What to Do and Not to Do During the Query Process
In a prior post, What Not to Do When You’re Writing a Novel, I left you at the point where I had gone on a my first fishing trip for a literary agent and had snagged a big one.
Agent A of Trident Media requested a full submission within five minutes of my emailing him. He requested an exclusive (meaning
I wouldn’t send it to other agents) and said he would get back to me within two weeks. I was elated. It was a dream come true. I had grandiose visions of being that one guy who bucked the arduous and agonizing querying process.
There was one problem though—the manuscript hadn’t been completely edited. I told Agent A I could have it to him in two weeks. My editor, Ginger Moran, dropped everything for me and we went directly into a simultaneous development and line edit because of the compressed timeline. She cut about 21,000 words and would have cut more, but I resisted. This was a bad call on my part because everything she recommended cutting was cut later on. My recommendation, as a general rule–if you pay an editor, listen to him or her. Also, don’t rush to failure. Complete the developmental edit first. Then go into a line edit. The agents would rather wait for a polished product.
I delivered the now 126,000 word novel to Agent A in two weeks (July 1st) exactly as I had promised. This was another of my mistakes—the novel was still too long.
Looking back at it now it is funny that we worked so hard to get the novel to him on this self-imposed deadline. He wasn’t even in the office when I submitted and didn’t return until the fifth. That is just how I work though: I do what I say I’m going to do.
I waited on pins and needles for two weeks and heard nothing. Should I email Agent A or give him more time, I wondered? I finally emailed him after three weeks. He told me that he was still reading but understood if I queried other agents. So now the exclusive was 
over and I felt stupid for giving it to him in the first place. What had it gotten me?
I didn’t know this at the time but apparently the entire publishing world pretty much closes down for the month of August. Nothing moves in the month of August, so I would recommend you skip querying in August
It actually worked out well for me because we moved from North Carolina to Virginia in August and were busy settling the house. I also conspired with Ginger about our next plan of attack. She encouraged me not to write Agent A off completely, but at this point I had already moved on. I had false expectations here. Be more patient as an author. Literary agents are very busy.
By then I was beginning to suspect that querying takes the same discipline, research and hard work that writing does. I spent hours researching literary agents and their querying process. I developed a list of potential agents using Publishers Marketplace and finding books like mine (dog, military commercial fiction) at Barnes and Noble and finding out who the agent was for that author. Normally an author will thank their agent in the acknowledgment of a book. By the second week of September I began sending out queries again.
So here is how I organized for my “assault”:
- One excel spread sheet with agents, agency and submission guidelines
- Second sheet with submission requests
- Third sheet with rejections
I highlighted the line on sheet number one until I heard back. Once I heard back I moved them to sheet two or three. If I didn’t hear back I highlighted them in red and didn’t worry about them.
Any rejection emails I immediately deleted. There are a ton of agents, so don’t get let a rejections get you down. Just keep going—you only need one agent to sign you.
In the first week I had two literary agents call me directly to discuss the project and request full submissions. Super-agent Susan XXXXX called me the day I queried her and was very enthusiastic about the project. This energized me and I kept querying.
I sent out about 50 queries. Here is how I did it:
Every morning I woke at 5:00 AM with the goal of querying five agents before work. I would go through my list, double check their website for submission guidelines, re-read what the agent was looking for and tweak my query letter for each agent.
So if the agent said on the site, “looking for something fresh, something that will move and inspire me,” I put that words directly reflecting that into the query letter. I said, “Dear Mr Smith, I’m writing to you because you are looking for something fresh, something that will move and inspire you.”
At the end of my querying “flurry,” I had a double digit list of full or partial submissions. I knew I was onto something and was confident someone would sign me because of the commercial potential of my novel. I had gotten encouragement from agents and even some who, though they didn’t take it, said they would read a revision. But I didn’t have an agent.
What is your process for querying agents?
What tips would you add to garner agent’s interests?
Are there any “hole-in-one” wonders out there–i.e., the first agent you queried signed you?
