I've been pondering the above question for some time now. Actually, I totally intend to keep querying. What I'm really asking is, should I keep querying using the same query letter or revise it - again?
Here's the background. So far, I've sent out 26 queries to agents, via email, using roughly the same query letter, tweaking it slightly at times. So far, I've gotten back 14 rejections, most form letters, but a few seemed like nice personal notes. All were polite, friendly, and encouraging. A couple even asked me to let them see my next project. I'm assuming by that, that they think I can at least write.
So, that leaves 12 unanswered email queries. Some of them are getting close to 3 months old. Most of the responses I have received came within a week.
So, to my question. Should I keep querying, using the same query letter, or consider revising it - again. This last go-round I followed Kristen Nelson's method for "Building the Pitch Paragraph," and think I have a pretty good query letter - not perfect, but I think it's the best I've come up with so far.
What do you suggest?
It's either your query letter or your book topic. Without having read your query, I can't tell you for sure. Read your responses carefully for an indication of why you were rejected. If they're asking you to submit other work, I'm guessing it's the book topic and not the query, however, it doesn't hurt to keep tweaking the query.
3 comments:
LDSP,
Would you be willing to let someone post a query letter and let commenters critique it? Maybe that would help the person who asked this question. Just an idea.
I would love to see strong examples of query letters, too.
I think that would be a great idea, to be able to post queries here, but I wonder what LDSP would think of that idea. That would turn her into another "Query Shark." If you go to the Query Shark's website, you'll soon realize how bogged down she is with backlogged queries. I'm not sure LDSP would want to get involved with all that. Still, I think it's a great idea.
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