I have decided that moving that comma a couple more times has become a fruitless exercise, and I will now begin actually querying my latest book. I spent last week and some of this week writing a synopsis and a query letter, and I now have assembled all the tools necessary for trying to convince literary agents that I freakin’ rock. Except stamps, I still need stamps.
That won’t hold me back though, because most agencies will accept queries over e-mail. This is really convenient, expedites the process of querying, saves trees, and requires fewer stamps. It also has the unfortunate side effect of cutting out the comfortable little waiting period between sending queries and getting the rejection letters. While I have always suspected that agents frequently don’t even glance at, much less read, random query letters, I never wished for hard proof. When a time stamp tells me that the rejection was sent a mere 20 minutes after the query was sent, it destroys my happy delusions.
At the beginning of a query day, I am filled with hope and possibility. Each letter that’s sent out, each agency website I visit, feels like a new opportunity to become a represented author with mainstream literary potential. Slowly over the course of the day, that mood degrades. By the end I hear myself saying things like, “I don’t care if it’s a good fit or not, they’re just going to reject me anyway.” And I hate to have a ‘tude like that, but that’s really how it feels.
Here the debate ensues. Is it better to set a goal for number of queries sent, like say 10, per day and then retreat into my writing cave and create new work? This mitigates the soul-killing effect of querying, but it also elongates the process. It might be less painful to rock through as many queries I can in as few days as possible and then just live in my writing cave while the rejection letters roll in. I never really settle on one option or the other, but tend to oscillate between them depending on the time of day. So there are a lot of days when 13 queries get sent, including two at the very end of my writing time when I now feel frivolous and lazy for spending three whole hours actually working on my work instead of slowly draining away my hopes for life. On days like that, it feels like one of the best perks of becoming an established author would be never needing to do this again.
Here’s my take on how many to send out and how fast to do it. I wouldn’t send out 10 on Monday and 10 on Tuesday, etc. I’d send out 10 and see what the response is. If you get 10 rejections, the problem might be the query letter, in which case you’ve shot yourself in the foot the more letters you’ve sent out.
1. You DO rock! Don’t forget that.
2. I agree, it could be something about your query letter. Is there such a thing as rejection-generating keywords?
3. I am also experiencing a lot of discouragement and rejection today. I wish we could commiserate over coffee and pie!
I don’t really know much about the industry, but I know you – and YOU – ARE – AWESOME! You’re gift is amazing, and I believe in you.
Somehow, I feel compelled to quote this – go figure… “Courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what” “Real courage” is when you fight for what is right regardless of whether you win or lose.
I never knew anyone with more courage, Lauren. xxoox