It's true. I do.
No, I don't.
(This is why I shouldn't post at 4a.m.)
Since I'm awake, I was thinking about the query I sent out yesterday. I took a query break over the holidays, so I just don't have many queries out there right now. I was stumbling around blogs yesterday and read someone's advice that out of three agents, you'll typically get one that responds immediately, one that responds in weeks, and one that either never responds or responds in months. The follow-up advice was to always have multiple queries out there so that you always had an immediacy of a few queries.
While I hadn't intended to send out a query right away on Honor, I have. (It wasn't that the manuscript wasn't ready. It just went through it's eighth or ninth deep revise.) My intention was, for better or for worse, take another stab at DAW. (The agent I spoke with in the chat room thought I was nuts, btw, for this. I probably am. I'm a very instinctual person when it comes to my writing. Some of my instincts are insane and illogical.)
Anyway, since I'm up ridiculously early due to an oncoming migraine (it'll nail me in a few hours) I might as well send out two or three queries, right? I take queries seriously--probably too seriously. It'll take me all morning to send out just a few. It just seems stupid to send out one. Besides, I really haven't shopped Honor around. I don't know why. It's the manuscript that has fans I don't even know. One of my hardcopy beta friends sent it (and the other Honor books) to her mother in California and her mother wants to buy copies for all her friends and asked to be notified when she can. (Yes, it's bizarre. My hardcopies made some friends that I don't even know. I feel like I should have people sign the copies after they read them just so I could keep track of the random people that helped look for typos.) Anyway, I believe Honor has been read by several dozen people when you include all the people that passed it around within a family and "sent it to a friend." On the other hand, it hasn't been seen by a dozen agents. That's weird, huh? I think it's because I'm overly protective of Honor because I like her so much. I don't know.
I'm all rambly today. This post really doesn't have much going for it other than a stream of consciousness dialogue about my intentions which are all waffly.
Okay, I think I'm looking over my list of agents and formulating a plan.
Happy Tuesday, everyone.
Wendy,
ReplyDeleteDo you send mostly e-mail queries or hard copy? And if you send e-mail, what do you do about embedding the query in the email (and not have it look all weird...?)
Struggling with this.
Shelley (I am a hard copy girl, but some want e-mail...)
I write it out in Word and then copy, paste, send it in Outlook. The husband just explained this to me last night, actually. Since the two programs are compatible and "intended" to be used together, I don't ever have problems. So, I think that's a big portion of people's problems in this arena with the weird symbols and spacing is that they're not using programs for both writing and email that were meant to go together. (I find this irritating that programs may be compatible, but not really.)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your queries! It's so hard for me to contact agents as well because of all the rejection. But I made it one of my New Year's resolutions to keep putting myself out there.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
ReplyDeletesarahnoelsmusings.blogspot.com
Way to go sending off more queries. I think Honor has an agent-in-waiting whose looking for her. Can't wait to hear when they find each other.
ReplyDeleteThis post makes me so happy. Go for it, Wendy. Honor kicks butt and there's an agent who will LOVE her.
ReplyDeleteAnd I hope you feel better :( Migraines suck dog balls. (The kind dogs like to play with. As in, slobbery, chewed up TENNIS balls. You know what I mean, Wendy).
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your queries. I was up early too. Had a dream that hubbie was leaving me for another woman. I probably couldn't blame him since I'm not the best wife in the world, but I would like him to stick around.
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone! I sent off some for Honor and then one for Scorched. (Today has been surreal--but nice.) All the meds I threw at the migraine cut it off in its tracks, so I'm hoping I'll just tiptoe by it and not that it'll snarl its way in after the meds wear off.
ReplyDeleteMary, for some reason, I still do sort of blame the husband for dreams in which he behaves like a jerk. It's the dumbest thing ever, but I do.
Good luck with the queries. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah - I was kind of blaming him this morning as I drove him to work.
ReplyDeleteShelley (and anyone else)-- on older versions of Word (prior to '07) you can also save the file as a Rich Text Format and then copy it into your browser. The Outlook trick is probably better overall but the RTF format will work to get rid of funky symbols.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Wendy. I know what you mean. I can imagine it's hard to send Honor out.
Thanks, L.T. You're awesome. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteI am a couple of weeks away (I hope) from querying, and I'm terrified. I can see it taking me hours as well just to get a few queries out the door - just to make sure everything is correct, and that I'm sending the right query to the right person...eek!
ReplyDeleteClick Here for My Blog!
Awesome Wendy for sending Honor out there. I'm sure you'll keep us posted, and I can't wait to hear when you get "the call."
ReplyDeleteP.S.
I have a little something for you at my blog. No, it's not migraine meds, but hopefully it'll make you smile.
Good luck Wendy! Querying is so exciting. I hope it works out well for you.
ReplyDeleteI wish you the best with this!I can't believe there isn't an agent out there who won't snap these up! I can't help but add, though. If nothing pans out in another year or so, you might want to consider self-publishing. It sounds like you're building up fans magically. There aren't a lot of books that can do that.
ReplyDelete