aspiring author

An Aspiring Author’s Perspective from the Query Trenches (and tips)

Hey y’all. Long time, no see. I officially joined the query trenches for my novel, The Boys of Summer, earlier this summer.

That feels really good to say.

After agonizing over my pitch package and preparedness for months, finally pulling the trigger was…ridiculously underwhelming. I mean, I sat at my computer after I clicked that submit button in QueryTracker, going, Oh. That’s it? That’s it. I suppose I expected confetti canons to magically shoot me in the face, or at the very least, a giant neon flashing red REJECTED banner to appear right away. That’s how it works, right?

Nope.

My first querying response ever was a full manuscript request.

I was at my allergist and I cried in the waiting room while I read the email. I excitedly texted my husband while I puffed on my asthma inhaler to ward off the hyperventilation and he met me in the parking lot. He flung open the door of our truck and met me halfway as I ran to him, then we hugged like lunatics and screamed in a very cliche movie moment situation.

It was spectacular.

And before you hate me because I sound like a conceded, lucky son of a bitch, don’t. Every response I’ve gotten since has been a rejection, haha.

To be entirely honest, I am not quite sure what to do with that information. How do you decide if your letter or your pages need work when you only receive form rejections, but that same pitch also got you a full? Do you change anything? Or do you go full steam ahead?

I chose full steam ahead and will you know in a few months if that was a mistake.

Why would I do such a reckless, confident, completely out-of-character thing?

Because I had so much anxiety over my pitch. I spent months agonizing preparing. I wrote 10 different versions of my query letter and had it critiqued by writing partners, the Manuscript Academy’s FB group, friends, Reddit, and strangers (we swapped letters). My entire manuscript was beta read and I paid for a sensitivity reader, too. At the twelfth hour, my writing critique group read my first chapter, after I had already gathered an entire stack of feedback to consider, and it was the best thing I could have done. I lived on QueryShark and the r/PubTips server, subscribed to Gina Denny’s querying bootcamp, listened to hours of podcasts, and attended so. many. webinars. I read books and printed out every single blog entry I could find with an example query letter.

It helped. I know that now.

But first, it damaged my confidence. Asking that many damn people to weigh in was brutal and a mistake I made because I was not confident in my ability to query successfully. Total rookie mistake but one I needed to make.

After you hit a certain point, you start to receive circular, subjective feedback. I hit that road block and stalled for about three months before I picked up the very first version of my query letter and reread it.

It had my voice. It sounded like me. It was the most representative of my book. I polished the stakes and added clarity, as I learned how to do, and then ran with it.

So when that first response came in and it was a freaking full?! I was over the moon. I can’t describe to you how validating that moment was.

I’m choosing to carry the confidence it gave me justtttt a little bit longer, through the second and third batches of my query strategy. I need a little bit more data before I pivot, and the timeline of the query trenches is no one’s friend.

Please have a laugh at my face when I got the full request. The joy and panic to stay quiet in a room full of people really says it all.

What’s I’ve Learned So Far

If you’re nervous about joining the query trenches, don’t be. It’s anticlimactic. Hilariously so.

While it’s valid to be nervous – this is your baby! – the whole process is such a long game that by the time you get anywhere in it, you won’t remember how you felt at the start. You’ll probably end up feeling like I did: perhaps a little foolish for being such a perfectionist over a process which, ultimately, you have little control and influence over.

I’ve read and heard people say that it’s 90% luck, timing, catching the right agent on a good day, etc. I will admit I didn’t fully understand that until now. I’ve received rejections from agents who had wishlists that (I thought) my book perfectly represented. You truly can’t take it personally if you receive a form rejection. It might not necessarily be your book. You’ll never know, so don’t worry about it. Besides, wouldn’t you rather work with someone who was super duper excited about representing you? I certainly do. Querying is like a really mean version of speed dating. You get 15 seconds to impress someone, but have to wait 5+ months to find out if you match.

And anyone who has been in the process for a while – including seasoned, published authors – will tell you that they receive rejections all the time. The only people who succeed are those who don’t give up. I am still very much on the pursuing trad publication bandwagon for now, but I will admit that I am not sure I have it in me to query this particular book for years. I gave myself until the end of the year before I reevaluate how I feel and what my goals are.

