Selling My Soul (In a Good Way) is a weekly journal
about my efforts to get a debut novel published.
I’ve arrived at an artificial benchmark. I know that. But I also know the calendar and just enough about mathematics to realize that I’ve been doing this for exactly one-half of the year.
What is this?
Today I’m posting Selling My Soul #26, which if doubled would be fifty-two. 365 days in a year, 4 seasons, 12 months, and 52 weeks.
Half-a-year of querying literary agents. As of the artificial half-way point, I’ve launched seventy-eight (78) total queries (with two repeats because the agent moved to a different agency). Twenty-six (26) agents have replied and rejected me and/or my novel. Again, my vast skill in mathematics comes into play, allowing me to conclude that . . . I have not yet heard back from fifty-two (52) agents.
However!!!
Twenty-three (23) of those “unresponsive” agents were contacted between April 18 and June 30. Do I really think that any of those agents, with all of July, August, and September having whizzed by, will reach out to me?
It’s possible!
Right?
When I was seeking an agent decades ago in the early 1990s, one rejection arrived after eleven (11) months of hearing nuttin’!
Questions I’m pondering at this artificial benchmark:
- How many more weeks will I keep querying?
- How many more queries can I—should I, will I—fling towards the Realm of Tradition Publishing?
- Should I—and at what point—query small presses? The smaller independent publishers often don’t “require” the writer to have an agent.
- Am I closer to a time where I decide to abandon finding a home for THROUGH A FOREST WILDERNESS?
Enough pondering for now. After all, my soul-searching questions might get darker.
Time to get back to gnashing my teeth, clinching my jaw, and trying to keep a stiff upper lip. (Which is not an easy three-part task!)
Since last week, I’ve emailed three new queries and received one rejection.
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“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” – Maya Angelou