Yesterday, I embarked on a quest to set a new personal best. Personal best, you say! Of what?
Rejections.
I sent out a batch of query letters yesterday for AN UNTIDY AFFAIR and will now see if I can top my personal best set on Sept. 13, of last year when I got four (4, IV) rejections on the same day. That topped the previous best of three set one week earlier.
While this is probably a worthy goal, I, sadly, will probably not top it anytime soon because my querying strategy has changed since last fall. I am sending out fewer queries at a time and if all the responses are negative, then I re-write the query in hopes of drawing more interest.
I send four queries yesterday throughout the day as time permitted, and will ship off three today. And that is it. Seven. Then, I will wait to see what happens. If nothing good happens, then I know that letter doesn't work and I will to try again with another letter. And then I will ship off another batch of seven.
For this letter, I used my novel's background as outlined in my Publishers Weekly review. It was good and generally well-written. I adapted parts, of course, but the overall structure was the same. Now I will see if that helps. Plus I made a brief mention of being a quarterfinalist in this year's Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Time to see if that horse has any legs.
Well, that's it for today. I have a couple of other topics I want to discuss next week. But for now, have a great day and keep writing.
Thanks for reading.
3 comments:
Michael -- How do you choose which agents to query? -- Alek
Alek, I am currently using QueryTracker, and I use the mystery filter. Once I think I like an agent, I go to their website, read their client list and I Google their name so I can find anything they may have written.
If I like them and think they may like my work, I query them. If I am in doubt about them, I flip a coin. Sometimes I send a query and sometimes not, but I reserve the right to go back to them.
Of the six I sent last week, I haven't heard anything yet. I will give it another week or so and then prepare another batch.
Thanks. You are a dedicated man, Micheal. A few years back, I sent out three queries to agents who agented several authors I admire and try to emulate. After three respectful rejections I thought to myself, "well, this is just plain crazy," and quit querying. I've contemplated trying again, but am now editing my manuscript chapter by chapter, pulling out many of the things I like about it in an attempt to make it more 'publishable.' Oh well, I still have the original. I also have a QueryTracker account and check out agents now and again. -- Alek
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