Querying Update

t can be hard to stay positive during the querying process. Sometimes it seems like, at best, you get a form rejection. So often queries go unanswered and waiting out (and double checking) the agent’s timeline for assuming rejection is a tedious trudge through the swamp, only to discover...more swamp. Alright, so maybe that’s not so positive. BUT, sometimes you get a personal rejection—feedback! Yay! At least they have proven they actually made it past your query and read your pages. That’s a good start. You might even get a full request.

I got my first one for AtP about a month ago; they wanted it on exclusive for 3 weeks. I eagerly sent my baby out, and waited and waited for what felt like months... when I went and checked the send date...8 days ago. Oops. So I went back to waiting. After 13 days, I got an email. They weren’t interested. However, it came with feedback, like solid feedback. And while obviously it wasn’t all good, one thing they pointed out enjoying was my biggest worry for the story—its POV changes. So, after letting myself be sad for a minute, I was happy. They ‘got it’ even if it ended up not being for them. They read the whole thing and understood my intention. There’s that positivity again!
Now off to finish sending it to my agents list. I’m still being very strict with myself. I see no issue self-pubbing so if my short-list of agents are a no-go I’ll move on to the next step myself. Hopefully, though, at the very least, I can collect some more actionable feedback.

Keep at it everyone! It was my 45th (or so) query that got the request, and even if you aren’t down to self publish; there are always more agents to try.