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30 comments on “What to Do and Not to Do During the Query Process”
Leave a Reply
Ruth Harris (@RuthHarrisBooks) says: Kevin, this is a great post & lots of writers will want to read it. I will tweet it for you…
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Kevin Hanrahan says:
Thank you Ruth. It is definitely a rough road to publishing. There is no yellow brick road out there leading you to success. All I can do is share what I did well and what I wish to improve upon for next time.
Kevin – I greatly admire your perseverance and fortitude in this game! I don’t know If I’d have been able to do everything you have done. And I realize this is only just Part 1 of your story. The work you’ve done since then has been nothing short of inspiring.
Fiction is a completely different animal than nonfiction. I think it’s easier with nonfiction. For one, an agent doesn’t have to read an entire book, just a proposal, with some vital info and a couple of sample chapters.
I did get a hole in one, with the first agent I approached with a book on babies and sleep 10 years ago. She’s still my agent. Once you’re in, you’re usually set with that agent as long as you both desire, even if it’s a per-book deal. So you’re wise to put this effort in now because it’s a real investment.
My fingers are crossed hard for someone to recognize the worth of your story – and soon!
-
Thank you Maria. That means a lot coming from such an accomplished author such as you
If only I knew then what I know now. That is one of the reasons, as I go through this journey, I will share my experiences.
Your right, I have so much more to share about my journey so I won’t give it away now.
But needless to say I am again waiting (un) patiently to hear back from agents. This time I didn’t have to query…it was a resubmission or through introductions. So in hindsight, I did a pretty good job querying. I made the investment in time and effort to find the right agents. Now I just need to hook one of them! Funny that your first book was about babies and sleep….. I was up half the night with a three week old! Brady was a fussy little fella last night!
Hi Kevin,
What good advice. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I’m often torn about which way to spend my energy. It seems like more and more of my time is spent querying agents and promoting by ebooks.
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Thank you. I know what you mean. I wasn’t doing any social media or blogging when I was querying. It was a lot easier. Now I am writing blog posts, engaging in social media, trying to land an agent and most importantly- we just had our first child. O yeah, I also work full time….ugh! Fortunately I am like a high drive Belgian Malinois!
I truly believe what Maria said is true about taking the time to get the right agent. In the military I equate it to establishing your solid logistics/ support framework so you can then focus on the mission.
Dawn Miller says: Kevin, I was wondering what you thought about trying to get a publisher on your own. I’ve found trying to find an agent as daunting as trying to find a publisher.
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Hi Dawn. I truly believe that this novel has huge commercial potential. This is why I want t0 get it to a large publishing house. Can you get into the large publishing houses without an agent? Everything I’ve read says you need to have an agent to do so. I also have been told by several successful authors that have a good agent is priceless. This is my plan A for the book.
Hi Kevin,
I admire how you show your endurance in your journey of writing and you parallel, share, show ask knowledge. We are all viewing, learning with you.I also highly value the new words to look up. I like the word ardrious.
The pictures our fab the word nothing stuck out with me and I laughed. You are managing to be quite openly humble solider. I think being public has all check ourselves. The boxer is perfect too. My friends have boxers they sure do know how to playfully box around.
Thinking, praying for you and your family the first baby year has so many hardships and wonderful moments. The two’s are rascally and smiley too. Blessings from Arizona…
Sincerely,
Adriana Villafane-Johnson
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Thank you Adriana. I make extensive use on the thesaurus on Microsoft word!
I find it very freeing to be an open book. Life is so much easier this way. I loved that picture of the Boxer….did you see what book he was “reading”?
-
Kevin,
I did, a good re-view my memory was it was writing for dummies then I re-looked and bahahah, (I am laughing..) the boxer dog says “this Boxing dog boxes out what he/she thinks of training then the Boxer looks at the camera and says , what?”,
Perfecto Kevin, it flys when people have a picture stand out to make their point. Photographs express so much like, AH….! Sincerely,
Adriana Villafane-Johnson-
I was in stitches when I saw that book Adriana. It is like when I first got Stella and she chewed her leash. I was like…… how am I going to take you or a walk right now young lady?
I am a very visual person and completely agree Adriana!