My Advice

Disclaimer: I’m not agented, so take my advice with a grain of salt. These are things I did that helped me get ready to query, so I share in hope it may help others!

The best thing you can do is prepare. Do your research. Read forums and sample query letters. Subscribe to Publisher’s Marketplace to build your query list and cancel after a month or two. Get familiar with QueryTracker before you start sending. My favorite resources have been:

Don’t go out too early. …now, to be fair, I don’t know what too early is and I agonized over that. I spent 6 months preparing. It helped. I know I will need to pivot at some point and that the work isn’t done yet. Batching your queries helps so you don’t exhaust your list on a package that isn’t ready yet. I think the better advice is to not get too excited and impatient. Once you send that first query, it’s addicting. Give it time.

Read widely in your genre and have a list of comps. Literature Map is a great resource. Ask a librarian. Go to a bookstore and look at the shelves you think your book might sit on one day. I searched for books that had the same vibes as my favorite movies. Comps don’t have to be (and shouldn’t be) exact plot matches. Don’t get too hung up on that. For me, reading reminds me of why I love writing. There’s nothing better than getting sucked into a good book. It’s good homework, but it’s also good for the writer’s heart.

Get organized. Make a pitch package document that has your query letter, bio, synopsis, pitch/hook, comp list, and the answers to common questions (such as, who is the target audience for your book?) easily accessible and ready to go. Make a separate document for each of the following: your first chapter, first 10, first 20, first 30, and first 50 pages. Label them that. You are going to be copying/pasting the same information dozens of times. Make it easy on yourself. I use QueryTracker but I also have a spreadsheet that I call my manuscript warehouse. It includes basic information about my manuscript for at-a-glance copying but also organizes my To Query, Queried, and Rejected list. I move agents from the To Query tab to Queried with a status update, then move them to Rejected as necessary, and color code along the way. Here is the querying Google Spreadsheet template. You should be able to make a copy for yourself.

Follow. The. Guidelines. Only query agents who represent your genre. If they want emails, email. If they only use QueryTracker, use QueryTracker. The guidelines are almost always the same. Double spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman, keep the query short. It only takes a few extra seconds to confirm the guidelines. But also don’t agonize. The way you have to copy/paste your work into form fields will change the formatting a bit, too. Don’t be egregious with it and you’ll probably be fine.

Keep writing. I saw this advice early on, before I ever started querying, and yeah. Yeah. This is the advice. Querying will make you question everything about why you want this. Are you good enough? Should you give up? When should you give up? Etc. Having a new project to focus on, without any of the pressure? It’s fantastic. You love writing, right? So write. Have fun. Don’t think about being published. Just get that draft zero done. Be indulgent. I’ve got a general outline for an Appalachian Gothic book that suddenly skewed pirates and I’m running with it because it’s fun. I need the distraction. Plus, you’ll have a backlist of material ready if you do get signed to an agent. Win/win.

In Closing

My querying experience so far has been on the side of…positively neutral. If I entered the trenches when I originally wanted to, without doing all of the research, and hadn’t been so mentally/emotionally ready, I’d be having an entirely different experience. Cue breakdown city for sure.

The rejections are still hard. I’m still freaking out internally every now and again. How can I not? I want this so damn bad and I’ve dedicated years to it at this point. But I’m getting a lot more comfortable in understanding that this is a career pivot and it will take time.

I will spend the rest of my summer and fall exhausting my query list, hoping I receive feedback that will help in the long run, and praying that any full requests lead to a call. I’m trying very hard to stay excited and positive. And once late fall hits, I’m switching back into my hunkered down writing goblin self. I kinda can’t wait. I miss writing! Querying is a ton of work! All admin stuff. I can’t wait to get back to the parts I truly enjoy.

I hope sharing my experience may be helpful for others, but please, if you have advice for me, share it! I always want to continue to learn and grow. I will try to be better about updating this blog, but no promises.

Stay gold, y’all. Stay gold.

Leave a comment

Comments (

0

)