Duck, Duck, Duck, Goose

I’ve finally gotten off my ass and started sending out query letters again, about 16 so far and it’s been a lot and a lot of this:

Sorry, I’m not the right agent for this one. Thanks for asking, though, and good luck publishing your work.

and

Dear Author:

Thank you so much for sending the Nelson Literary Agency your query.

We’d like to apologize for the impersonal nature of this standard rejection letter. Rest assured that we do read every query letter carefully and, unfortunately, this project is not right for us.

Because this business is so subjective and opinions vary widely, we recommend that you pursue other agents. After all, it just takes one “yes” to find the right match.

Good luck with all your publishing endeavors.

But then sometimes, a door opens. (sigh of slight relief).

Dear Mr. Proof,

Thank you for thinking of me. I’d be happy to see your first severeal
chapters. Would you please send by regular mail? I look forward to the
read.

So this weekend I’ll be sending out the first several chapters of my novel. Any guess as to how many chapters several is I don’t know. But since my chapters tend to run short, I’m thinking the first 50 some pages give or take.

Progress

Well I wouldn’t have imagined even hearing back from agents the next day, let alone on Sunday. But here it is less than 24 hours later and I’ve actually heard back from two agents already from yesterdays cold emailings.

1 No, 1 Maybe:

“Not for me-thanks anyway.” -Paul S Levine Literary Agency

“I have received your submission … Unfortunately, we receive such a high volume of e-queries that we can no longer respond personally to every submission… If I am interested in seeing more of your material, I will contact you again to let you know what I would like to see…” – Andrea Brown Literary Agency

Not a bad first 24 hours. And now I’m off to send out another query letter or two, and then try to edit tonights Script Frenzy inspired Path to Publication.