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I just plain need to get back into querying. I spend a lot of time getting to know the quirks of the specific agent I’m targeting, so it can be frustrating when they reject me, even though I try not to take it personally. The more annoying thing is when it takes them forever to just say no.
The most frustrating thing is the feeling that a lot of writers get – we’re all convinced that people would love our work is we could just get them to read it, and a 250 word query doesn’t feel like it does us justice. But that’s the process.
-
Hi Russ. I was told once that if an agent doesn’t feel strongly enough about your project then you probably don’t want them anyways. You may think they are perfect but they also have to share your passion about your book. With this in mind….. I target agents….if they aren’t interested then I just wrote them off. I want an agent who feels as strongly about my project as I. If I didn’t hear back from them I just wrote them off. There are lots of agents.
Your right man…..so very frustrating to get a foot in the door. I was lucky…..I got my foot in the door. But as I’ll describe in the next part of this series……I didn’t get an invitation inside. If you think getting your query ignored hurts wait till you get an actual rejection.
Spend some time planning your querying process. Then get off your butt and query. You will never know unless you try.
Hi Kevin,
Funny I should read this on a day when I just finished querying for not one but two novels in different genres. I can’t emphasize the importance of your spreadsheets. Some of the agents I re-queried for a different genre and we will see what happens. The other thing I found after being accepted by an agent is be careful on how they want to represent you. Many agents want to represent by the book and others want to represent you and all you do. Did you ever find that to be the case? Personally I agree with you…patience is the key. We can’t imagine how many emails these agents receive in a given day. The good agents take their time responding.
Thanks for the informative read. I’ll retweet. Best of luck in your writing career.
Kelly Abell
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Best of luck with your queries Kelly!
That is interesting about the representation piece. I had never heard that before….very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I hate the waiting though!
-
Hi Bob. I will cover that awesome question in my next post in this series.
[...] Hanrahan presents What to Do and Not to Do During the Query Process posted at Kevin [...]
I love the fact that you’ve shared your journey with such honestly. I can’t wait to read about the rest of your journey and to see where you end up
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Thank you Kylie. Being new to this whole world can be very intimidating. I hope that folks find comfort in the fact that they aren’t alone out there.
Wow, great article. You really have a great process working. I have found that in the publishing world their timeline is totally different from ours. I wait impatiently, but they take forever. Finally I realized that’s the way it works and to flow with it.
-
Thank you Dorine! I know….me too. Hey, this MS is incredibly important to me…it is a masterpiece….WHY CAN”T YOU SEE THIS LITERARY AGENT! I wonder how many “frantic” emails an agent receives about their query or submission.
Alas, I am once again in a waiting game with my submission…….. once again no one had emailed back within 24 hours and told me they MUST sign me! I wait (un) patiently again!
-
Hi Donna. Thank you very much. I hope my experiences help you!
Kevin,
Thank you for writing this. Although I am not trying for a novel, I am working to change military pet policy. I told myself I would write two heartfelt and rational influential people/organizations per day. So many people don’t get back to me, but sometimes a few do. I have heard that writers get tons of rejection letters until the right person sees the potential or it’s packaged just the right way.
I feel many of these emails just go to their deleted files and maybe I need to refine my pitch somehow. We are learning as we go, but we think our cause is worth the effort. Sharing your story here helps others. Life is about struggle and persistence and your story is an inspiration to so many others. Good luck in this quest. I wish you well.
-
Hi Theresa. What you are doing to help service members is wonderful. I never thought about much about how different states rules and regulations in regards to animals can affect a service member’s ability to keep their four legged family members. When I was stationed overseas it was before I had my two dogs…..kudos to you!
You mentioned packaging in your comment which is very interesting. That is something I will get to writing about on this site. An author today needs more than a good manuscript to land an agent.
[...] in a few days. She did and offered me representation. It took me a year to land an agent and this link will explain how I accomplished this [...]
Thanks Kevin. Really useful post. I am doing a final edit and will begin looking for Australian agent soon. There’s only about 10 that I can send too, because of our small population but if I have no luck will move onto the UK. Wish me luck!
