I figured it was time to shut up about this post and actually write it. Before we hoark down this meat and potatoes, allow me a few disclaimers/caveats:
This is not your usual querying advice blog post. I’m here in the trenches with you. I have no tips and tricks for success, because I have yet to succeed in signing with an agent. That’ll be a different post someday. I’m not going to tell you how to write a query letter – there is an abundance of resources available online, all of them more legitmate than anything I might suggest. A quick google search will set you on the path.
What I will tell you about is my experience querying in this odd post-pandemic, over-saturated landscape. Because it’s a different game than it was even in 2019, and a lot of the authors talking about signing and debuting got their agents pre-pandemic*.
*That does not render their advice inert. You should consume as much “How I Got My Agent” content as you can stomach, and take notes if you’re seriously considering querying any time soon.
I’m also going to break down the whys and hows of querying quite a bit for readers who might not be in the industry, but are curious about what all this “trenches” talk is about.
All right?
All right. Let’s rock and roll, then!
Querying – What the Heck is That?
I touched on this a little bit in this post last summer, but let’s dig into it again.
In order to get your book published by one of the five major publishers (who they are and what they publish is a whole ‘nother post) you need an agent to represent your work to an acquiring editor. And in order to get an agent, you have to query.
Querying is the process of trying to get an agent by sending them a query package. What’s in a query package can differ agent to agent, but generally speaking you’ll want to prep the following documents:
- Query Letter
- This is the big one. A single page to introduce your book (in an intriguing, intrest-raising way) as well as to introduce yourself to the agent. One page. Think of it as a cover letter for you and your book, and the agent is the hiring manager at your dream job.
- 1-2pg Synopsis
This is a single-spaced document in which you explain the entire book to the agent – including the ending! But, it’s only 1-2 pages, so obviously you can’t include everything. You’ve got to introduce the main characters, the main plot, and the emotional stakes in a professional tone. That’s 80k+ words (300+ pages) distilled into less than two pages.- Many writers dread the synopsis, and while I’m not immune to that, Wendy N. Wagner coached me into a begrudging love of the cursed document. A synopsis is more than just a marketing tool, it can also be a valuable revision tool, showing where there are gaps in the plot, etc. That’s why agents ask for it, to be sure you can write an entire book, not just the first 10pgs.
- Manuscript Pieces
- Agents ask for different things in their query packages. Some want the first chapter. Others want only the first five pages. Some want the first 3 chapters, or 50 pages or no pages at all! For this reason, I suggest saving separate documents for different sizes of your manuscript for easy submission.
- A List of Pitches
- I didn’t think about this one until I started participating in some Twitter pitch events, but collecting those pitches into a document has proven VERY helpful. Because a lot of agents also ask for a one sentence pitch, or even a one paragraph pitch along with your query materials.
- Author Bio
- The Author-Agent relationship, while a business partnership, hinges on personalities aligning. Agents want to know who you are, want to get a sense of whether or not you’ll get along on a personal level. Because the goal is a longterm partnership spanning a potentially lifelong career. So, if you haven’t prepped some sort of Author Bio, now’s the time.
Once you have all your documents fine tuned and ready to rock, the real work begins. You have to find agents to send it all to!
Finding An Agent
We talk about agents as if they’re hidden away or lost, some elusive being that we can only snatch by moonlight in a circle of salt. And, no lie? It can feel like that sometimes. There are no standards for agenting – no minimum requirements or templates for how to run an agency or build an agent website. If you start with a simple “Literary Agents” google search, you’ll quickly be inundated with a barrage of websites and no two of them are formatted the same. Hell, even the language around submissions, agents, clients, etc., can very between agencies.
So how the hell do you navigate all of this?
*sigh*
With a spreadsheet and lots and lots of time. And, if you’re willing to fork over $25 (do it, it’s SO worth it), QueryTracker Premium*.
*Not a sponser, btw. I just love the site.
Last summer I spent… a lot of hours scouring QueryTracker for agents that represent Fantasy and Horror fiction. Every agent I found on the list had to be vetted by going to their website and assessing their legitimacy. Questions I asked were, “do they charge for submissions? Do they offer editing services? When were they established?” etc., etc.,
If they cleared these red flag shaped hurdles, I added them to a spreadsheet. How you organize it is up to you, but I included fields for the following info:
- Agency Name
- This way I can organize agents by their agency, in alphabetical order of course! I’m a librarian by day, remember?
