Hello!
I recently parted ways with my agent and am starting to query a new project. I'd like to query some of the agents who read the full for my last project. My querying experience last time happened way too quickly. I got an offer within a week, and had five offers by the next week. At the time I was thrilled (and you're probably thinking, "oh, shut up"), but I did not query intelligently. I was so new to the publishing world I had no idea who to choose, and I hadn't even queried a few of my top-choice agents yet. By the time I had offers, other agents rushed to read and stepped aside after reading the full with SUCH kind words, things like they were sure it was going to sell, or they couldn't wait to see my book on the shelves, or they loved the book but it's just not right for their list at this time.
Unfortunately, I made a bad decision, and either because of this or not, my book didn't sell (which as you can imagine, after this initial rush of enthusiasm, was pretty devastating).
Now that I'm more well-versed in literary circles and I know who I want to land as my agent, I know that some of these passing agents are my top choices. So my question is: when I query this time around with my shiny new manuscript, should I bring up my last book in the query? Should I remind them of their kind words from last time around? Or should I even reply to their final email from last year with an update that I have a new project I'm querying? The thing is, I also believe that my last project could sell if I had the right agent. And if they already loved that book, maybe they could take it on now after all. Obviously I want to focus on this new project, but I thought if they already liked my writing style, it could help to bring it up. What do you think?
Thanks in advance!
I recently parted ways with my agent and am starting to query a new project. I'd like to query some of the agents who read the full for my last project. My querying experience last time happened way too quickly. I got an offer within a week, and had five offers by the next week. At the time I was thrilled (and you're probably thinking, "oh, shut up"), but I did not query intelligently. I was so new to the publishing world I had no idea who to choose, and I hadn't even queried a few of my top-choice agents yet. By the time I had offers, other agents rushed to read and stepped aside after reading the full with SUCH kind words, things like they were sure it was going to sell, or they couldn't wait to see my book on the shelves, or they loved the book but it's just not right for their list at this time.
Unfortunately, I made a bad decision, and either because of this or not, my book didn't sell (which as you can imagine, after this initial rush of enthusiasm, was pretty devastating).
Now that I'm more well-versed in literary circles and I know who I want to land as my agent, I know that some of these passing agents are my top choices. So my question is: when I query this time around with my shiny new manuscript, should I bring up my last book in the query? Should I remind them of their kind words from last time around? Or should I even reply to their final email from last year with an update that I have a new project I'm querying? The thing is, I also believe that my last project could sell if I had the right agent. And if they already loved that book, maybe they could take it on now after all. Obviously I want to focus on this new project, but I thought if they already liked my writing style, it could help to bring it up. What do you think?
Thanks in advance!
