Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Once More into the Trenches

Once more into the trench, dear friends, once more,
And clog our e-mail with our rejected.

If I'd planned ahead, I probably could have parodied the whole thing.  But it's late and I'm tired, so two lines are all you get.  :P

But yes, it's time to start the query process, and enter those trenches once again.  I was going to say I hadn't done this since 2013, then I looked back at some dates and realized no, I queried The Accidental Warlock in 2014.  Looking back at those notes, I realize I didn't get as much silence from those queries as I thought - my silence-vs-rejection ratio was about 50%.  But I remember the silence more.  I noticed the silence more.  Getting rejected is something I'm used to by now, but opening e-mail and hoping even for bad news and seeing nothing?  There's something different about that, something colder and more bleak.

I mean, for all its problems, Skyborne got one partial request from an agent and one full request due to a contest.  (A full request that never would have panned out anyway since the book wasn't a romance, but all the same.)  And I thought TAW was a much better book than that.  So hearing back what felt like so much nothing?  That hit me hard, and I think that silence was a major factor in why I set the book aside after only a few months of querying.  That, and 2014 was a bad year for a lot of things, writing among them.

...my music player just started playing "Don't Stop Believin'", so it's clearly time for me to stop brooding on the past.

I'd like to think that things will be different this time.  Yes, I've thought that with every book, but I have a better feeling about The Book of Lost Runes than ones I've queried before.  Have I said that about past books I've queried?  Of course.  If nothing else, I'm well-aware of my own vicious cycles.  But I think I can do better this time.  I have a good query, thanks to all the feedback I got here.  I might actually have a good synopsis, since scribbling that out went much more smoothly than I anticipated.  (How I'm going to fit it into one page for one agent on my list, though, I have no idea.)

Most importantly, I have a story that features what's probably the best version I've ever written of two characters who have lived in my head since 2002.  And if all goes well, I have a reasonably good idea of what's going to happen to them next.  Yes, I'll keep working on that while I query, in hopes I'll finally have a need for a sequel plot.

It's never easy to toss my work out into the world and politely scream "PLEASE LOVE ME."  But I keep telling myself, I have to keep telling myself, somewhere out there is someone who wants to represent the kind of books I want to write.  I just have to find them.

In that search, I've been making use of Query Tracker's literary agent search, which at current count has over 150 agents who are looking for fantasy.  I haven't plowed through the entire list yet to see who sounds like someone I want to query, but y'know, that's an awesome addition to the list I already have.  And I'm going to look into small presses as well, especially after seeing Rena's awesome cover from my last entry.  If anyone else has any suggestions or sources for this kind of thing, please share.

Next week: IWSG, wherein I shall confess the sins of my writing past and encourage others to do the same.  Bwa ha ha.

20 comments:

  1. Good luck in those trenches! And yes, the silence/no responses are far worse than a simple decline.

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    1. Thanks! This time, I'm keeping track of expected response times, so I can tell when someone's decided to pass. Hopefully it'll make things a little easier.

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  2. I know of a couple good small presses, but my focus has been more on YA with a strong romance element, so probably not the best match.

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    1. No worries. I haven't really searched for small presses yet, I just know some people have had good experiences with them.

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    2. They are definitely more personal, but they also don't have the resources of larger presses, including the editing resources. I have been impressed with their covers more and more. (Because they outsource.)

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  3. You have a big list to start with. Query publishers as well as agents. You'll increase your chances.

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    1. True, but I'm definitely trying for agents first. I've found some that definitely seem like they could be the right type for my work.

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  4. Best of luck in the trenches. I don't have much to offer except encouragement. You've got a good story. I hope the agents and publishers see that!

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    1. Encouragement helps a lot, especially from someone who's read the book. ^_^ Thank you.

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  5. My advice is to absolutely not under any circumstances query agents and publishers simultaneously! They really hate that, and it can lead to a really disappointing mire for everyone. Feel free to email me if you want to discuss further, but really, I beg you. Do not query agents and publishers at the same time.

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    1. This. This right here. This is very solid advice. Query the agents. Then, if you feel like your book might be a good fit for small pubs, query them. But do it separately, not simultaneously.

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    2. Thank you both. I hadn't even considered that this could be an issue. But as I said above, I'm trying for an agent first, and I still have a long list to go through.

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  6. Good luck with your queries! Rejection is better than silence, but it still wrecks your day. FWIW, going on submission is every bit as bad.

    And yet ... we can't give it up, can we?

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    1. Nope, we really can't. The alternatives are either giving up or self-publishing, and either of those would drive me crazy. >_<

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  7. Bwa ha ha! LOL! You know, writer's conferences are also a great way to meet agents. If you don't mind pitching in person, that is. Or sometimes you might be out to dinner or at a workshop and someone might say, "Tell me about your book," and you won't even realize until later that they're an agent. Good luck on your hunt and landing your dream agent. You can do it!

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    1. Thank you! ^_^ And a writer's conference isn't something I could swing right now, most likely, unless it was local and on a weekend. I haven't been at my job for long enough to use my vacation time yet.

      ...and I've only grown more introverted with age. >_<

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  8. Okay--this takes me back to a quote I heard when I was single..."None of your relationships will work out...until you find the one that does." It's the same with querying. None of your queries will result in a "yes" until you find the one that does. The only way to get there is to just keep going! Interestingly, I had NO hints that something good was about to happen when I landed my agent. Just rejection rejection rejection...then acceptance!

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    1. I had a similar thought today - I got my first rejection, and I knew what it meant: that I was querying again. You can't get rejected if you don't query, but you definitely won't get accepted that way. But yes, all that matters is that we keep trying. ^_^

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  9. Query--blah. I feel your pain. When I started querying my second book I was a little proud to get some actual rejections. Anything is better than silence. I did get one rejection about 9 months after the query too.

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  10. Query--blah. I feel your pain. When I started querying my second book I was a little proud to get some actual rejections. Anything is better than silence. I did get one rejection about 9 months after the query too.

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