After a year of intense work on my novel, and editing/revising the hell out of it, I am finally confident to start querying. I think, at this point, it is psychologically important to move on to the next step and with my life in general! I would have started sooner if it hadn’t been for reading through all the blogs, watching the Youtube channels (shout out to the amazing BookEnds Literary Agency for their magnificent content), and overthinking the whole thing (panicking, freezing, falling into a deep existential crisis, despairing, shaking myself out of it, pushing myself, getting excited again, and occasionally even dreaming).
Now, with my chapters all polished to the point that they reflect light, workshopping the hell out of my query, researching the entire web for agents representing fantasy, and torturing myself through writing the 2-page synopsis, I believe it is time to let my little baby writing project dive into the great unknown. . . What, too cliché? Well, I think I am allowed a bit of that after all this effort.
Anyway, if you are a fellow author or reader, please keep your fingers crossed for me (press your thumbs if you are German), and pray to whatever god or demon in which you believe. I won’t judge as long as they deliver prayers! [I just wanted to take a moment to enjoy the fact that I can use as many exclamation marks here as I want. Phew! I missed that during the year I was focused on my manuscript. Apparently, most editors loathe exclamation marks.]
Of course, I have a system for querying agents in which I only send a handful every time, followed by reasonably long pauses. I’ve read too often about published authors who have queried about 100 or more agents. I can’t even imagine doing that. Not because I don’t want to try hard enough, but because that would be impossible in my sub-genre. As an author of Adult High Fantasy, I am revolved to only querying agents who explicitly express interest in fantasy. I have also eliminated any agent who stated they want “grounded”, “light”, or “urban” fantasy.
So, if you happen to be an agent representing epic or high fantasy, then you will be receiving my query very soon. I am querying in batches mixing seniority and success, so that each time, only one is a top/favorite agent. And since I am a computer scientist by education, I am randomizing the order a bit. Therefore, it might take time until I reach you on my list. I admit that I only have a couple of favorite agents, but there are also some other great choices out there that I will contact.
While researching how to query, I often read the same thing over and over agents put value in seeing their name and title written properly in the query. I admit that I can relate to that. Though having spent a decade as a female scientist in academia, I find that more of a luxury. The agents are definitely within their right to pay attention to such red flags. But not all professions have the same level of standards. It is not an exaggeration to say that most emails I usually received failed in that regard. While misspelled variations of my name were the norm, I have received too many emails addressed to “Dear Sir,” “Dear Gentleman,” and even the most confident “Dear Mr. Shida,” without the sender bothering to second guess their choice.
And you know how many times I have addressed these mistakes in my replay?
Only when the sender referred to me with a title higher than my own, i.e., “Professor” when I was only a Postdoc, or “Doctor” when I was still a Ph.D. student. I never correct anyone misgendering me. Perhaps I should have. Well, too late for that now.
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