An Experience in Querying | or, what happens when you query too early
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- čas přidán 30. 04. 2024
- A bit of a different kind of vlog today. I recorded a bit of my experience querying my fiction novel, which I'm using the project title Project Caramel Latte. At the end of February, I send out my first queries to literary agents, and began the process of shopping the book around. But I very quickly realised I didn't think the book was ready, and I learned the hard way to trust my gut.
I hope this helps anyone whose struggling with the querying process. Often on CZcams and other social media channels, we only really see the successes and big surprise happy moments. But this isn't everyone's reality. Maybe the next querying process will be one of those, but I wanted to share a less successful stint as well.
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My heart goes out to you because I know that this stage of the writing career is killer. (I'm prepping to query in the fall.) But I'd also encourage you to reframe the agent's critiques in your brain--he took the time to read your book AND give you detailed feedback! That is such an incredible blessing, and truthfully so kind of him. He could have just said no, or told you it wasn't for him, or anything like that. But he gave you personal feedback and even liked enough of your writing and storytelling to ask you to send it to him again after you've reworked it. So cool!
omg I appreciate you sharing this so much and being so open! And you weren’t being pedantic at all. I had a similar epiphany about my current manuscript before as well. I rewrote an entire YA fantasy because the premise was what I wanted, but I realized I’d written it as like a fantasy-fantasy initially when I wanted it to be more of a ‘thriller in a fantasy setting.’ Once you basically mentioned you wanted it to be a ‘mystery in an urban fantasy setting,’ I was like I get you 1000%. Congrats on being brave by putting your work out there and wishing you the absolute best on your rewrite!
So glad you get it! and also glad other people have experienced it. Makes it feel a lot less harrowing
Stay strong Vivian! Your taking this all very well, and the best thing you can do for yourself and your project is to persist. You’ll get there. 😊
Do they tall you the reasons behind the rejections, I hope so because I have been rejected 14 times without any reasons which frustrated me so I turned to self publishing, I know it's hard as a self author but this the fast at least to me. I like to have an agent honestly but this journey is very hard, really hard.
So before we query are we supposed to write book, edit book (developmental, copyedit, etc. all the edits), beta readers read it, get feedback, incorporate edits, etc. THEN we query? Rejections are hard but I just figure we should expect them. And getting any feedback at all is incredible!!! What a gift. Expect rejections, imho it seems like a needle in a haystack trying to find the right book for the right agent at the right timing (and all of the other variables). Plus it's not a personal rejection, we are not our creative projects, no matter how much of ourselves or our work we've put into it. Once we've birthed it, it belongs to the world. That helps me keep some distance from it. That said, I'm not sure I even trust the publishing process, leaning toward self-publishing eventually, IF I create a novel I deem worthy of publishing. This first book might just be for the experience of writing a novel. Time will tell. : ) Thank you for sharing your experience! The transparency is so valuable. Kudos to you for writing well and taking the leap into the unknown. 🤩
I wasn't sure if you'd already done developmental edits before you received feedback from the agent that prompted the decision to restructure/rewrite the book. I'm new to your channel. Best wishes with your project!
I would like to know how agents works ?