Sunday, March 19, 2006
Agent Queries
I think this has been driving me nuts enough that now I'm ready to just SEND a query to get the first one over with. I know two agents I'm really interested in working with. My genre and style fits well with other clients they have.

One of those agents only wants queries and information via paper and snail mail. And they aren't accepting unplublished author queries until April. So I can't actually send anything until the end of the month anyway.

The other agent takes email queries only. Response time is listed as two-three weeks. My guess is with the WIP at 50% complete, IF I hear from them to request a partial or full, it won't be for a few weeks. The partial isn't a big deal, I can crank that out. The full is SUPPOSED to be done by 3/31 in at least rough form.

So I'm thinking I'll just send the danged query letter now and get back to work on the book. I drafted it up and sent it to my crit partner (hi Jaynie) to let her give me the suck/no suck judgement.

Argh - I think I spent the whole morning either trying to stay awake or second guessing myself....

Well, time for coffee and back to polishing the written parts of RWH so I can get back into it and back to writing. I want to get that sex scene finished.

2 Comments

  1. As a suggestion? Don't send a query till the book is done, shiny, and beautiful. I KNOW it's hard when you want to get that first interest, but there are a million things that can postpone finishing a book. Also, if you get a quick response (and I'm betting the e-query agent will respond faster than 2-3 weeks), and you don't have it done and it takes you another couple of months to finish and polish, you risk them losing interest. And, if you rush to finish, and it's not polished and beautiful, you risk wasting your one and only chance to charm them with this book.

    I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm afraid I just had to say it. Just be a little patient (and get freakin' used to being patient, because it doesn't change, even after you sell!) and wait until your book is ready. Trust me on this!

    Shannon


  2. Yah, I'm trying to rein myself in a bit. I did some more reading on query letters etc. today and I've put it in the saved mail for a while until I'm ready to send it.

    LOL - I'm impatient in some ways. Once I've done something once I get better but I'm 100% sure I will never be someone who can just send something off and not fret a bit over it. Part of it is just my nature - working in my industry is a constant firedrill.

    We'll see how it goes. In the meantime I'm finishing RWH and trying to not lose my mind.


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