So, I revised, rewrote, revised, rewrote, revised, rewrote. haha And then I did it. I hit the send button on two queries.
It was all I could bring myself to put out into the world. Baby steps. haha I find querying so nerve-wracking. This is my second go round with it. The first time got me a few partial requests and two fulls but, ultimately, nothing panned out. It's made me even more nervous now but I'm also hopeful too. I know I learned from the mistakes I made in the first book, so maybe I'll have been luck this time around.
How about you guys? Anyone out there in blog world getting ready to query/querying right now? How do you feel about it? Scared, excited, nervous? A mix of all three? Is this your first time querying or have you been through it before? Talk to me! (It will make me feel less alone)
Okay. Adding something to this post. I just want to remind you guys that today from 8am to 8pm Brenda Drake Writes...under the influence of coffee is hosting a Twitter Pitch Party!! Here is the blurb, as copied from her website:
After The Madness Twitter Pitch Party!
We're hosting a Twitter Pitch Party on Thursday, September 13 from 8AM to 8PM EDT on the hashtag#PitMad.
How do you twitter pitch? You tweet your twitter pitch each time you see an agent on the hashtag. The agents will request the tweets in the feed that catch their attention. Make sure to include the hashtag in your pitch and don't @ the agents. By using the hashtag, the agents will see your pitch.
You can tweet as many times as it takes or as many different tweets and manuscripts you wish! It's that simple. Game on!
How do you twitter pitch? You tweet your twitter pitch each time you see an agent on the hashtag. The agents will request the tweets in the feed that catch their attention. Make sure to include the hashtag in your pitch and don't @ the agents. By using the hashtag, the agents will see your pitch.
You can tweet as many times as it takes or as many different tweets and manuscripts you wish! It's that simple. Game on!
It's all in the timing! It could take five, it could take fifty, but the answer will always be no if you send none.
ReplyDeleteGood for you!
Thanks Alex! You're totally right. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm querying now. My first time. I've sent about 30 out and nothing yet (okay, rejections). I plan to send more, but I'm working on something new and I plan to revise another manuscript I have to get that ready for querying next year. I think Alex puts it perfectly. :) Good luck!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Christine!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your querying. I want to start work on something new soon too. I don't think I'd have gotten through querying the last time if I hadn't started work on the project I'm now sending out. :) Maybe by this time next year we'll both have agents and we won't have to do this again. Fingers crossed!!
Welcome back to blogging, Tamara. I do remember you. :D
ReplyDeleteI'm on the querying roller coaster. I had a revision request that didn't pan out, but my ms is stronger for it. Now I have two out with agents pre recent edits and two post edits. And I'm still (slowly) sending out queries. I hate doing it. I'd rather work on my new project. But my friend and I swore we would keep querying until we've queried 100 agents.
That's a lot of agents. I sent out about sixty with the first book. Good luck with your querying, I really hope something pans out for you! Thanks for stopping by to say hi. :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats! Hitting that send button is so nerve wracking, but its a huge step. Fingers crossed for you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Stacy!
DeleteAfter trunking my first ms, I started querying my second. I got a few requests, but the agents found issues with the story. So, I revised, had CP's read it, revised again, and now I'm querying it. I took part in WoC and got great feedback on my query. It seemed everyone loved the query. As of now though, agents aren't seeming to love it so much. ;)
ReplyDeleteWeird thing is, a few months ago an agent emailed me about my first ms. She had pulled the query I had sent last year from a slush pile and wanted the full. So you never know.
So yeah. I'm there with you on that query roller-coaster. Such an emotional ride. :)
Yes it is!! That's awesome that an agent requested the full on the first. Crazy that it happened a year later!! Yeah, I did WoC too, and Pitch Polish Blog hop, and had it up on Questionable Query Experiment.It took me all that to get the damn query right. haha. Now everyone is pretty much unanimously saying they really like it--but who knows if an agent will say the same thing, right?
DeleteHere's hoping!! Keep me posted on that full and any other requests you get. Plus, if you ever want to whine about rejections, feel free to come complain to me. haha. I know exactly what it feels like. I was crushed when the two full requests came back as no-goes. It took like four months of waiting, just to get rejected again. Ugh. But, I'm gonna keep trying!
Thanks for reading my query over at GUTGAA! I'll follow your blog. I haven't started the query-coaster yet since I just finished my last set of revisions. I'll be interested to hear about your ride and cheer and commiserate along the way.
ReplyDeleteRachel Dillon
ThroughEndangeredEyes.blogspot.com
Thanks so much for following Rachel! And someone to commiserate with is always helpful. haha. Hopefully I won't need a shoulder to cry on. Make sure to check out this post again cause I just added some new info. to it. Nice to meet you!
ReplyDeleteI've had two (not very vigorous) attempts at querying. They were both WAY too early so my problem is, I like I'm almost ready to go again (after a round of BETA edits) but really, how do I know? HOW DO I KNOW?
ReplyDeleteAnd people wonder why writers are crazy...
Right! I know exactly what you mean. I want some kind of cosmic reassurance my book is ready to be queried. Sadly, no lightning bolts have struck, so I guess I'm winging it.
DeleteAlso, if you get time between your query attempts, I tagged you over at my blog. Just a little fun to keep things interesting :)
ReplyDeleteI had no idea what being tagged meant until I went to your blog. THANKS! I'm going to put up my new blog with my questions today. :)
DeleteI've been on the query coaster before, and I know how nerve-wracking it can be! I do think I became a bit immune to it as time went on, though, so that's a good thing. Good luck with your querying!
ReplyDeleteOkay. That's very cool. Immunity is in my future. (I have no idea how you become immune to this, but I'll take your word on it. haha) I'm looking forward to that. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteHi Tamara,
ReplyDeleteFound you blog through Heather Bryant, excited about the #pitmad hope you're enjoying #gutgaa. Nice to meet you!!
Hi Paula,
DeleteNice to meet you too. I'll be sure to swing over your blog to say hi!
Hi Tamara, Thanks so much for giving me helpful feedback on PitchPolish (Tendril #50 the dark Rapunzel reimagining). I have rewritten, hopefully I'll get into one of the actual pitch to an agent windows. I'm just getting started with the Social Media Platform circus. Yikes. I'll join your blog - come join mine, I need all the bodies I can get and we can gripe about rejected partials, fulls, query hell and all that at both our blogs.
ReplyDeletehttp://rhiannwynnnolet.blogspot.com/
Hi Rhiann,
DeleteThat's so cool. I mean, that you're just starting with this. I put this blog up a week ago. (I've been online constantly, hence the amount of posts/comments already up.) haha This is my first real foray into the whole Social Media thing. It's actually really been fun. I like helping people with their queries, so I've been doing a lot of that. And it's really neat how many people have come by to say hi and follow. I'll definitely join your blog!
hi miss tamara!
ReplyDeletehooray for you hitting that send button. i gotta tell you for sure your not alone cause all my blogger friends that did querys or are doing them feel just the exact same way. i didnt ever query yet so i cant say how im gonna feel. im thinking its gonna be a little scary. thanks for coming by my blog and saying hi.
...smiles from lenny :)
Thanks for stopping by, Lenny. It's nice to know everyone is in the same boat. :)
DeleteI posted a public query, and it's my first time ever. You are right..it is scary. Ahhhhhh!
ReplyDeleteDid you post it for critique somewhere? That was super helpful to me. I'd be happy to take a look at it if you want to paste the link. :)
Delete