Monday, September 2, 2013

The Harsh Reality of Querying

I've been kind of quiet lately on Twitter about my writing and things going on. And it's because I've been pretty down lately. Okay not just down, I've been a miserable wreck. Honestly I hesitated to write this post because as writers we are often told it's best to keep quiet. We shouldn't talk about requests, rejections, or being out on submission. If we are feeling down we shouldn't blab on twitter, because that is something we should keep behind closed doors. So that's primarily what I've been doing because we aren't supposed to look crazy in public; even though everyone knows writers are crazy. But I've come across some hard truths that I thought I should share with everyone.

Querying is hard. No not just hard, it's soul sucking torture at times. I honestly never anticipated how gut wrenching it would be. I did my research before I even sent out my first query. I didn't make any of the standard rookie mistakes, I got critique partners, I workshopped my query, and I followed all the major do's and don'ts of querying. I figured because of this I'd have a little easier time in the querying trenches.

Boy, was I wrong.

Just because you studied what makes a good query letter, does not mean you will instantly get requests. And even though you may know what makes up a good query letter, it doesn't mean you wrote one. In fact you may get form rejections just like everyone else who does make those rookie mistakes. And that could be for a variety of reasons.

You aren't standing out in a crowd
So you had an awesome idea, you wrote a book, and you edited and polished it until it was ready. Now you're querying. So what makes your book different from every other book out there with a protagonist that has superpowers or is a ghost, or just discovered there's a secret world within their own? You may think you're idea is great and so different than anything out there, but if you aren't conveying that clearly in your query, an agent is most likely going to pass and may not even read your pages. Harsh? Yes, but it's the truth of matter.

Subjectivity
Again you may have an awesome idea, and the agent may even look at the query and agree. But then they get to your pages and they don't connect with the voice, or the character or think you started in the wrong spot. There's any number of reasons an agent may pass and it may be because they personally just don't get along with your work. They don't love it enough to want to read your book a million times and that's what it takes.

Your query is too long
A lot of agents skim queries. It's seems unfair that you put countless hours into perfecting your query and an agent just spends half a minute on it. But the reality of the situation is, agents get anywhere from fifty to several hundred queries a week. And queries, are unfortunately at the bottom of their list of priorities. They read them in between working with their clients, trying to sell books, negotiating contracts, and numerous other things.

While agents love new clients, they have to take care of their current ones first. So when they open a query that looks long, they are probably just going to start skimming. Think about it, when you open a webpage or blog that has a lot of words, you skim too. So why would an agent who has a million other things to do take the time to read your six paragraph query? They aren't, unless they find something that piques their interest.

In fact, even if your query is short, they may have only a few minutes so they may start skimming. So do yourself a favor. Make your queries short, and to the point. Make your sentences snappy and pack a punch. Do everything in your power to make your book stand out in as few sentences as possible while highlighting the voice of your story.

Honestly that right there is where I'm getting hung up. It's not easy to paint a clear unique picture about your book in a few short voicey paragraphs that grab someone's attention. So even if you are doing everything they say in the do's and don'ts you still have a lot of work ahead of you. The harsh reality is just cause you're ahead of the pack and not making "rookie" mistakes doesn't mean you're where you need to be in the querying trenches to catch an agent's eye.

But I didn't write this post to scare anyone. I wrote it to put the truth out there and to talk about my experiences and lessons learned. I wanted to let other writers know they aren't alone in the querying trenches and it's okay to feel down. I'm right there with you! If you are getting requests pat yourself on the back. It's quite an accomplishment. And if you aren't, maybe it's time to take a step back, look at your query, and re-evaluate. I know it's been eye opening for me.

21 comments:

  1. We aren't supposed to look crazy in public? My bad! Explains a lot though. ;)

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    1. haha right? well I guess in this case there are two different kinds of crazy... ;)

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  2. Aww hang in there! I know how this feels and have been through it myself. You'll get there, and all the rejections and challenges will be put behind you when you do. You'll be sharing your experience with other frustrated writers one day soon. =) At least you are doing the right thing w/finding crit partners and honing your query. =)

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    1. Thank you! I appreciate the pep talk and the kind words :) They mean a lot!

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  3. After I sent out my very first queries (a batch of seven) following a first draft (a year ago), I began to seriously educate myself on the publishing process. I made tons of rookie mistakes, and I shudder to think how some of my queries came across. I was that new writer who thought he was being clever but really came across unprofessional and perhaps, crazy. (Someday I will post about it.)

    The querying process sucks. But it also forces us to examine where we are and why we are at this point. I think timing and luck are critical to success. Talent, hard work, premise, voice, word count and on and on, only give us a chance at a connection with an agent.

    Keep at it Jamie. It sounds like you are controlling the things you need to control. You can't control timing or luck. The more often and widely you query, the more chances you have of timing it just right with agent X, who "gets" your story and sees a place for it on his/her list. And good luck!

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    1. Thanks! You are so right about timing and luck. That definitely factors into things as well, which can also make things tough. But yes we all will keep plugging away and trying until we get that yes!

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  4. I get why people say to keep quiet about the tough times, but I also think its good to be honest. We all go through low periods and we all crawl out of them in different ways. At least we know we aren't alone.

    Also... soul sucking, huh? ;-)

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    1. yes I think we all go through it. And it's definitely helpful to know we aren't alone.

      And yes, you definitely hit the nail on the head with that one ;)

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  5. OMG YOU ARE INSIDE MY HEAD!! You can check out a photo of my well-worn querying barf bucket on my blog. It sucks to be doing everything right and yet still not hit on that needle-in-the-haystack agent. But keep at it! He or she has to be out there!

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    1. Thanks! I think I may need to borrow that bucket. Best of luck to you too!

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  6. Amen, sister! I've been down and up, and down, all of last year. And working on new porcine crd while querying the old( where my heart is, story) I kept changing my query around, I hardly new which was best. But think I got a handle on what I was doing wrong. Hiding the very thing that was making my ms unique. Great post Jamie. --I'm using phone and it keeps glitching. Excuse any typos. You got a point with that short query idea. Think I'll just send out a bunch of log lines next. --with a bio! :). Keep on writing! And querying!

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    1. Thanks! and wishing you lots of luck with your querying too!

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  7. Ewe. Didn't realize the typo was terribly incoherent. " working on new projects while querying the old." my apologies. O.o

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    1. haha no worries! It happens to the best of us. Darn technology! Can't live with it, can't live without it.

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  8. Brave of you to write this, Jamie. Writing is one tough business. I hope you get a good response soon.

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  9. Hey Jamie!

    I loved the points in your post. I used to intern for a literary agency, so I read a lot of queries! There are some other things that people need to watch out for:

    - Make sure you tell me what happens, in clear terms. You don't have to spoil the ending. Loads of queries come in that tell me about themes and emotions and character backstory -- and completely forget to tell me the plot.
    - Your query won't go anywhere if you have multiple grammar and spelling mistakes that clearly aren't typos. The only exception to this rule is if you have a stunning resume (and that never happens).
    - I need to know what kind of book this is, and quickly. The tone of your hook should allow me to immediately identify the novel's genre.

    Good luck! I'm in the process too. It sucks.

    x,
    A.

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    1. Thanks. I appreciate you sharing some great advice.

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  10. Hello. I clicked over from the STL Writer's Guild group on facebook, and I read a bunch of your blogs. I'm just starting to learn about querying, so I relate to this. I thought I'd let you know that I enjoyed this post.
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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed the post. Good luck with your querying! Thanks for stopping by!

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