At PPWC, I attended a question/answer panel that had six agents. There were questions about the future of agents, there were questions about publishing versus self-publishing, and there were questions about their day-to-day jobs. I enjoyed the panel and found it enlightening. However, there is one question that stuck in my head and it terrifies me.
“How many queries do you receive and how many new clients do you sign?”
Kristin Nelson’s answer is the one I remember. She said, “Last year I received 30,000 queries. I requested 100 partial/full manuscripts. I signed two new clients.”
The audience gasped and murmured and I almost fainted. So, you can imagine that my elation of having two agents ask for partials has quickly turned to terror. I do not want to squander this incredible opportunity, I have been given. I do not want to be thrust back into the world of querying. So, I am taking what I have learned and revamping my manuscript. I am tightening the writing. I am enhancing the layers of my characters. And I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be one of the two people signed.
As Hunger Games’ Effie Trinket says, “And may the odds be ever in your favor.”
This is something that is terrifying. However, I think that it is similar to learning the results of anything. For example, in law school we were told how many people failed the bar exam. I got through this terror by saying “Well, I’ve never been in the bottom 20% of anything. So I should be fine.” Many people query badly, or query badly written material.
That said, 2 out of 30K is terrifying. However, that is but one agent. There are a nice selection of them around, and I’ve gotten through the past few months by convincing myself that if my material is good enough, someone will want to represent me.
The key things to focus on are things in your control. Make sure query letters are personalized, error-free, engaging, and true to your work. When sending out manuscripts, you want to make sure you are really putting your best work forward.
I’m glad I’ve waited to query, because right now my manuscript is good, but it isn’t as flawless as I can make it. This tells me it is not yet ready to be sent out for query purposes. That said, I keep reading about these authors who had written, edited, revised and then just stopped tinkering. Feeling that once they got an agent, and an editor, that then they could really put the finishing touches on their manuscript.
While I think this is somewhat smart, because if it looks a little rough, then the agent might feel more inclined to accept provided certain changes were made. It can also be bad, as people might think that the manuscript is just not there yet. In which case your best case scenario is a “Revise and Resubmit” letter, and worst case is a rejection and bad impression.
That being said, make sure that the changes you make are for the betterment of the manuscript. Don’t add stuff just to add. I’m certain you won’t, but I feel like sometimes when I’m editing, I’m tempted to add things that while interested are not incredibly necessary.
I responded, but I don’t see it, so I’ll try this again.
I have to agree with you that you need to make your ms the best it can be. I don’t tend to add things that I shouldn’t, but I do delete things that in the long run, I should have left in, ie dialog beats.
So, are you going to write another novel? Is this one a series?
I want to write another one, but I’m not certain I can, if this one doesn’t go anywhere.
I feel like I need to pour all my energy into getting some full-time work, and then I can try maybe writing something else.
Mine is not a series, though the idea of a sequel is technically possible. I’m just not sure if it would be a good idea.
I can’t speak with any authority, but when I pitched my book, the agent asked if it was a series. I told her no…and felt like I answered it wrong.
I think that might have to do more with the genre. Mystery has a long tradition of it being a series.
Yeah, that’s what I thought when I was writing the review.