As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I try to be more responsive than average with my queries and requested manuscripts. There's a lot of waiting in this business, some of it unnecessary, and I don't want to contribute to the problem.
Having said that, there's no way around it. You're going to be waiting. And waiting. And waiting. You'll be waiting to hear about your query, waiting to hear about the results of your full manuscript, waiting for the agent to get back edits, waiting to go on submission, waiting for editors to respond, waiting for the contract to get executed, waiting for your pub date. Etcetera.
The biggest risk is that you use this waiting period to . . . well, wait. You've got a book, so let's see how the world reacts to it before you work on the next thing. Don't want to waste time chasing the wrong type of squirrel, after all. Or so goes the internal monologue.
Meanwhile, a year or two goes by, and you haven't written a damn thing. Then the response comes, and it's not what you hoped for, and you're devastated.
Instead, I advise starting a new project as soon as you start querying. The main reason is that a big reason a lot of aspiring writers fail is that they simply don't produce enough. If there's any one thing that successful writers have in common--and there really isn't, but this is as close as it comes--they tend to produce more than their perpetually aspiring peers.
But also, it helps you psychologically. You get hit on the head with all those rejections, probably one after another as you're querying, and you feel like a failure, instead of how you should be feeling, which is that maybe this manuscripts isn't the one, but something else will be.
But if you've got a new work in progress, you can say, "Oh, yeah? Wait until you see THIS brilliant piece of fiction, you illiterate dolt." (In your quiet, indoor voice.)
From personal experience: Last novel, 48 queries sent, first two weeks of Feb. '16. To date: 19 no's 2 yes's (Michael, God bless him, was one of them and I signed with V. He's pitching hard, but so far no dice). And 27 non-responses (which of course can be put in the 'no' column) Except....yesterday, I got another 'no' email. 10 months after the query...I mean, who does that? It's like the old joke about the 20 yr old dry cleaning ticket...you go there for fun and the guy says "come back on Tuesday"......keep writing or go crazy, you choose.
ReplyDeleteExcellent advice. Much appreciated. I'm trying to wade through the query process with my first novel but in the meantime have written and re-written two short stories. It helps with the agonizing wait.
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