So you write a draft. You perhaps send it to a beta-reader that you trust to see it in it's bad glory (that's how I prefer to process, anyway, so I can begin to compile an "Edit List"). You edit and edit; your voice gets hoarse from the many read-aloud sessions you do. But eventually you have a (hopefully) shiny draft which may not be as shiny as you want but it's still considered ready. Now the work starts, some would argue. Not only do you have to compose a delicate, informative but not overloading query letter, but you also have to go back to polishing some sample pages. And think again if you think you can use the same material for each agent. Nope. It has to be tailored; it has to be exact to them, even down to a simple thing of agents wanting to see a longer or shorter sample. Some even only want five pages--that is a challenge in itself. Whilst polishing, whilst writing that letter, whilst working out what your story is actually about in your synopsis, you then begin the thought process of, "But is this good enough?" "Is my story good enough to hook this amazing agent in only five pages?" You comb through your sample material, knowing you've read it seven times but you still find a "so" instead of "do" somewhere in there, or a silly spelling mistake.
Take it from my experience, in which I've actually queried agents whilst having seasonal continuity errors in my sample, and very detailed ones! Also sent whilst a line said "she crossed her eyes" instead of arms when there was major sexual tension building. That mistake just zapped the whole atmosphere, lemme tell you.
So you do all that. You get critique partners to read both your manuscript and sample material, right? If you don't have one, I suggest looking for one via a simple Google search for forums and websites. They're so, so helpful! You compose your query beautifully and attach or copy and paste into emails, as needed. You smile to yourself, breathe a sigh of relief as you click send. Think it's over? Nope. Now begins the horrid lapse of waiting. For me, this time includes second-guessing my work; it includes getting as far from that project as possible so I'm not tempted to scrap and rewrite the entire thing on empty doubts. Realistically, I know my story is good but is it enough for these people who may as well be gods to us lowly human writers for all the faith and need we put into them? Like, these people are the kick-starters to careers for becoming an author traditionally. We need them, and so the desperation to find the one that says, "Yes! I LOVE this! Can I see the full manuscript?" to then go on to accept your whole thing, is MASSIVE.
And after allllll that, all the mental strain and work and effort you've put in, you get a lovely rejection email. I'll admit I've never had a rude or blunt one. It's always been a nice message but at the end of the day, they're still turning down your work and that hurts. Comfort is somewhat found in the whole, "You just need to wait for the right one. You want one that feels so strongly for your story" but at the end of the day, you can't escape the "oh god, my story wasn't good enough for these ten agents, at least."
I'm in that part now. I'm querying via events like Pit Mad and SFFPit, and even those agents who were interested at the pitch stage don't want the full thing. I had an agent interested in my SFFPit pitch, so I queried them riding on hope and delight, but they didn't fall in love with it as much as they'd hoped. I'm disheartened because I wasn't told what was missing for them. It may be missing for others but I am so in love with this story myself that I can't see it clearly. I can't ask what was wrong. I have to graciously accept the rejection, and move on. But right now, I can't even look at that story. Every time I do, the story I have adored writing is crumbling around me, wondering why it wasn't good enough. I know it was just one agent but it's the why that gets me. I always want to know why it wasn't good enough, what I can do to improve it for my future querying tries. After that rejection, I got another one five minutes later and that was a massive double-hit to my confidence. I've pulled back on any projects for now, until I have the confidence to return maybe in the New Year. Most may argue this is bad behavior but I get disheartened easily; I've never been an open writer in the sense that I share a lot of things from the actual thing with people directly. I draw into myself. I can accept criticism, of course, but two rejections in such a short time, especially when one came from someone liking my pitch of their own accord, was hard and I can't write anything new or fix things just yet.
Querying is terrifying. Non-writers don't really seem to grasp how intense it is; how much we have to put in to give it to someone else to consider offering representation for it. So, here are some tips. I don't know what works with queries but this is just standard, because there are so many conflicting reports on what to include in queries:
- Always read their guidelines. Font size, type, and page size. Do they want it in the email of the body or as attachments? - This is so important. If they're attached when specified otherwise, some agents state that they go straight into the bin.
- If they don't have instructions, email them if you're unsure (I've done that! They're usually fine with inquiries like that). If they don't have font specifications, just assume it's 12 for size, and double-spaced. It looks easier to read that way.
- Read, read, and read over your sample again. Even your letter and synopsis need to be professional and without mistakes. Read it aloud to family or friends to see if it sounds intriguing enough, or if it sounds too wordy.
- Read again - note things like setting, the time it's set in, the season it starts in, the time progression of your sample.
- Sometimes it's hard to know whether your first chapters are good enough to hook. Just think: if you read this as a reader with a massive TBR pile, would you continue? If not, find out why and get fixing.
- Start with the hook in your query letter. That's the biggest advice I've ever had.
- Include some themes, and definitely the title, in an ending paragraph after the story has loosely been told. Usually, the word count goes in there too.
- Writing credits are only usually desired if they relate to your project. I've learnt the hard way that they don't care if I won some writing competition last year simply because it's not relevant to the story I'm telling.
- Don't say your book is the new Throne of Glass unless you're trying to pitch it on an event on Twitter, or elsewhere, and getting across the feel. But in a query letter, your story is your own.
- Thank them for their consideration. End the letter politely.
- Your synopsis is a simple (hah!) timeline of your story; that's it. It's just a bit more detailed, and some agents specify the length they want it to be, either one or two pages. I suggest looking on Writers' Digest for tips on a synopsis, or on Marissa Meyer's blog, where she wrote a good article about writing a synopsis!
- Cry, get chocolate, load yourself with coffee. Do whatever you need to do to get through this process, and good luck!
If you want to see me go through my own writing/querying journey about (Disney) Assassins (not Princesses, okay? That's the point of the story) follow me on Twitter: @ShaneDReid!
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