-
Thank you! I absolutely wish you the best of luck Debbie. I actually received some advice when I was going through the query process to go straight to the UK.
Leave a Reply
My Tweets
Kevin, this is a great post & lots of writers will want to read it. I will tweet it for you…
Thank you Ruth. It is definitely a rough road to publishing. There is no yellow brick road out there leading you to success. All I can do is share what I did well and what I wish to improve upon for next time.
Kevin – I greatly admire your perseverance and fortitude in this game! I don’t know If I’d have been able to do everything you have done. And I realize this is only just Part 1 of your story. The work you’ve done since then has been nothing short of inspiring.
Fiction is a completely different animal than nonfiction. I think it’s easier with nonfiction. For one, an agent doesn’t have to read an entire book, just a proposal, with some vital info and a couple of sample chapters.
I did get a hole in one, with the first agent I approached with a book on babies and sleep 10 years ago. She’s still my agent. Once you’re in, you’re usually set with that agent as long as you both desire, even if it’s a per-book deal. So you’re wise to put this effort in now because it’s a real investment.
My fingers are crossed hard for someone to recognize the worth of your story – and soon!
Thank you Maria. That means a lot coming from such an accomplished author such as you
If only I knew then what I know now. That is one of the reasons, as I go through this journey, I will share my experiences.
Your right, I have so much more to share about my journey so I won’t give it away now.
But needless to say I am again waiting (un) patiently to hear back from agents. This time I didn’t have to query…it was a resubmission or through introductions. So in hindsight, I did a pretty good job querying. I made the investment in time and effort to find the right agents. Now I just need to hook one of them!
Funny that your first book was about babies and sleep….. I was up half the night with a three week old! Brady was a fussy little fella last night!
Hi Kevin,
What good advice. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I’m often torn about which way to spend my energy. It seems like more and more of my time is spent querying agents and promoting by ebooks.
Thank you. I know what you mean. I wasn’t doing any social media or blogging when I was querying. It was a lot easier. Now I am writing blog posts, engaging in social media, trying to land an agent and most importantly- we just had our first child. O yeah, I also work full time….ugh! Fortunately I am like a high drive Belgian Malinois!
I truly believe what Maria said is true about taking the time to get the right agent. In the military I equate it to establishing your solid logistics/ support framework so you can then focus on the mission.
Kevin, I was wondering what you thought about trying to get a publisher on your own. I’ve found trying to find an agent as daunting as trying to find a publisher.
Hi Dawn. I truly believe that this novel has huge commercial potential. This is why I want t0 get it to a large publishing house. Can you get into the large publishing houses without an agent? Everything I’ve read says you need to have an agent to do so. I also have been told by several successful authors that have a good agent is priceless. This is my plan A for the book.
Hi Kevin,
I admire how you show your endurance in your journey of writing and you parallel, share, show ask knowledge. We are all viewing, learning with you.I also highly value the new words to look up. I like the word ardrious.
The pictures our fab the word nothing stuck out with me and I laughed. You are managing to be quite openly humble solider. I think being public has all check ourselves. The boxer is perfect too. My friends have boxers they sure do know how to playfully box around.
Thinking, praying for you and your family the first baby year has so many hardships and wonderful moments. The two’s are rascally and smiley too. Blessings from Arizona…
Sincerely,
Adriana Villafane-Johnson
Thank you Adriana. I make extensive use on the thesaurus on Microsoft word!
I find it very freeing to be an open book. Life is so much easier this way. I loved that picture of the Boxer….did you see what book he was “reading”?
Kevin,
I did, a good re-view my memory was it was writing for dummies then I re-looked and bahahah, (I am laughing..) the boxer dog says “this Boxing dog boxes out what he/she thinks of training then the Boxer looks at the camera and says , what?”,
Perfecto Kevin, it flys when people have a picture stand out to make their point. Photographs express so much like, AH….!
Sincerely,
Adriana Villafane-Johnson
I was in stitches when I saw that book Adriana. It is like when I first got Stella and she chewed her leash. I was like…… how am I going to take you or a walk right now young lady?
I am a very visual person and completely agree Adriana!
