Among all the questions plaguing aspiring authors, one of the most depressing has to be “When should I stop querying my manuscript?”
Unfortunately, I think I’ve found an answer.
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a writer life update. While there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes, I’ve kept quiet since my last post because I was hoping that, by now, I’d have some good news to share with you.
You may remember that in early 2020, I revamped my query letter and the entire manuscript of my first novel. I started re-querying literary agents in Summer 2020 with high hopes, which only soared higher when a literary agent asked to read my FULL MANUSCRIPT.
If you’re thinking this sounds familiar, you’re right. A literary agent read my manuscript in Summer 2019, and although that agent declined representation, she gave me fantastic feedback that helped me revamp my novel.
When the newest request for my full manuscript came in from the literary agent – let’s call her “X” – I was working remotely in a local hotel room because a tropical storm had left my home without power. Trees and power lines had fallen down all around us, tons of food was spoiling in my more-tepid-by-the-minute fridge, and the threat of catching COVID from other storm refugees at our hotel was pretty serious.
But, that fateful morning, none of it mattered. Because A LITERARY AGENT ASKED TO READ MY MANUSCRIPT.
This is it, I’d thought. I’ve been rejected, I’ve done the work to revise, I’ve put in the time to research and query agents, and now — NOW! — all my efforts are about to pay off because I’m finally, FINALLY going to land a literary agent.
Over the next few weeks, I did whatever I could to keep my mind off that fact that X was reading my manuscript. I finished writing Desserted. I also queried additional literary agents because nothing makes an agent want a manuscript like an offer from another agent. So, I fired off another round of queries, getting my ducks in a row for when/if the time came to ask for counteroffers of representation.
Gradually, replies from those other literary agents came rolling in. Their responses ranged from “I don’t like it” to “I really like it, but I’m not sure I could market it.” Almost all of the agents seemed to have read the sample chapters. Given I’d previously had trouble with agents not reading past the query letter intro, I considered this a major win, despite the fact that no one was offering me representation.
Of course, I was bummed seeing rejection after rejection. Who wouldn’t be? But, I wasn’t too bothered: I still had an ace up my sleeve, and I was pinning all my hopes on that.
Three days before Christmas 2020, my hopes came crashing down: X declined my novel.
To add insult to serious injury, she didn’t even offer any constructive feedback as to why; after telling me that my writing was “really lovely,” all she gave me was “I just didn’t get lost in the story the way I was hoping to.”
WELL, WHY THE FUCK NOT?
No, I didn’t ask her that. Though I really, REALLY wanted to.
I won’t lie — I was devastated. Okay, I still kinda am. After months and months of waiting, months and months of hoping, and months and months of hard work, I really thought that it was my turn.
This spring marks three years since I wrote that first novel. Back in January 2018, when I was fired up after rediscovering my passion for writing, I was convinced that it wouldn’t be long before I had achieved my dream of becoming a published author. That by now, I’d be counting down the weeks until my story graced bookshelves everywhere.
But, here I am, three years later, with two novels written (yay!) and no agent (boo). My faith in myself and my writing has been shaken like a rag doll; I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve contemplated chucking this whole “let’s get published” thing in the bin. Especially when I read debut novels like this and wonder “How the eff did this get published???” while I’m told NO at every turn.
So…what now? Glad you asked.
It’s a publishing truth universally acknowledged that most first novels written aren’t the first novels published. Most agents, authors, and editors advise aspiring novelists not to focus on querying one novel over and over again. Instead, they encourage them to write more novels, new novels, with the aim of advancing their skills and increasing their chances of getting published with their second, third, fourth, fifth novels written.
(Yes, the thought of writing five novels without ever having any of them published makes me want to puke.)
For those of you looking for numbers:
–Total number of queries I’ve sent out for my first novel since 2018: 55
–The queries that were sent out after my major 2020 revision: 14
–Number of times my full manuscript was requested by an agent: 2
With all this in mind… I’ve made the difficult, heartbreaking, and hopefully correct decision to stop querying my first novel. Instead, I’m going to focus on writing other novels. In particular, I’m turning my attention to Desserted, to make this women’s fiction/foodie fiction story into the best novel it can possibly be. Then, I’m (stupidly? bravely? naively?) going into the query trenches again…admittedly armed with what I think is more commercially marketable novel than my first.
Fellow writers, talk to me: have you faced the question of “when should I stop querying my manuscript?” And, what was your answer? How are you coping?
What a rollercoaster 😩 hoping so hard for you that you have better luck with Desserted 💜
Hi Joli! Thanks for your support! Querying literary agents has definitely been a long and daunting process, lol. But, at least this next time around, I know what I’m getting into ahead of time. Fingers crossed… 🙂
As disheartening as I know this is, I found myself in a similar boat. I decided to stop querying my novel simply because I didn’t have the time or emotional bandwidth to continue to do so. Unfortunately, the same has applied to completing other projects. 🙁 What I did to make me feel that it was finished and complete was print it out and put it on my bookshelf. It is done. Maybe someday someone will want to publish it.(I also decided not to go to self publishing route for reasons I won’t get into but I’m sure you have considered.) I wish you luck, and I feel your pain. But I think the ultimate messages to keep on writing!
