My dream agent just sold a book similar to mine...still query?

You have nothing to lose. It only take a few minutes to send an email query.

Query. You have absolutely nothing to lose by querying. I would congratulate her on the sale, mention the similarities, but point out how different yours is. However, don't TELL her it's different -- show her in the query and/or in a choice of books whose readers your book would appeal to.

<waves to PinkAmy>

Another thought too-- we can become worried that our writing is too close to something else but then when we stop and look at what is similar then we realize we don't have to worry. For example, there are three generations of women in your story. Well, for anyone who is a woman, there would be three generations of women in their family- whether they're all alive still or not. Next, the issue of a family secret- many families have secrets and lots of literature, media, etc revolves around this. The secretive nature makes the story compelling. Chances are your characters, the secret and how the secret is uncovered are all going to be very different from the book already in print. Sometimes, I think things like this can even serve to your advantage. If you look at what the similar characteristic is then you will know that it appeals to your dream agent and you do the same thing which is an advantage for you. In this case, perhaps the agent likes the emphasis of female family relationships or a secret that has endured the test of time- both of which you seem to have!

Absolutely yes, I think you should query. What's the worst that can happen? Besides there has to be many more agents out there whom you'll query after your #1. The other thing to consider is this - do your query your #1 agent first or, depending on responses, do you test your queries with your "B" or "C" list agents and then query your #1 with a fine-tuned version? Regardless, query.

If it was published in March, then she didn't just sell it.

daisyb said:

Just to update you on what happened, I did query the agent on June 8. No response yet, about 7 weeks...thinking that's not a good sign.

Click to expand...

Totally depends on the agent. Does the agent give a time frame, such as "after six weeks if you haven't heard from us, then it's a no" etc? If not, then I wouldn't give up hope just yet. I had a request once almost 2 months after I sent in the query. I had thought that the agent's lack of response was a no and so I was surprised to get it.

Family secrets that carry over generations isn't an original concept -- it's a long-standing trope. Go ahead and query widely.

The no-reply you've "received" so far could mean no or could mean you're still on the To Read heap. As with all queries, send it, forget it, keep writing.