the craft. the querying journey.

Querying is terrible. Okay, maybe I’m being dramatic and I’m only speaking from my experience, that doesn’t mean it won’t be sunshine and strawberries for you. But in either case, my querying journey started at the very end of 2018. I started with a pitch competition on Twitter which felt like a safe foray into the pitching space. I received a couple of likes on my pitch and I was off to complete a book synopsis and query to send to the interested agents.

It was not the fairytale I hoped of landing an agent from a Twitter pitch. But that was the first really good feedback I received from agents that ultimately declined. With that feedback, I pulled back to revise those beginning pages of my manuscript, worked with a few more beta readers, and got back into the game in 2019.

And it was the hardest most depressing year I’ve had in my writing career. Some Nos came fast, some came even after I signed with my agent. But there was a lot of rejection. I’d resolved that maybe I wouldn’t sell my first novel and so many articles online confirmed that most writers don’t sell the first manuscript they’ve written. And so, I knew I wasn’t special and so that probably wouldn’t happen for me either. I started working then on a short story collection that helped take my mind off things for a while.

Then in January of 2020, this hellish year for most of us, I received an email while out at an event (remember those?) and I couldn’t believe what I saw. An agent actually loved my book and wanted to talk more with me about it. Fast forward, because this email is not supposed to be all about me but I wanted to paint an accurate picture of this process, I signed with Jessica Reino of Metamorphosis Literary Agency and we sold my book by May or June or something like that.

So, I wanted to share a few tips with you about this process. Not as an expert, but as someone who miraculously made it through. So here are a few thoughts for you to consider and of course remember: everyone’s journey will be DIFFERENT. Just take what you need from my experience and go get yours!

Fortify yourself. As I mentioned, everyone will have a different experience. Mine was kind of long and grueling. And it took a toll on my mental health of feeling like I was good enough or like I was crazy for thinking that somehow I could be a traditionally published author. Find your way of building your confidence before entering this process. I went to therapy and it really helped! (The “not good enough” issues are normally deep-seeded.)

Research. You think writing the book is the hard part. But finding these agents and finding one that is an expert in your genre is a whole job within itself. You don’t want just anybody. The success of your book and what you are able to negotiate for an advance is highly influenced by who you pick. There is an important thing to remember here, you are not begging anyone for an opportunity. You have a gift and a story and you are just as valuable in the relationship with your agent. Okay, so with that out of the way, a couple places you can look for agents (not an exhaustive list):

http://manuscriptwishlist.com - this has an awesome database of agents that you can search by genre among other things I believe. And you can read about the type of projects they are looking for.
https://www.litagentsofcolor.com/ - this is a database specifically catered to agents of color.
Twitter - one of my favorite places. And lots of writers and agents like it to. You can also search the hashtag #mswl here.
Book Acknowledgements - You should be reading comparable books to know where your book fits in the market. Make sure to read the acknowledgments because nine times out of ten, authors thank their agents there. As they should.

I created a pretty detailed spreadsheet to help me keep track of my process. Here’s a link that you can download and add to your Google Sheets if you like. Or you can utilize http://querytracker.net. Whichever floats your boat.

Make sure you have a completed manuscript. This again is about fiction! (Non-fiction proposal info coming in a bit.) Do not think that somehow you can trick the system because if and when you get a request for a full, you will not want to tell a busy agent “I need a couple more weeks.” Manuscripts need to be in top shape. We talked about that here.

Lastly, let’s talk a little about the format of a query. It’s honestly not as scary as it sounds. And if you’re used to freelancing, it’s actually kind of similar to those types of pitches.

Intro - this paragraph will include your hello to the agent. Here you can put any personal info as well like how you met the agent or what made you want to reach out to them specifically. I’ll say things here like, “We met at the Well-Read Black Girl Festival in New York” or “I was reading through your MSWL and thought you might be interested in my current project.” You’ll also include here word count of your manuscript, genre, and comparable titles.
Summary - this is your main sell for your book. Think about that inner jacket copy from books that you love. You want to sum up your book here in one paragraph in a way that intrigues the person to want to read more without giving up the ending. What are the stakes? Who is the main character? And what will happen if they don’t get to their goal?
Biographical info - who are you and why are you the one writing this book? If you’ve never written other books, don’t be afraid to include other writing experience. Sometimes it just helps an agent to know that you have other career endeavors as a writer. So I included bylines that I had. Even though they weren’t relevant to writing fiction, I felt it showed I’d been paid to write and could probably string some sentences together.

I know this is a longer post, but I wanted to share as much as possible because this information isn’t always easy to find in one place.

A couple of extra things to remember here are to read the guidelines to each and every agent you pitch. There is not a blanket requirement and some people ask for different things. You don’t want to be the guy/girl/non-binary who couldn’t follow instructions. And also just give agents some grace. They literally receive a ton of queries a day in addition to managing the projects of their actual clients. Get referrals where you can, but if you are doing the slush pile route as I did, more than likely you will have to be patient.

What other questions do you have about the process that we can answer in later posts?

Writing/Job Opportunities

Teddy Wilson is accepting freelance pitches related to investigating the organized opposition to women’s and LGBTQIA rights, and the impacts of the U.S. elections on marginalized communities. Send pitches to teddy.wilson@opendemocracy.net.

The Pulitzer Center has three open internship positions. DEADLINE: Oct. 16th to apply.

The Fuller Project is looking for pitches on DV/Violence against women during this time. What stories are being missed? Who/what isn’t being held accountable? What are the potential solutions? Pitch us pitch@fullerproject.org

Gizmodo is hiring a staff writer in science.

Fast Company is looking for a freelance part-time commerce writer. $500 per week for four posts.

Healthline is looking for an Updates Editor.

Wired is looking for a Product Writer.

Well +Good is looking for an Editorial Intern.

Greener Pastures on Medium is looking for Fall pitches.

Idealist is looking for a writer to cover Philanthropy.