I don’t why I titled this post momentum, unless I hope I’m gathering some. I just felt it was past time for an update.
I started querying my first book in Sept 2020. Wonderful timing, I know. I don’t want to talk about that, though. At least not right now. This is just about my experiences so far, and I started querying in Sept 2020. That’s just about two years ago. In that time, I’ve queries 100 agents. I have received 0 requests of any kind, nothing but form rejections. That’s ZERO interest.
That’s okay. I don’t take it personally. Everyone and their brother started querying in 2020, I think. But I still don’t want to talk about that. I don’t take it personally because I expected it. Agents are looking for something they personally like AND are in the mood for AND think they can sell AND isn’t too much like something else they’re already trying to sell. So maybe it’s a bad time for that book on the market, or maybe it’s a bad time for that book in the slush pile, or or or.
I write the books and stories for me and I put them out in the world when I have the energy to because someday I might win the jackpot on the invisible slot machine: time (in the slush pile), time (for the agent), time (in the market).
So yesterday I participated in a Twitter pitch event, (once again got ZERO attention, but I don’t know that a single agent even laid eyes on my entries,) with my first book for the last time and with my second book for the first time. Today, I sent out the first two queries for the second book. Had I checked the dates earlier, I may have waited until next month for the symmetry, but I doubt it. Hyper focus can be a beast to rein in.
I love this book as much as I loved the first. I believe in this book as much as I believed in the first. Or, perhaps I should say, I believed in the first book as much as I believe in this one. I think they would both hit very well if they could only find their audience. So I keep going. I don’t expect any better of a response, but I’ll give it the same effort. It’s strange. I reckon you can’t be discouraged if you didn’t have any hope to begin with.
Why do I do this? Because my grandmother didn’t. She wrote a book. I knew she was writing it, but I didn’t know she had finished it. She queried it out, got nothing but rejection, and destroyed the manuscript before I could read it. I’d give a great deal to be able to read her book. But here’s the thing: I’m not doing this because I think she was foolish or weak. I do this because she couldn’t, for her, in a way, I guess. We don’t even write the same genre, but I don’t believe she’d want me feeling the way she did when she hit delete. And I don’t believe she’d want me to give up before I started, either. I miss her. And in a way I feel like we’re doing this together somehow.
It doesn’t matter to me whether you understand that or not. I do. And it is for me.
As far as short stories go, I started submitting them in May of 2021. I can’t find the symmetry there either. I started subbing short stories, what is that, 9 months into querying? No, worse, it’s 8 months in. Euch. Shivers down my spine. I don’t like these numbers, but it is what it is. So I’ve been subbing short stories just over a year, and I’ve sold three. I’ve gotten personal feedback on several of them, often contradictory.
Here are my numbers:
In the first year, I subbed 23 Stories subbed a total of 101 times to 25 publications (5 of which were anthology open calls). I trunked 5 of those, and 6 have gone back into revision. I sold 1.
In the following 45 days I made 10 more submissions including to one more anthology and made 2 more sales (one of which I’m still waiting to sign the contract for).
The story I submitted the most went out 10 times. Two of the sales were first submissions, the third was bought on its 4th submission.
I don’t know why I’m sharing my stats except that I know some people like them.
I’m going to keep submitting when I have the energy and markets are open. I’m going to keep writing stories that I like and enjoy reading back. The best part about the past two years has been the community I found on Twitter after making my first story sale. They’ve become a real support group for much more than writing.
So anyway, that’s my first two years pursuing “professional publication.” They only reason I’m not looking into independent publication is that the mere idea of marketing entirely on my own is overwhelming in at least three different ways. You want to be a writer? Write for yourself. Decide for your personal priorities are in publication. Find your people. Hold onto the joy of it, or your passion will burn out and you’ll hate what you once loved.
Have fun out there, and watch your momentum. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
