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.