I just plain need to get back into querying. I spend a lot of time getting to know the quirks of the specific agent I’m targeting, so it can be frustrating when they reject me, even though I try not to take it personally. The more annoying thing is when it takes them forever to just say no.
The most frustrating thing is the feeling that a lot of writers get – we’re all convinced that people would love our work is we could just get them to read it, and a 250 word query doesn’t feel like it does us justice. But that’s the process.
Hi Russ. I was told once that if an agent doesn’t feel strongly enough about your project then you probably don’t want them anyways. You may think they are perfect but they also have to share your passion about your book. With this in mind….. I target agents….if they aren’t interested then I just wrote them off. I want an agent who feels as strongly about my project as I. If I didn’t hear back from them I just wrote them off. There are lots of agents.
Your right man…..so very frustrating to get a foot in the door. I was lucky…..I got my foot in the door. But as I’ll describe in the next part of this series……I didn’t get an invitation inside. If you think getting your query ignored hurts wait till you get an actual rejection.
Spend some time planning your querying process. Then get off your butt and query. You will never know unless you try.
Hi Kevin,
Funny I should read this on a day when I just finished querying for not one but two novels in different genres. I can’t emphasize the importance of your spreadsheets. Some of the agents I re-queried for a different genre and we will see what happens. The other thing I found after being accepted by an agent is be careful on how they want to represent you. Many agents want to represent by the book and others want to represent you and all you do. Did you ever find that to be the case? Personally I agree with you…patience is the key. We can’t imagine how many emails these agents receive in a given day. The good agents take their time responding.
Thanks for the informative read. I’ll retweet. Best of luck in your writing career.
Kelly Abell
Best of luck with your queries Kelly!
That is interesting about the representation piece. I had never heard that before….very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I hate the waiting though!
Did anyone sign you?
Hi Bob. I will cover that awesome question in my next post in this series.
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I love the fact that you’ve shared your journey with such honestly. I can’t wait to read about the rest of your journey and to see where you end up
Thank you Kylie. Being new to this whole world can be very intimidating. I hope that folks find comfort in the fact that they aren’t alone out there.
Wow, great article. You really have a great process working. I have found that in the publishing world their timeline is totally different from ours. I wait impatiently, but they take forever. Finally I realized that’s the way it works and to flow with it.
Thank you Dorine! I know….me too. Hey, this MS is incredibly important to me…it is a masterpiece….WHY CAN”T YOU SEE THIS LITERARY AGENT! I wonder how many “frantic” emails an agent receives about their query or submission.
Alas, I am once again in a waiting game with my submission…….. once again no one had emailed back within 24 hours and told me they MUST sign me! I wait (un) patiently again!
Kevin, this is a great post. I’m glad I spotted you twitter
Hi Donna. Thank you very much. I hope my experiences help you!
Kevin,
Thank you for writing this. Although I am not trying for a novel, I am working to change military pet policy. I told myself I would write two heartfelt and rational influential people/organizations per day. So many people don’t get back to me, but sometimes a few do. I have heard that writers get tons of rejection letters until the right person sees the potential or it’s packaged just the right way.
I feel many of these emails just go to their deleted files and maybe I need to refine my pitch somehow. We are learning as we go, but we think our cause is worth the effort. Sharing your story here helps others. Life is about struggle and persistence and your story is an inspiration to so many others. Good luck in this quest. I wish you well.
Hi Theresa. What you are doing to help service members is wonderful. I never thought about much about how different states rules and regulations in regards to animals can affect a service member’s ability to keep their four legged family members. When I was stationed overseas it was before I had my two dogs…..kudos to you!
You mentioned packaging in your comment which is very interesting. That is something I will get to writing about on this site. An author today needs more than a good manuscript to land an agent.
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Thanks Kevin. Really useful post. I am doing a final edit and will begin looking for Australian agent soon. There’s only about 10 that I can send too, because of our small population but if I have no luck will move onto the UK. Wish me luck!
Thank you! I absolutely wish you the best of luck Debbie. I actually received some advice when I was going through the query process to go straight to the UK.