HI Eden. I love this. I love that you printed out your novel and put it on your bookshelf. <3 I completely understand not having the time and emotional capacity to continue querying. It is a soul-crushing process. Sometimes I think I'm insane for doing it…and wanting to do it AGAIN…and theoretically again, if I continue to write books, lol. I've also decided not to go the self-pub route, for various reasons that probably overlap with many of yours. Plus…for me…I want the validation from a "big publisher" that I've got what it takes. Hopefully, I do! I agree, though…just gotta keep on writing since, well, that's what we do. I hope you're able to pick up your projects again or to start working on new ones. Don't give up! We can't give up! Wishing you so much luck. xoxo
Thank you for sharing your experience. I often feel like I’m the only one, although I logically know I’m not. I had a similar experience. I queried 110 agents and got 6 requests. Lots of positive comments but no one felt like they could be the “best advocate” for the piece. So…onward. I’m working on my second manuscript. I hope you have better luck with Desserted. Onward!
Hi Anna. Bless you for having the strength to query 110 agents! Dear lord, lol. And 6 requests!! That’s amazing! If nothing else, at least it’s some validation that you’re a good writer and have something that’s repeatedly drawing them in. And you’re definitely not alone in your experiences. There are so many of us out there working hard, trying to make it, trying to be that needle in a haystack. We hear so many success stories but often not the behind-the-scenes of how they got there. I hope you have better luck with your second manuscript, too! Keeping my fingers crossed for the both of us.
Yep, been in a very similar situation (although I never had my manuscripts requested by an agent, so you’re doing better there!). Man, the effort I used to put into querying (60+ agencies), and keeping track of where/who I was querying with! I had a spreadsheet with formulas which worked out how long ago I’d queried and when I should chase up 😭 In the end, I was spending all my time querying instead of continuing to write. And of course it was only later that I realised I should have been building up my social media presence, because agents love it when you’ve done all the hard work and already created a following of fans. My (only) choice, in the end? Self-publishing on Amazon. Which, again, you really need a big social media fanbase in order for it to work. Which I don’t have at presence… but I’m editing my 3rd novel, and I will be querying again with that one 🤞 One tip which might be useful – start following agents you want to target on LinkedIn and Twitter. You never know, you might be able to build up a rapport with them if you like or comment on their posts, and it could come in useful in your query letters. Good luck!! 🍀
Nicola, this sounds so much like what I’ve been through!! I’ve used a color-coded spreadsheet to keep tracking of my queries, though for Desserted, I’ve signed up for QueryTracker, so hopefully the process will be a bit easier this time around. And, yes, admittedly one of the reasons I started the Tart was to have a social media presence and additional samples of my writing for agents to look at. I figured it would be helpful since I’ve never been published before in any way. SIGH. It’s all such a numbers game, and a lot of hard work, and mostly a lot of luck, lol. I’ve thought about self-publishing, but since I work in “regular” publishing, I know what a beast it is to self-publish, at least in terms of marketing, so I’m steering clear of that route for as long as possible. I hope you have much better luck with querying your third novel!!!! Third time’s a charm?? 🙂 (And, you’re so right about Twitter, but that social media is the bane of my existence!!! Ugh. I can’t, lol.)
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Mine are similar, unfortunately. Guess it’s time to dive into the next novel!
Hi Brian! Yes, the more I share about my querying experiences, the more I hear people expressing the same thing. Sad, but true. We’re all fighting uphill, it seems. Good luck with your next novel!!
After reading your post from 2020 about the first agent who requested your manuscript (it came up in my Google search as I tried to find advice on how long to give my own agent who requested my manuscript 27 days ago, but who’s counting?!), I had to read on to see if you’d shared more recent updates. I’m so sorry to hear about the lackluster response from agent #2 “X” because it would be so great to know WHY they didn’t fall in love with the story! And I 100% feel you on how frustrating it is to read a published debut novel that is less than well-written and go “how did THAT get published?!” I try to look at it like this: “well, if THAT piece of trash could land an agent and a publisher, why can’t my little story do the same?” Out of curiosity, what was the first novel about? It sounds like you’ve made the best choice for yourself to refocus your energy on novel #2, so I’m looking forward to following your journey and hopefully you will find more success with this one! I think I’m too stubborn right now to give up on my own novel #1 and will instead probably drive my sanity into the ground as I continue querying. I’ve mentally prepared myself that this agent who currently has my manuscript can’t POSSIBLY want to represent me (certainly not the first one interested, right?!) but I’m hoping as I continue tweaking my query, as well as my first few chapters to really make them throw a punch, *maybe* this little dream will finally come true. So glad to have found your blog!
