Hey, all! I'm off to explore the wilds of Pennsylvania and Washington DC next week, and won't be blogging again until after I get back (although I do still have some posts from my interview series scheduled, so expect those!).
I wanted to leave you with my stats from the recent happy conclusion to my Adventure in Querying. So, without further ado, here they are:
Time Queried: 8 months, from August 2014 through March 2015
Agents Queried: 71
Rejections: 42
No Responses: 19
Partial/Full Requests: 18
Offers of Rep: 4
Worthy to note: this was my fifth time querying (with different versions of two separate books). This time out I told myself I would query until 1) a year had passed, or 2) I reached 100 agents. I was gearing up to query a new project this summer!
Personalization: My request rate from personalized versus non-personalized queries was about 50/50, which I think is interesting. When I did personalize, I put a sentence at the beginning of my query along the lines of "I saw on your website that you're seeking XXX specific thing…" or "I really connected with your interview about XXX specific thing…" Otherwise, I just started right off with my pitch.
Guidelines: Different agents require different things—some want you to structure your query in a very specific way. A handful even want sample chapters as attachments! Always always always ALWAYS double-check before you send!
Rejections: I got a lot of them. They sucked, especially the ones for partials and fulls. But I had lots of people to demand hugs from, and always sent out a new query or two to keep myself out there!
To conclude…
Don't give up, you guys! It's a hard road, but it IS possible. Keep writing, keep submitting, keep hoping and dreaming! YOU CAN DO IT! **hugs**
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