Since my last report, I’ve sent out nearly 86 queries to potential agents. That’s 40% fewer than I hoped to find, but I’m still searching other databases. Nine people sent back rejections (one the same day), and of those, one response had a personal note. Sadly, not getting a standard rejection message is considered a tiny victory.
It would be best if you didn’t think that eighty agents are carefully reading my submission. Some will turn away after the letter’s first paragraph where I specify the genre, e.g., commercial adult fiction. If they’re looking for something else at that time, they won’t bother reading more. Many promise to respond in eight to 12 weeks, and others state you’ll only hear from them if they’re interested.
I’m surveying US agencies first, then Canadian and those from the UK. I’m sensing a commonality among the American agents as if they’re all looking for pretty much the same thing. British publishers put out the comparable books I reference, so maybe my story will appeal to representatives outside of NYC and LA.
Many agencies use a submission form that requires you to plug in a query letter, a short biography and publishing history, marketing, and promotional inserts, maybe a synopsis, and anywhere from ten to thirty sample pages. The others accept your query via email. No one takes paper anymore.
I’m also researching small publishers who take unsolicited proposals. I plan to approach these in late October.
My next writing project was a duel between whichever new novel generated the most creative heat. My commercial fiction novel, The Girl was a Manatee, went against my Nic Knuckles true crime parody, A Scream in a Small Town. I’ve sat down at the keyboard during my creative morning time and started letting the stories flow. Nic Knuckles came out strong, and I’m now 36,000 words into his story. I don’t think the humor/mystery format can go the length of a novel, so I’m thinking of packaging two Nic shorter stories into one volume.
My promotional activities are sputtering. I purchased a service called Book Sirens that promised to generate reviews if I gave away eBook copies to its list of volunteer readers. It cost ten dollars to sign up for three months and then two dollars per download. There was no promise of a review, but their data suggested a 75% response rate. After two months, I’ve only had two downloads. It didn’t cost much money, but I’m disappointed in the results. I’m finding my success is similar to many of my Level Best Books authors.