Half a Year in the Query Trenches
Next month will mark six months since I started querying my first manuscript. This blog will speak a little bit about my experiences and advice as a 20 y/o writer querying what I hoped would be my debut novel!
When I was nearing the completion of my first manuscript, a dream agent I’d been 👀social media stalking👀 for a while announced that she was closing her submissions in the next week — to be more precise, I had about four days from the moment I saw her Tweet to submit my story.
Back in January, when all this was happening, I was very much a baby writer. I started writing the first draft of my story because I had an idea that refused to leave my brain. At the time, I was on Christmas holidays with nothing better to do, so I thought why not?
I wrote and wrote and wrote — and when my writing journey started to get lonely, that’s when I discovered the joys of the #writertwt on Twitter. I was fairly quiet on the app until I participated in my first non-agented pitching event — which is a story for later on in my journey — but that was how I knew said agent was closing her submissions. It was from that point on I really threw myself into the querying trenches.
Though the resources were out there, and readily available had I thought to seek them out, I truly had no idea about the many intricacies of querying agents. I knew of the process vaguely and what it entailed. I knew I had to finish my manuscript and submit it to the agent before she closed her submissions — there was no question in my mind about that, despite the fact that I was very much not ready to do so. I drafted and reworked what I thought to be the perfect query letter and synopsis. I power wrote my way to the finishing line for my manuscript.
In the next few days after that I had submitted THOSE WHO BURN THE BRIGHTEST and that was that.
Unfortunately, it was when I looked over my query email again in the next coming days of silence that I noticed the spelling mistakes. After the spelling mistakes came the grammatical errors — and those were in the query and synopsis alone. Looking through my sample pages was a whole other anxiety-inducing experience. Pages riddled with inconsistencies and repetition — this is what I’d sent to my dream agent thinking it was ready simply because I’d made it to the submission finish line.
The problem was, besides my impulsion and raging anxiety, I’m the type of writer that is physically pained by having to read over my own work; which is especially ironic considering I write in the hopes that others will want to do the same thing willingly. It’s something I’ve worked on since then, but especially at the start of my querying journey, I struggled to read over my work—even after rounds of revision and corrections.
What made things worse was that once I started querying, I couldn’t stop.
The days of silence melted into weeks and me, being as impatient as I was, decided the best way to pass the time was to start submitting to other agents. At some point, it almost felt like an addiction: it didn’t matter whether I got a rejection, as long as there was a response in my inbox. Although the first batch of queries were really nothing short of horrible, I will give myself credit for the growth I achieved along the way — with the help of writer friends and lots of research, I did get to improve my querying package. Unfortunately, it really was a case of too little too late, as I’d already plowed through and piled up rejections from some other dream agents. I came out of it knowing I would’ve been much better off waiting instead of rush querying.
The thing about writing, and querying especially, is that everyone’s journeys are always going to be so, so different.
My rejections could be chalked down to many factors; the fact I’m querying a YA Fantasy story in a time where the market is already saturated with amazing books in these genres, or that my writing is inadequate — or that I’m simply querying the wrong agents, despite the amount of research I did before querying each one. As an Australian writer, it could also be that a lot of USA or UK based agents don’t see the potential in having me. There’s so many factors.
A lot of the time, I couldn’t help but feel miserable because everyone around me was getting signed or getting full requests. I’d obsessively read “How I got my agent” blogs, see their stats and feel even worse. I was embarrassed about my stats, about the rejections I’d amassed because it’s not often that I heard about a writer who had such a large rejection pile in a short period of time.
But I’ve also realised that, despite everything, transparency is key.
I can’t acknowledge the days of waking up to five form rejections in one morning without also acknowledging the growth that I’ve had from the experience, the friends I’ve made, the beta readers who believe in me and my story.
Unfortunately, when you dive head-first into querying as I did, the rejections will quickly drown out the rush of having your work out there in the world. I often think back on what I could’ve done better and wish I had just taken the time to really work on my story and get my submission package cleaned before sending it out to the hands of already swamped agents.
But I’ve come to accept that what’s done is done, and now, it’s really only up from here.
