In October, I queried my one finished novel to about two dozen agents. Although the main character is 14, I was not entirely sure it read like a YA novel, but I felt I had to make a decision before querying, so I wrote a query characterizing it as a 90,000-word YA novel. (I realize now that this is a bit long for YA.)
After a lot of form rejections, a couple of non-form rejections, and one partial request that netted a personal rejection, I embarked on a substantial rewrite. Substantial = cutting out the first six chapters and writing 25,000 new words to put the action on page one instead of in chapter seven (the personal rejection I received said "your opening chapters are all backstory"). I also don't think anymore that it is a YA novel, despite the protagonist's age. Now, the basic plot is the same. But if I wrote a query letter now, I'd emphasize different parts of the storyline and I'd call it a straight post-apocalyptic novel (and the length is more in line with the norm, then)/
So, the question is - is it ever appropriate to re-query agents who sent you a form rejection for the same project, if you've substantially reworked the book? And if so, should I mention any of this in the new query?
After a lot of form rejections, a couple of non-form rejections, and one partial request that netted a personal rejection, I embarked on a substantial rewrite. Substantial = cutting out the first six chapters and writing 25,000 new words to put the action on page one instead of in chapter seven (the personal rejection I received said "your opening chapters are all backstory"). I also don't think anymore that it is a YA novel, despite the protagonist's age. Now, the basic plot is the same. But if I wrote a query letter now, I'd emphasize different parts of the storyline and I'd call it a straight post-apocalyptic novel (and the length is more in line with the norm, then)/
So, the question is - is it ever appropriate to re-query agents who sent you a form rejection for the same project, if you've substantially reworked the book? And if so, should I mention any of this in the new query?