My year in writing – close but no cigar
:In the season of Netflix’s hotly anticipated Bridgerton, and a world of Jane Austen fanfiction, this year I’ve been querying my Georgian-era murder mystery.
I've taken part in twitter pitch parties, entered author mentoring competitions, joined writer critique groups, made writing buddies and for the first time have become super-organised when it comes to querying.
During lockdown, while my partner would play computer games with his friends, I would sit down with the authors & writers book and spend Friday nights researching agents and querying.
More on that later, but for now, here’s my writing stats:
Queries sent: 84
Requests: 5
Rejections: 37
Queries still out: 47
That comes to a response rate of around 5.9%. Not great, (especially since they all ultimately joined the rejection group) but this is the first time I’ve queried agents instead of publishers. Here’s a run-down of some of the feedback I’ve received.
Most consistent feedback: didn’t connect with character, didn’t connect with story.
Most helpful feedback: “I liked your protagonist, but felt there were some improbabilities about the story, and wasn't sure the writing and story-telling were quite distinctive enough to attract an editor in a field that is highly competitive.”
Agents are lovely people. I’ve learned to accept the feedback as it comes and be grateful for what an agent has taken the time to write, both the complimentary and the critical.
Why? As artists we’re constantly growing and if we can’t take critique on board, we will never improve. But then you get feedback like this and your heart sings:
“I can see that you have put a lot of energy into the thinking behind this story and while I find it nicely written--I'm just not as taken with it as I would want to be. In all honesty, I'm not quite sure why it isn't "working" for me but that is just the subjective nature of my work.
That said, of course--you need an agent that will help you to develop, hone, publish and market this project with the appropriate ardor. I have a good feeling someone will make this fly and I hope you'll send me an autographed copy one day!
On the off chance that you do not connect with another agent, and have something else to show in the future--I would welcome a query.”
What I’m taking from this process: keep writing. Keep revising, polishing, and querying. From the successful people I’ve met, it takes years to land an agent, and as my very patient partner keeps telling me, it might not be this book that catches an agent’s attention. It might be the 5th, or the 12th. So keep writing, as each time I write, I improve (or so I hope).
That’s going to be my mantra for next year: keep going.
Here’s to a more productive and successful writing year. Happy 2021 everyone!
Cheers
ELJ
I've taken part in twitter pitch parties, entered author mentoring competitions, joined writer critique groups, made writing buddies and for the first time have become super-organised when it comes to querying.
During lockdown, while my partner would play computer games with his friends, I would sit down with the authors & writers book and spend Friday nights researching agents and querying.
More on that later, but for now, here’s my writing stats:
Queries sent: 84
Requests: 5
Rejections: 37
Queries still out: 47
That comes to a response rate of around 5.9%. Not great, (especially since they all ultimately joined the rejection group) but this is the first time I’ve queried agents instead of publishers. Here’s a run-down of some of the feedback I’ve received.
Most consistent feedback: didn’t connect with character, didn’t connect with story.
Most helpful feedback: “I liked your protagonist, but felt there were some improbabilities about the story, and wasn't sure the writing and story-telling were quite distinctive enough to attract an editor in a field that is highly competitive.”
Agents are lovely people. I’ve learned to accept the feedback as it comes and be grateful for what an agent has taken the time to write, both the complimentary and the critical.
Why? As artists we’re constantly growing and if we can’t take critique on board, we will never improve. But then you get feedback like this and your heart sings:
“I can see that you have put a lot of energy into the thinking behind this story and while I find it nicely written--I'm just not as taken with it as I would want to be. In all honesty, I'm not quite sure why it isn't "working" for me but that is just the subjective nature of my work.
That said, of course--you need an agent that will help you to develop, hone, publish and market this project with the appropriate ardor. I have a good feeling someone will make this fly and I hope you'll send me an autographed copy one day!
On the off chance that you do not connect with another agent, and have something else to show in the future--I would welcome a query.”
What I’m taking from this process: keep writing. Keep revising, polishing, and querying. From the successful people I’ve met, it takes years to land an agent, and as my very patient partner keeps telling me, it might not be this book that catches an agent’s attention. It might be the 5th, or the 12th. So keep writing, as each time I write, I improve (or so I hope).
That’s going to be my mantra for next year: keep going.
Here’s to a more productive and successful writing year. Happy 2021 everyone!
Cheers
ELJ
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