#tenqueries

How to Survive the Querying Process; Or, Being a Stubborn Ball of Rock

Grit For this post we want the grit that means courage and resolve, or strength of character. The definition that is synonymous with bravery, pluck, mettle, backbone, strength of will, steel, nerve, fortitude, toughness, determination, and tenacity. All of that sounds . . . well, amazing. MUCH better than refreshing your inbox for the sixth time in five minutes and then curling into a ball, rocking and staring, because the refresh only brought you another rejection. (Not that I’ve done…

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The Magic of Manuscript Rejections; Month 3

Three months into this journey. By this time I get to look back on my shiny new starting to query self, point, and laugh. I wasn’t so blindly optimistic that I thought my first round of queries would result in a book deal. The research and all the articles I found made it pretty clear that only in a world that includes unicorns does that happen. The answers I’ve gotten have been about what I expected for an unknown, unpublished…

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The Magic of Manuscript Rejections; Part the Second

Lets review the scoreboard so far! Established Medium Size Agency: #pass, with a very polite form letter. Much appreciated. Established Medium Size Agency: No reply, which means #pass New Small Agency: Zero reply and it’s past their stated 4 week response time. #pass Established Medium Size: Still no reply. Their stated reply window is 12 weeks and it’s been about 10, so I figure #pass. Small Independent Romance Only Agency: #pass with the kindest personal letter full of pointers for me, which…

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