Querying journey part 2

Querying Stats as of August 2024:
Genre: Women’s fiction
Requests: 18 (mix of fulls and partials)
R&Rs: 2
Rejections: 15
Outstanding: 1

18 requests, awesome, right? Yes, it’s great! Yet… now that I’m on the other side of that with most of them being rejected, it’s… not as great.  You would expect that many requests to get at least one offer in the end, wouldn’t you? So, what does it mean? Is there something wrong with the novel, or is it really just a timing thing/luck of the draw that none of these particular agents were right for my novel?

I’ve definitely had moments of doubt learning towards the first option. What if the novel isn’t good enough? What if I’ve missed something major developmentally or on the line level? Well, I am able to box up this option because I’ve had a few people provide me with high quality critique which I know definitely helped elevate the novel, and these writers have really solid craft knowledge, so I’m able to put some faith in that, rather than trying to trust myself, because even though I’m a developmental editor, you can never see your own work as clearly as is needed to strengthen any novel.

In addition to this, I didn’t have any agents provide personalised feedback that suggested any major flaws with the work. Most of my responses were form ones which mentioned not being right for their list, or just not falling in love with it “enough”. A lot of agents have said that there forms are ‘semi-personalised’ in that they choose the most fitting form response.

My two R&Rs also didn’t highlight any major flaws with the novel. One wanted a couple of scene-relevant edits, and the other wanted a lot more details (which I feel would have driven the story more towards being literary rather than commercial, which I don’t want).

So, I’m not too worried that I’m “actually a terrible writer” or that “the novel isn’t publishable” etc. (Of course that doesn’t mean there might not still be room for improvement! More eyes will always bring more to table.)

Does this then mean it’s just not right for these particular agents? It’s just a matter of the timing/agents just “didn’t work out”. But what if there’s more to it?

I’ve thought a lot about the subject matter of the novel. It addresses mental health in parenting. There are a lot of dark themes in it. Could it be “too dark”, “too serious” for most agents? Possibly. It’s a pretty heavy topic to address, and one that will have many different opinions – perhaps it’s the case that the topics of this novel just aren’t right for the publishing industry right now.

Despite all this, I’ve definitely had flickers of doubt – but they’re small, quick, easy to dismiss and kick to the kerb. But no matter that they go, they do still come. It still, ultimately, doesn’t feel great to have had so much hope come from the requests, only to ultimately be in a place of shelving the story for now while I work on the next. (I also want to go back to edit my YA, as I do feel that will have a decent chance once I work on the line edits [my line level of writing has improved so much since I last worked on it!]).

For every writer in a similar situation, there could be different factors at play. Some might have a novel that does need a lot more work either developmentally or on the line level. Some might not have the ‘right’ type of story for the current industry. Some may just be lucking out on agents who have similar projects, or just really can’t see a place for it on their list, or just don’t have the passion for it. If you’re in this situation, how do you know?

Maybe you can never be 100% certain, but you can definitely evaluate the situation in a similar way to what I’ve done. And in the end, all you can do is keep writing the next thing. Which leads me to… the next thing. My current WIP is well underway and I’m super excited by where it’s headed. Having this in the works definitely helps to not worry about the queried project – in fact, I had definite moments of hoping it would work out this way, because I know my WIP has greater commercial appeal and therefore my options for agents will be a lot broader. I’m really excited to get to querying it, but, I’m not rushing. While mortality motivation is a thing, and it’s important to keep in mind (IMO at least), ultimately, the quality of our day to day life is more important. As long as I’m consistently working on the project, I’m happy!

Have any questions? Feel free to post them below or email me at [email protected]

Worried that you’re novel isn’t ready for querying? Hit me up for a sample edit and an honest opinion – in some cases a novel  can have a strong opening and then quickly fall apart, but in other cases it can sometimes be evident from page one that more work needs to be done. Feel free to check out my services or join my email list – I do monthly giveaways for critique!