Saturday, March 6, 2010

Query Progress

Alright, so this isn’t agent news, however, it does pertain to my query. According to advice out there in the writing blogsphere, if one sends out a handful of queries and receives absolutely no interest, she ought to give her query another look before flooding the agent pool with uninspiring slush.

I could have sent my query back over to The Public Query Slushpile, where last spring, I swamped Rick with 5 revisions (and came up with something pretty good), but I couldn’t bring myself to break the record for the most compulsive poster over there. So, I decided to have a look at Elana Johnson’s, From the Query to the Call (which included a critique), and received yet more helpful advice.

At the same time, Weronika Janczuk launched a query contest of sorts, and I submitted my newly revised pitch. And Yay, she liked it, offered a couple suggestions, which I implemented, and she posted it on her blog as one of the Queries that Worked!

So, this is all progress—nothing monumental, (except to me!) but it is incremental success, for which I will be happy, if not bordering on optimistic—at least for the weekend…

...and can I mention that she'd like to read the entire manuscript?

23 comments:

  1. Bridget, I read the query, and having read snippets, I really want to read this book.

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  2. I would love to have you read my book!

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  3. Congrats, Bridget! Nice to hear you're making good progress. :)

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  4. This is a tough market, incremental success is still success. There are three P's we need: patience, persistence, and, ultimately, publication. You're got 2 out of 3 so far. Keep at it!

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  5. Great! That is such an exciting thing to hear: "Your query worked!" Congrats!

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  6. Simon, Rick & Tiffany: Thank you so much for your encouragement! May we all find our way to being a published novelist!

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  7. Congrats!! That's great news!

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  8. So much work involved in getting that vessel away from the dock, and out into the open water.. All progress is good progress :)

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  9. ...until the winds start howling and the crosscurrents send you to the shoals of shipwreck!...Oh, wait, that's part of the novel, not the publishing process...

    ...or is it...?

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  10. Glenn, You know I wanna know what you think!

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  11. A change of heart and destiny would be Lorelei's path from the cliffs to this harbor, once gazed upon.

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  12. You certainly are multi-faceted, Glenn...

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  13. I love the new picture of you! And congrats on your query progress. You'll get there.

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  14. Thanks Susan! I couldn't have gotten this far without you!

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  15. Oh! Sorry I missed this. I'm quite excited to follow that link to see your query on Weronkia's blog. Congrats! I'm still trying to wrestle mine into some decent shape.

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  16. Tricia,
    It is pretty exciting, that we've gotten this far through the process. I'm almost excited to send out some more queries now...

    ...and thanks for your nice comment over there at Weronika's!

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  17. Wow! That is a good query. I want to read your book, too. I hope I won't have to wait long. I found you through Tricia's Talespinning blog.

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  18. Congrats, and that sounds like a fascinating novel! I hope the querying goes well--it's a little bit like torture, isn't it?

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  19. Donna, Thanks so much! And I love your hat! I have one with bees, under some netting--you know, like bees, in my bonnet...

    Lydia, Thank you, too. And, yes, it feels a lot like torture!

    Thank you both for stopping by!

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  20. Congrtas!> I fee the pain and frustration as I recently had my query letter revised for the fifth time. This time it has a catchy one liner to start it off. Looks clean and tight. I'm confident. Best wishes for your success. Have a great weekend.

    Stephen Tremp

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  21. Thanks for stopping by Stephen, and best wishes in your endeavors, too!

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