I’ve also learnt that it’s okay to feel disheartened — some days, positivity doesn’t really feel like an option. I still wake up to rejections from queries I submitted months ago. I’ve got queries sitting unanswered past the 80 day mark and have felt like I exhausted all my agent options for THOSE WHO BURN THE BRIGHTEST.
There have been so many times where I’ve wanted to step back from it all and stop writing entirely because of how draining and isolating this process is. I feared that I would never have an idea for another story — this was the story of my heart, and after nearly 100 rejections, you really start to wonder if your words are even worth writing.
There was also a guilt I amassed about voicing my complaints, too. I see writers Tweet about how they’ve been querying the same book for years with no luck. I’ve been at it for around half a year and am already exhausted — I’d often wonder whether I even had a right to feel the way I did when so many others have had far more taxing experiences than I.
It’s not the misery olympics, dear writers — and to this day, I still need to remind myself of that fact. No matter whether you’ve got a pile or a few rejections, you’re allowed to feel sad — just how you’re encouraged to shout it from the rooftop when you receive a request. Celebrate your opportunities whilst also remembering that it’s okay to mourn the ones you missed out on, as long as you keep moving.
Keep writing, keep drafting, keep sharing and keep an open mind.
A full request and partial request out of a pile of nearing 100 rejections is still something. The fact that you’ve even got the courage to send out queries is something to be proud of. Everything is a step forward. Every new wip, new Spotify playlist or Pinterest moodboard.
Every pitch event you participate in and shared snippet from your manuscript — everything you do is a step in the right direction. If you need to take a step back and distance yourself, or take a break from writing, do that too. Listen to what your mind and your body need.
Writing is something I started to do because it brought me joy and I wanted to translate that joy to others. I wanted young readers in the LGBTQIA+ community to come across my stories and see themselves in the pages as I didn’t get to. Although sometimes it feels hopeless, remember why you write. Remember that this process is not a race, regardless of how fast the writing world moves around you. You’re not too far behind — you’re just beginning! It’s okay to take your time.
Now for some advice!
In my first 6 months querying, I’ve received a lot of the stock standard:
- The “Dear writer” rejection.
- A double form rejection almost a month after the first one had already been sent…in the same email thread…
- A form rejection on a full request with one sentence of personalised feedback. This one really, really hurt and is not usually an industry standard though it does happen.
- One sentence form rejections with absolutely no pleasantries. No names or personalisation, just straight into the rejection.
- No response at all.
- I’ve heard that the industry is subjective so, so many times it’s not even funny.
- A form rejection with lines about how they’d read the pages of my work and loved it though it wasn’t the right fit…this one hurt because I thought that was personalised until I saw on their QueryTracker page that they said this to everyone.
I’m going to use Query Tracker as reference for my query stats because some have been lost to the email void—but this will be the most accurate representation of what my stats as of the 10th of May 2022 are looking like:
QUERIES SENT: 120
Still out = 21
Requests (Partial/Full) = 2
Negative Replies = 97
No Response = 19
Whilst it may appear redundant to heed the advice of someone with so many rejections, I really do believe I’ve learnt a lot throughout my journey. I wish I knew and considered many of the below points before querying. I think perspective really helps with this kind of journey and I know reading about other peoples experiences, both positive and negative, can really help other writers — so here’s a link to some of my advice to y’all on how to get the most out of your experience in the querying trenches:
6 Tips from 6 Months in the Querying Trenches 📚
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I wanted to add that this blog is in no way meant to shame agents — their job is extremely taxing and the publishing industry as a whole is in shambles. It feels strange writing during such a bleak time in the world, although we’re all just doing our best to get by; and if you need to write to feel normal, then you write your heart out.
By writing this mess of a piece (my first blog ever!) I wanted to share my experiences with hope in mind for the future. Even with my statistically miserable querying stats, I’m still doing my best to make time to write every day I can and still actively involve myself in the community.
Whenever things get particularly hard, I try to remember that this, too, will pass. As they all say, it only takes one agent. And until then, in case no one has told you lately, you’re doing great. Keep writing! 💌
