Querying - The Philosophy
You've identified 100 perfect agents for your book and sent query letters. Two months later, all 100 sent you a nice, "No Thanks!" Now what do you do?
Reality: There is something wrong with your query letter. (Out of 100 agents who want books like yours, some should have requested pages) You could redo the letter, but who are you going to send it to? You've used up your 100 best picks. What should you have done?
Here's my philosophy:
1. Research (good, real, and reliable) to find the best way to write your query letter. Start with Query Shark. Do this!!! And, make good notes on what you should do and SHOULD NOT DO.
2. Write (or rewrite) your query and have your peers review it. A published author is BEST!
3. Now, here's the key - send out 20 (Not 100). Limit to NEW agents ( 2 years or less as an agent).
If all twenty (and these should be the perfect agents for your story) decline, then maybe your query letter is not as good as you thought. You can redo the query and you still have 75 agents left on your list.
Reality: There is something wrong with your query letter. (Out of 100 agents who want books like yours, some should have requested pages) You could redo the letter, but who are you going to send it to? You've used up your 100 best picks. What should you have done?
Here's my philosophy:
1. Research (good, real, and reliable) to find the best way to write your query letter. Start with Query Shark. Do this!!! And, make good notes on what you should do and SHOULD NOT DO.
2. Write (or rewrite) your query and have your peers review it. A published author is BEST!
3. Now, here's the key - send out 20 (Not 100). Limit to NEW agents ( 2 years or less as an agent).
If all twenty (and these should be the perfect agents for your story) decline, then maybe your query letter is not as good as you thought. You can redo the query and you still have 75 agents left on your list.
