Well, I was warned this phase was going to come. REJECTION. When I started sending out queries I started bracing myself and got myself ready for the almighty list of rejections to start piling up.

It's still a blow to the ego, no matter how much you set yourself up and know that it's gonna happen. But seriously, my book is like my baby, you work so hard on it to polish it and get it perfect, only for someone to glance at the query letter and dismiss it. Like *POOF*.

But you know what, fuck it. I know my work is good.  So I'll just keep pressing forward until I find an agent that believes in me as much as I believe in me. And if that doesn't work? I do have my plan B's and C's.

Omg! Look who's becoming miss organized? Don't let my Microsoft Excel agent/Query list fool you. I still have no idea what I'm doing. :)



Don't laugh at my whack excel skills, i'm still a beginner. Here is a list of all the agents I queried in 2009 and now in 2010. I know it isn't very much...about 15 in all (and one agent I queried twice, once last year and once this year). My responses so far are pretty good. I had one request for the full manuscript, one resquest for sample chapters, a lot of rejections and I'm still waiting on 3.

I kid you not when I tell you that I'm pretty unorganized, but I'm glad I sat down and did this. First of all, I realized that I hadn't heard from two agents I queried in 2009; that adds two more places I can query when I send out my next batch of query letters.

Also, I now can see where I've sent my letters so I don't requery the same agency...again! Yes, I accidently queried the same agency twice! I didn't even realize it until I created the excel chart and face palmed myself for sending two queries to two people at the same agency. Funny thing is though, one of the agents from this company is the same agent who requested some samples out of me. My ineptitude didn't get the door totally slammed in my face this time :)

(And I am not saying to do this, EVER, when you send out your query letters. This was a mistake and one that should have cost me a nice, blunt, rejection letter. )



Here is the list showing who gave me the boot, who gave me a hoot and who I'm still waiting for. I made the chart in bright pretty colors because if I don't, I may forget that I exist and start to fade away; like Marty Mcfly's parents in "Back to the future".

(Wow, I'm a dinosaur for remembering that...)

Also, a tip for those of you who haven't queried yet. I send my queries out in little batches. Maybe 6 or so at a time. This is something I do not regret. As I read more blogs and discover new information, I find things that make me want to change my query around. I read something on places like http://queryshark.blogspot.com that make me want to redo my query to make it better. This is great. Once a query is out there is no way you can take it back to make another first impression. But luckily, there are a lot of agents out there, and a lot of chances to make a good first impressions.

I know other writers who do the same thing and so far, they seem to pretty much agree with me. Sending 50 queries to 50 agents might seem like a good idea---but imagine getting 50 no's! It can and has happened to even FANTASTIC writers. Better to send out 6 or 15 or even 20 at a time. If you get 15 no's then you know it's time to go back to the drawing board and can do so knowing you still have a lot of agents left to query.