In Which I Grew a Pair
Those who know me know that I’ve been sitting on a “final” draft of Sanity’s Flaw for some time now. Honestly, though I’ve tweaked some sentences and added a flair of content here and there, it’s really been sitting by, idly collecting digital dust. I had no reasoning for letting it sit in squalor for so long—aside from an innate fear of rejection, perhaps—but Sunday night, after swearing heatedly at my PS3 over a corrupted save file, I sent queries out into the ether.
I previously described my query process in length, so I won’t waste your time by doing so again; however, I would like to share a website I only recently discovered that has the potential to make the art of queries far less problematic.
AgentQuery.com, which tops Google search for “querying agents” ahead of a number of more well-known sites and franchises, proved rather useful this go-round, offering not only agent contact information and submission guidelines, but also advice on drafting the query and what to do next. Though I had already written a query during the aforementioned submissions, I used AgentQuery.com’s suggestions to tighten and refine the piece, while making ample use of their database to find agents open to queries.
It was certainly easier than making another hours-long trip to the library, I must say (though, if you haven’t done so, I recommend doing it at least once in order to appreciate the process).
In the end, while waiting for Six Days to Air to start, I prepped and sent three queries: two query-only, one with 13 pages of content (guidelines were 10, but the three extra finished up the chapter). Tonight, I’ll do another three, followed by three more tomorrow and another round Wednesday. It’s important to note that these are all email submissions (they’re free), but if I don’t get a response within a week, I’ll send a second, follow up email just in case. After that, I’ll have to resort to postal mail and see what happens.
If (when?) I get a response, I’ll be sure to update.
I previously described my query process in length, so I won’t waste your time by doing so again; however, I would like to share a website I only recently discovered that has the potential to make the art of queries far less problematic.
AgentQuery.com, which tops Google search for “querying agents” ahead of a number of more well-known sites and franchises, proved rather useful this go-round, offering not only agent contact information and submission guidelines, but also advice on drafting the query and what to do next. Though I had already written a query during the aforementioned submissions, I used AgentQuery.com’s suggestions to tighten and refine the piece, while making ample use of their database to find agents open to queries.
It was certainly easier than making another hours-long trip to the library, I must say (though, if you haven’t done so, I recommend doing it at least once in order to appreciate the process).
In the end, while waiting for Six Days to Air to start, I prepped and sent three queries: two query-only, one with 13 pages of content (guidelines were 10, but the three extra finished up the chapter). Tonight, I’ll do another three, followed by three more tomorrow and another round Wednesday. It’s important to note that these are all email submissions (they’re free), but if I don’t get a response within a week, I’ll send a second, follow up email just in case. After that, I’ll have to resort to postal mail and see what happens.
If (when?) I get a response, I’ll be sure to update.
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