of the process. I get all excited about querying my precious story. I deliberate which agent would be the best choice in large agencies. I obsess over each agent's personal query requirement. And then I hit send.
--Yes, I only send equeries. Sorry, but I think it's totally asinine to waste money on paper and postage. If an agency hasn't gotten with the electronic times, then I wouldn't want to be represented by them anyway!
Sometimes it doesn't take long for the rejections to start rolling in. Sometimes I never hear back AT ALL (Personal pet peeve of mine--at least have the courtesy of an auto-response that it was rec'd!).
Revamp query and try next batch of agents. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I've been in this hot seat before and it doesn't get any easier. MISSING: One Garden Gnome is my fifth complete manuscript, but that doesn't count my picture book rejections or the first two stories that I only queried minimally. It's the part of the business that is extremely frustrating because if you do get a rejection it is usually a form letter--well, at least all mine have been with only a rare exception.
So as a writer you don't know WHY the story is being rejected. It could be anything from the plot needing a major overhaul, to they just bought something similar, to just didn't strike the agent's fancy. Shoot, for all we know, it could be just because the query wasn't enticing enough!
Rejections happen. Develop a thick skin. Just because you get published doesn't mean the rejections stop. From what I've heard it gets worse with every Joe-Schmoe dissing your book on Amazon's link.
And if all else fails.
Write on!
Showing posts with label equery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label equery. Show all posts
7/15/09
1/26/09
Equery Quandary
Here is a question that I've been asking myself lately, should I equery agents or snail mail them?
Technology is a good thing, but I wonder if the idea that you can sit down and dash off numerous equeries in one sitting can be a bad thing for the serious writer.
Let me explain:
Everybody and his brother thinks he can write. Just like every wannabe on American Idol thinks he can sing, but when he is told by pros that he doesn't have a hope in hell of making it in the biz, he still listens to mom, dad, bro, sis and Great-Aunt Gertie who think he's the next big thang.
Well, you ain't, brother. Listen to the pros and don't give up your day job. Sound familiar?
Think about this if you will. If every yahoo wannabe writer out there in cyberspace equeries every agent who accepts equeries that would increase the amount of queries in an agents inbox by at least a ten-fold, probably more.
Agents already have a job. It's to work for the writers signed in their stable. So if an agent has a busy week those queries pile up in the inbox, AND if said agent doesn't have an auto-reply letting wannabe author know the equery was rec'd, he gets hit again and again. Methinks there is a lot of deleting going on just to clean out the mailbox. And the serious writer gets dumped just as quickly as the yahoo who doesn't have a finished manuscript, or doesn't know how to write, or asks if the 'idea' is good enough to write about, or doesn't have a clue about the genre he's writing in.
As much as I hate the idea of going old school and giving USPS my money, I DO want to give my Leprechaun story a chance. I've exhausted all the agents who accept equeries (I finally got tired of looking at my rejections folder and deleted it all--without documenting who I happened to query--OOPS!), but there are a slew of agents representing fantasy that don't accept equeries I haven't queried via USPS yet.
True, it might be time for me to shove this story under the bed, but I'm not ready to do that yet. I'm giving it another try and will query the last few agents on the list. What will it hurt? Yeah, I could get rejected, but I'm used to that. Who knows? I might actually find my 'dream agent'.
What do you all think? Shove the book under the bed or give it another shot by going old school?
Write on!
Technology is a good thing, but I wonder if the idea that you can sit down and dash off numerous equeries in one sitting can be a bad thing for the serious writer.
Let me explain:
Everybody and his brother thinks he can write. Just like every wannabe on American Idol thinks he can sing, but when he is told by pros that he doesn't have a hope in hell of making it in the biz, he still listens to mom, dad, bro, sis and Great-Aunt Gertie who think he's the next big thang.
Well, you ain't, brother. Listen to the pros and don't give up your day job. Sound familiar?
Think about this if you will. If every yahoo wannabe writer out there in cyberspace equeries every agent who accepts equeries that would increase the amount of queries in an agents inbox by at least a ten-fold, probably more.
Agents already have a job. It's to work for the writers signed in their stable. So if an agent has a busy week those queries pile up in the inbox, AND if said agent doesn't have an auto-reply letting wannabe author know the equery was rec'd, he gets hit again and again. Methinks there is a lot of deleting going on just to clean out the mailbox. And the serious writer gets dumped just as quickly as the yahoo who doesn't have a finished manuscript, or doesn't know how to write, or asks if the 'idea' is good enough to write about, or doesn't have a clue about the genre he's writing in.
As much as I hate the idea of going old school and giving USPS my money, I DO want to give my Leprechaun story a chance. I've exhausted all the agents who accept equeries (I finally got tired of looking at my rejections folder and deleted it all--without documenting who I happened to query--OOPS!), but there are a slew of agents representing fantasy that don't accept equeries I haven't queried via USPS yet.
True, it might be time for me to shove this story under the bed, but I'm not ready to do that yet. I'm giving it another try and will query the last few agents on the list. What will it hurt? Yeah, I could get rejected, but I'm used to that. Who knows? I might actually find my 'dream agent'.
What do you all think? Shove the book under the bed or give it another shot by going old school?
Write on!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)