Notes from a Veteran Querier

Originally published on Pangyrus

If you’ve written a book and want to publish through a traditional publisher, you’ll need a literary agent and to get one, you’ll need to write a query letter. Easy, right? Nope. Query letters can feel like a task more enormous than writing the book itself. How do you sum up all you’ve put into your book in five short paragraphs? That’s all you’ve got-- five enticing paragraphs to summarize your novel or nonfiction book and all the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into the process. If you want the gatekeeper to open the gate, your query has to provide the key.  

I started writing novels twenty years ago after reading a book and thinking I could do better. My goal, from the very beginning, was, and still is, to be traditionally published. I’m currently preparing to query my fifth novel. Yes. Fifth. Most authors write and query more than one book before getting signed and published. The average is something like four books. Learning to write a great book is really, really hard. Learning to write a great query is even harder. Technically, distilling why a book is special into a few paragraphs is challenging. Emotionally, the stakes are so high. We pour our hearts and souls into our work. We write, we revise, we edit, we kill so many darlings all to hopefully create something that will mean something to readers. 

It takes time to make sure all the elements of the query letter are just right. First, do your research. Find agents who represent the kind of book you’ve written. I research the agent and watch interviews. I personalize the query as much as possible (“Because you represented such and such, I thought you would be interested in looking at my book, which is also about such and such…”), and make sure I spell every agent’s name correctly. 

There are three elements to a query: the pitch, the summary, and your credentials (or what makes you the right person to tell this story). With each of those elements, make sure the tone of your query fits with the tone of your book. A funny book should have a funny query letter. If you’ve written a thriller, draw the reader in and make their skin tingle! I carefully proofread my query letter and writing sample. I take care with each and every query before I hit send. 

Then, time passes. Form rejections come. But then, a request! I send the manuscript and wait. Then I wait more. After six months or even a year, the agent eventually says, “I don’t feel passionate enough about the project,” or “It’s not right for my list.” It’s a roller coaster of hope and despair until it’s over. I spent about a year trying to sell each novel before I stopped. I have written more versions of query letters than I care to remember. I have sent hundreds of queries. 

The day the book is actually dead is a very sad day indeed. Rejection is devastating. Writers are tender hearted. We dream big. We also talk big. Some of us (ahem) might talk about our books to family and friends. We might tell people (cough) how excited we are to start trying to sell it. Then, over Thanksgiving, Aunt Lulu asks, “When is your book coming out?” We say, never, and everyone at the table gasps. Your mother drops the stuffing and your sister bursts out of her chair, slams the table and says, “You’re no sister of mine!”

Wait. That doesn’t happen. Because nobody cares that much. Only we care. 

Still, there is a particular sort of shame that comes with a book’s failure.

There really shouldn't be. With every one of my so-called book failures, I learned. I got better. I will only get to publish my debut novel once. I want it to be great. Will my current novel be the one that makes it? The odds are not in my favor. Will my life be over if my book doesn’t get published? No, of course not. I have many more books left in me. If this book doesn’t get published will I write another one? Maybe? 

And that’s ok. 

I asked my friend, Whitney Scharer, author of The Age of Light, why writers feel ashamed of not getting a book published when it’s an experience common to most. She said, “All we feel as writers is shame – oh, and sometimes envy.”

Mic drop. Sometimes, we stop blaming ourselves just long enough to be jealous of others. It’s funny because it’s true. To be sure, I have celebrated many authors at many fabulous events. I also have a vivid memory of sitting at someone’s book launch with my brow furrowed and my arms crossed, griping to myself, “Why did they get published? My book is as good as theirs!”

Now I know better. My book wasn’t good enough, and they got published because they worked their heinie off to make it happen. It’s not easy for anyone! And newsflash, once you finally sign with a literary agent, your book still has to sell to a publisher. 

Being a writer is hard. You know what else is hard? Excellence. Few people hit a home run the first time at bat. Querying isn’t a one and done. If you’re serious about honing your craft, you might have to take a few swings and misses. That’s why querying is necessary. We need gatekeepers. They force us to answer the questions: What is my book about, and is it good enough? 

I recently picked up the first novel I wrote, Better than Imagined, the story of a borderline hoarder who discovers one of her treasures was stolen from a museum. It was terrible. It had no plot. It was full of cliches. So much telling, so little showing. At the time, I thought it would take the literary landscape by storm. I’m grateful for the query process. I’m happy my first, second, third, or fourth novel is not out in the world. Each time, I’d been sure my work would be a bestseller. I put each one aside because I realized I could do better. 

I can’t be certain my query adventure will end with the deal of my dreams. I can be certain that wherever I end up, my writer friends will be along with me for the ride. After two decades, I have made more friends than I’ve written queries. Without a doubt, the friends are more important. Don’t measure the success of your writing career by your number of publications. Measure it in the number of connections. Though we write alone, writing need not be a solitary pursuit. 

My advice to those who query? Do your homework. Workshop your query. Be open to critique. Understand when it’s time to move on. Grieve for a bit then let your muse back in. Who knows? Maybe your debut book is the one you haven’t yet written.