What's the Fastest You've Ever Been Shot Down?

My record just came up; I submitted a query letter electronically yesterday, Sunday, at around 6.00 p.m. local time (to a firm in the same time zone) and when I opened my e-mail this morning at 7.00 a.m., there was the rejection notice waiting for me. At least she was kind, and mentioned that the process is subjective so "keep trying other agents".

I am a little frustrated because their website wasn't very clear on what they wanted; on the one hand they mentioned that they are only accepting query letters and those 1-2 pages long, but when they described what they wanted to know, it was many pages worth of material. I aimed for something in-between...and apparently did not impress them.

In any event, any advice on how to improve the prospects for a non-fiction book? I have an old friend who is considered an expert in this field so I may ask him to write the forward, although I am a bit embarrassed to do so. Any other thoughts?

Thanks for all the feedback!

I'm confused about your suggestion that a friend write a foreword. You would not need a foreword to a query, nor would you need it for a proposal if an agent asked you for one. Save your friend's expertise for a blurb if you are lucky enough to get a publisher for your book.

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I'd read on a few agents' websites - quite a few, in fact -- that they essentially didn't accept non-fiction material from "non-experts", meaning people who already have a high profile in whatever field the book is on. In the case of History -- my subject matter -- that means being an already-published professor in a "name" university, which I am definitely not. However, I do feel I've got a decent set of credentials behind me and that I've produced a solid book with real marketable commercial value -- but I just have to get it into an agent's hands. One agent website suggested that if you're *not* a world-famous expert in your subject area, then the next best thing is to get one to write the forward to your book, and include that little tidbit in the cover letter with the query. It's not as explicit, but sort of like an endorsement. As I mentioned, I do have an old friend who has indeed gone quite far and is quoted by historians the world over in his subject area -- which overlaps a bit with my book's -- but I am a bit embarrassed to impose on a friend like that. Essentially, my book isn't an academic history, nor would it compete commercially with the established and acknowledged works in this field; it bills itself as an introduction to the field, and is an overview for the common person with only a casual interest.

In a similar situation, I was rejected in less than fifteen minutes.

That's my record.

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Sir, my hat is off to you.

I just focused on writing the best, most compelling query I could and didn't follow the "rules" of the various websites--they were all about the same as you know.

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You're right. I'm going to take MarkEsq's advice and subject my query to the masses' review here at AW.

Thanks all again!