- Agent Name
- Fit?
- I ranked agents by potential fit for the manuscript/me – Loose Fit, General Fit, Good Fit, Great Fit
- Notes
- A space where I can put down any anecdotes that might prove helpful when I query that agent (i.e. personalization points or specific “wishlist” items I thought my book might deliver on)
- Query Date
- When I sent the query
- Acknowledge?
- Date the agent acknowledged the submission? Or did they? (some don’t)
- Response & Date
- Date of response and what sort of response – Form Rejection, Personal Rejection, Partial Request, Full Request (we’ll get into these in a bit)
- I also color code (surprise!) the agents by query status and response (Query Sent, Rejection, Considered Non-Response, Partial Request, Full Request)
- Date of response and what sort of response – Form Rejection, Personal Rejection, Partial Request, Full Request (we’ll get into these in a bit)
- Feedback
- This is a spot to include any personal rejection notes an agent might give, i.e. “strong writing, but project isn’t a good fit” or “declines this one but wants to see future projects”
Once you have this list of agents, you’re ready to dive into the query trenches!
Come On In, the Water's... Tepid at Best.
Welcome to the “trenches”. It’s a bit dramatic, I admit, but we’re writers. What did you expect? For a lot of writers querying is their first experience with rejection. They wrote a book and now they’re trying to get an agent. And hey, man, I’m not dogging that. You never know what you’re sitting on – maybe your book is a commercial slam dunk the first time out the gate!
But, the reality for the majority of writers is one of rejection and more rejection. It’s common to hear stories of books that queried 60+ times before getting an agent. Or querying 60+ times and getting trunked (set aside as not publishable). This is COMMON.
This is a road of rejection with no guarantee of success, and some writers don’t make it through. Querying can break writers, especially if they haven’t experienced literary rejection before. I’ve found that submitting short fiction for the last five years has helped develop a bit of armor, and these agent rejections don’t sting the way they might have otherwise.
Querying is hard. It’s a slow, tedious process of researching, submitting, and waiting for a response that may never come. There’s plenty of agents who don’t respond in case of rejection. Between working on client contracts and manuscripts, reading queries and requested materials, they simply don’t have the time to respond to everyone.
And that fucking sucks.
But, here’s the thing: if you can’t handle rejection at the querying phase, how will you handle an editor rejecting your book on submission to publishers?
This is all part of the writing life, and if you want a career in writing books, you have to get used to it.
So, How's it Going?
Well, let’s look at the stats:
- Queries Sent: 41
- Queries Pending: 7
- Submissions Pending: 1
- Negative Replies: 32 (2 Personal Rejections)
- Positive Replies: 2
Honestly? This is not great. But when I compare my stats to the average QueryTracker member, it’s clear that this is the normal state of things. The average member has sent 45 queries, has a 88% Negative Reply Rate, and a 6.4% Positive Reply Rate.
My numbers are a little lower across all fields, but I’m querying at a slower rate than the average member. I’ve sent 41 queries, have a 80% Negative Reply Rate, and a 5.9% Positive Reply Rate.
I’ve been querying since July 2022. My list of agents is quickly turning red and I’m running out of places to send this particular book. I get nibbles and notes that the writing is good, but the book just isn’t a fit (even good books may not fit the current market, and even if an agent likes the book they won’t take it if they can’t see a viable sales path).
Which is why it’s vital to work on the next thing. I figure, by the time Something Sulfurous has exhausted all its options, this new book will be ready to query in the fall. And that’s the gig. We write and submit and write some more. Get rejected until someone finally says yes. Forever and ever, amen.
The important thing to remember is that the only thing the writer controls in this business is the book. You have to write the best book you can so that, when opportunity knocks, you’re ready to answer.
Speaking of Opportunities...
Without getting into too much detail here, there was a lot happening behind the scenes this week. You’ll want to be sure to tune in for Monday’s Goals Summary post so you can hear all about it!
Until then, Bloggarts!
BZ
