Keep the faith! I've been there...it's a numbers game, not personal. The more you pitch, the luckier you get :) I have several yellow legal pads FILLED with agents queried and me being rejected. I kept asking, and I learned to follow-up with, "If you have anyone you'd recommend for me to pitch, I would so appreciate it." or something like that. I would most likely not get an answer back, but sometimes I did - and that led me to my current agent, who likely read my book bc a colleague had personally recommended it (fair or not, a personal recommendation is gold). Keep going! It will happen.
I hadn’t heard to follow up…can’t hurt! Thank you for the encouragement. I’m prepared for the long road ahead, but trying to enjoy other aspects of writing (here) in the meantime!
Good! That’s imp. I should also add, this was only successful when they had requested at least a partial to read and then rejected. I’ve seen literary agents write, “DON’T ask for a recommendation…” but if it’s phrased more like “if you had a colleague or contact that you could recommend to query I would so appreciate…” The worst that happens is they simply don’t reply. Happy weekend!
I am not in the query trenches yet—still drafting my memoir—but I appreciate you chronicling your experience and being transparent about the disappointments. Don't give up!
Thank you Sarah! I'm excited for you to get to the next step...we should really think about exchanging pages at some point. Let me know if you have a need for a reader...I already know I love your writing!
I hear you Paige and you've got the perfect outlook. It is so rare for a writer to get picked up quickly. What you have is a winner's attitude and you understand the power of having grit. We just need to keep going.
My stats: 12 sent, 4 nos, 8 no response. I'm about to send another round out within the next couple of weeks.
It takes so much grit! And writing friends that support your every move...we got this! I love that we're doing this together...we can talk about it someday on a podcast or book tour :)
As a scientist as well, I get where you are coming from. You get thick skin from failures and critiques. The rejections roll off. I can't give you query numbers (in the 100s), but I took a different path and had published books before an agent.
Definitely thick skin. And I love that you are also a scientist! I want to know more about your publishing journey (and if you've written about it, please send me a link). Are you with an agent now or self-publishing? I am open to all paths and not ruling anything out.
I have an agent now. I am traditionally published, which is a lot easier for me in terms of marketing etc because I still work full time. It has been a wild ride, that's for sure.
I also work full time and that is a reason I want you to publish traditionally (it takes so many skills to put a book in the world and I’d really love a team!). Thanks for sharing!
Keep the faith! I've been there...it's a numbers game, not personal. The more you pitch, the luckier you get :) I have several yellow legal pads FILLED with agents queried and me being rejected. I kept asking, and I learned to follow-up with, "If you have anyone you'd recommend for me to pitch, I would so appreciate it." or something like that. I would most likely not get an answer back, but sometimes I did - and that led me to my current agent, who likely read my book bc a colleague had personally recommended it (fair or not, a personal recommendation is gold). Keep going! It will happen.
I hadn’t heard to follow up…can’t hurt! Thank you for the encouragement. I’m prepared for the long road ahead, but trying to enjoy other aspects of writing (here) in the meantime!
Good! That’s imp. I should also add, this was only successful when they had requested at least a partial to read and then rejected. I’ve seen literary agents write, “DON’T ask for a recommendation…” but if it’s phrased more like “if you had a colleague or contact that you could recommend to query I would so appreciate…” The worst that happens is they simply don’t reply. Happy weekend!
I am not in the query trenches yet—still drafting my memoir—but I appreciate you chronicling your experience and being transparent about the disappointments. Don't give up!
Thank you Sarah! I'm excited for you to get to the next step...we should really think about exchanging pages at some point. Let me know if you have a need for a reader...I already know I love your writing!
Thank you :-)
I hear you Paige and you've got the perfect outlook. It is so rare for a writer to get picked up quickly. What you have is a winner's attitude and you understand the power of having grit. We just need to keep going.
My stats: 12 sent, 4 nos, 8 no response. I'm about to send another round out within the next couple of weeks.
It takes so much grit! And writing friends that support your every move...we got this! I love that we're doing this together...we can talk about it someday on a podcast or book tour :)
Thanks for sharing my query-letter compendium!
You are very welcome...such a great resource! It has already given me so many ideas to revise my letter.
I'm so glad!
As a scientist as well, I get where you are coming from. You get thick skin from failures and critiques. The rejections roll off. I can't give you query numbers (in the 100s), but I took a different path and had published books before an agent.
Definitely thick skin. And I love that you are also a scientist! I want to know more about your publishing journey (and if you've written about it, please send me a link). Are you with an agent now or self-publishing? I am open to all paths and not ruling anything out.
I have an agent now. I am traditionally published, which is a lot easier for me in terms of marketing etc because I still work full time. It has been a wild ride, that's for sure.
I also work full time and that is a reason I want you to publish traditionally (it takes so many skills to put a book in the world and I’d really love a team!). Thanks for sharing!