Hi all,
I did a search, but nothing came up that answered my questions.
I am new to querying. I started in August, and so far have queried maybe 15 agents now. I have been reading a lot of the threads here and notice people talking about having requests (as in multiple) for partials and fulls. So far, I have collected ten rejections, including one personal one that was very encouraging.
To date, I also have only queried agencies listed in the top ranks of Publishers Marketplace. I know there are smaller agencies I will likely have better luck with, but what the heck...if I am going to get rejected, it stings less from someone at the very top. Actually, my real reasoning was that I know these agencies are the real deal, so that was one less worry.
I have been constantly working on my query letter, trying to follow the guidelines for each agency. So it is slower than a mass email of 5 to 10 a week that I have seen recommended on here. I've been following Queryshark, as well as other sites that gave guidelines, and I have redone it several times, trying to get it the best I can.
How many queries should I (on average) anticipate having to send, before getting a request for a partial or a full? 50? 75? 100? And when do I say, okay, back up and review everything again, the ms, the query, everything?
And second question, several agencies ask for a synopsis, yet I am getting different guidelines about how to write one. Is there someplace where I can get good information on what most agencies look for in a synopsis? It ranges from keep it really short to several pages. I also have run across conflicting advice as to what should be in the synopsis.
Thanks in advance for any information.
I did a search, but nothing came up that answered my questions.
I am new to querying. I started in August, and so far have queried maybe 15 agents now. I have been reading a lot of the threads here and notice people talking about having requests (as in multiple) for partials and fulls. So far, I have collected ten rejections, including one personal one that was very encouraging.
To date, I also have only queried agencies listed in the top ranks of Publishers Marketplace. I know there are smaller agencies I will likely have better luck with, but what the heck...if I am going to get rejected, it stings less from someone at the very top. Actually, my real reasoning was that I know these agencies are the real deal, so that was one less worry.
I have been constantly working on my query letter, trying to follow the guidelines for each agency. So it is slower than a mass email of 5 to 10 a week that I have seen recommended on here. I've been following Queryshark, as well as other sites that gave guidelines, and I have redone it several times, trying to get it the best I can.
How many queries should I (on average) anticipate having to send, before getting a request for a partial or a full? 50? 75? 100? And when do I say, okay, back up and review everything again, the ms, the query, everything?
And second question, several agencies ask for a synopsis, yet I am getting different guidelines about how to write one. Is there someplace where I can get good information on what most agencies look for in a synopsis? It ranges from keep it really short to several pages. I also have run across conflicting advice as to what should be in the synopsis.
Thanks in advance for any information.