I’m glad you’ve found the blog, too! It’s so helpful to have a community of writers who “get” this whole process of writing a book and trying to send it out into the world. There are so many highs and lows, and the only ones who really understand them are, well, other writers. I’d say you’ll need to wait a good 4-6 weeks for a reply from your agent reading your manuscrupt, and maybe as long as 8 weeks. The 4 months I had to wait from Agent X was a little excessive, from what I’ve seen. I think some agents tell you to ping them if you haven’t heard from them by a certain point, so double-check your prospective agent’s page to see if there’s anything like that. But I would say that wait at least 4-8 weeks before considering a ping. I hope you get some good news!! Be sure to come back here and give us an update. 🙂
Thank you for the tips! I was going to be impatient and ping at the 4 week mark but I’ve heard that can annoy them, so I think I’ll take your advice and wait until closer to 8 weeks. 🙂 Looking forward to following your blog!
Yeah, I’m always terrified of inadvertently annoying the agents, lol. I tend to tread carefully, just to be on the safe side! It’s also summertime, which is typically when the publishing industry slows down to a grinding halt, so an agent taking even more time to reply than usual wouldn’t be strange. Good luck!
I’ve queried over 350 times and no requests at all. I’ve gone from hope to dismay, from hating literary agents to hating myself, from thinking I can keep going to worrying I’m wasting my time. It just plain sucks.
What irks me most is the quality of books coming out these days. There is a different selection process going on, and it’s really not about the book (despite what others will say). How many great minds and passionate hearts are being crushed as a result?
Self publishing seems like the way to go (and as evidence shows, leads to better sales and chance of success). Factoring in % of take from each sale and control over your own vision. Like the cover for example. Cover art matters BIG TIME. I believe an author (especially newbies) have no say in this. Self publish, you can do this your way. It’s a movie but related to this point: I think the Justice League film flopped because of that. Look at how bad that poster was!
We invest a lot of time into writing, editing, editing, and editing, not to mention querying. I would say between 6 months to 18 months per book. Life is just too short to try impress literary elites in NY who couldn’t care less …
You have a passion for a reason. Follow it, and make it happen on your own terms.
Hi Mikey! I absolutely feel your pain. 350 queries and no encouragement…that’s rough. ROUGH. I agree about quality of books, too — there are quite a few novels published in the past year that were really hypped up, and I was completely underwhelmed by them. It’s frustrating and discouraging. I know there’s only so many spaces that need to be filled on the bookshelves in the traditional publishing world, and the agents and editors have to be very selective when it comes to chosing manuscripts. SIGH. I play the game because that’s my dream — to be traditionally published — and do what I can to try to attract an agent’s eye…and in the meantime, I keep writing. Writing, writing, writing. I agree that the key is to follow your passion, whatever path it leads you down! If you go into self-publishing, I wish you so much luck and success!!!
Thank you for this! I’m in the beginning of my querying journey after years of self-publishing, and this is no joke. The rejections are so hard, even when I came into this expecting it. The realization that I’m going to wait forever is even harder. I honestly was ready to pull the plug today, but then I came across your blog and it helped me to see that A) I’m still in the beginning, and B) instead of quitting, I should see what I can tweak, and if it will make a difference. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I’ve also been sharing my publishing journey on my blog with the hopes that it can help someone else, and also give me something to look back on when I have my shiny new publishing contract. 🙂
Hi, Crissi! Hats off to you for trying the traditional route after self-publishing. I don’t know if I could be bothered once I have so many books out there via an alternative route, lol. But I’m so glad this post inspired you to keep querying. It’s a very long and difficult road, as you can see, but each step brings us closer to the end goal. Hopefully, one day we will look back at our blog posts when we’re traditionally published authors and remember the “good ol’ days,” lol.
I know you wrote this a while ago, but I wanted to comment as I just found your blog and I so needed to hear your words right now. I have been querying my first novel for over a year, and have sent out 80+ queries with NOTHING (form rejection after form rejection). But then, last week, I got my first request for a full. Yay!! But, only four days later – it was rejected 🙁 It was so heartbreaking. I have been writing my second book during this time, and will keep querying until that one is ready, and then I will shelve Book 1 and go for Book 2, but seriously, it is so hard to keep going right now. This process is so demoralizing. Thank you for sharing your experience. It helps to know I’m not alone…but I hate that this is the process we all have to go through.
Hi Ashlyn! Sorry for my delay in replying! I’m so glad this blog post helped you to feel like there’s some camaraderie out there. Congrats on getting a full request!!! That is HUGE and I hope you celebrated the milestone. Because it really is a milestone. This is a hard “hobby” we’ve chosen to pursue, and you have to celebrate every inch you gain toward your goal of becoming published. And, yes, you might have received a rejection, but a lot of people don’t get full requests, especially for their first novels/attempts querying. So, I hope you feel really proud of yourself. And, yes, keep going! Keep writing and when Book 2 is ready, query that. My first time querying, I got two full requests. My second time querying, for Book 2, I got three full requests and encouraging feedback. I’m about to start querying Book 3 next week, and I’m really hoping that this one brings in more full requests and an agent. I’ve already drafted Book 4 and will start revising that in the fall to start querying soon after. Full steam ahead, right??? Each step you take is a step in the right direction for YOUR journey towards publication. 🙂 Wishing you so much luck on Book 1 and Book 2 and all your future projects. Keep us posted!