If You’re Querying, Watch This Now

Thank you! This advice is putting my mind at ease.

Had a few rejections which although gutting they are expected... I just got a Dm on X from an agent to die for who wants me to send my query and 3 chapters SHOOKETH! as they are closed to unsolicited Queries too. I'm scared to send as I'm holding on to the thought this might be something great and i don't want this feeling to end lol

Thank you again for the tips, Alyssa! ❤ The one about creating a separate email address for querying is actually very helpful, that’s a really good idea. I’ll do that! Thank you!

"You're ugly. You're disgusting. I'm gonna kill you. Give me $200." - The literary agent that lives in my head.

I've recently sent my MS to a developmental editor and will soon begin my querying journey. The first thing I did was to move all your videos about this topic to my "Watch Later" playlist. Thanks for the dose of reality. Knowing ahead of time that this process can be (will be) a frustrating process will help me persist. Also, I appreciate the sheer volume of info you provide. Thanks again for all you do for us.

Thanks for posting, Alyssa. It's rare that I don't steal at least one useful concept or facet of information from one of your videos. This one was no exception. Snapshots of what the [expletive] is going on at literary agencies in 2023 is extremely helpful to writers who have likely had more contact with police than we have agents.

Stephen King used to keep a spike that he tacked rejection letters on to. James Patterson was rejected by 31 publishers before he was published. Harry Potter was turned down by twenty publishers. Brandon Sanderson had written 12-13 novels before he was published. Just keep at it. Write for you. Write well. Write as best as you can. But write because you have a story that HAS to come out NO MATTER WHAT. It’s the only way to stay sane.

15 queries rejected and continue on to the 200 submission until I quit

Thank you very much for all your videos, you’ve helped me through the entire process starting from writing my book! I’m in my querying process now! ❤

Great tips thank you

Traditional querying - Sucky but necessary? Why? To me it's a symptom of the broken-ness and arrogance. All I have encountered in my querying journey is polite rejections, boilerplated rejections, ghosting and vanity sharks. Traditional publishing is established to have a river of gold nuggets running past the office so the managers can lazily throw a line out from time to time to secure the largest, shiniest and most obvious ones. I'm think becoming a minor TV celebrity or a failed pop star is now the easiest path to becoming a published author.

I'm half convinced literary agents exist, so publishers aren't hassled by debut writers.

What I find the most disheartening about the publishing industry, Alyssa, is the fact that multiple publishing houses and agents repeatedly rejected JK Rowling's queries for her first Harry Potter book. We all know the Harry Potter series became one of the most successful book series in history. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? I just can't get over that sometimes. When I think about that, I feel the whole process is disjointed, sluggish, and broken. Is it worth all the querying trouble? I guess the authors that make it through would say it is.

Thanks for this! Will try to keep these in mind for my second attempt to query once im done my next draft edit. Querying is definitely a struggle!

This industry just hasn’t been able to keep up with the times. It’s 2022 and the industry standard is still a year or more for a novel to debut.

Sure, there are a lot of things happening, but it’s still an industry issue. For those of us who aren’t here for money, we’ll keep using this dinosaur of a method. But I totally get why so many people are jumping ship and going the indie route. Maybe if enough money gets syphoned from the Big 4 to the Indy market, they’ll see it’s worth retooling.

Buuut I think we doubt it lol. It’s probably time to say that the third constant (besides taxes and death) is the slow-roll that is traditional publishing.

After sending queries for a few years, I do get upset when I get rejected. Sadly, I know it's part of it. The only time I get annoyed when an agent comes with their typical response stating 'its not for me'. When actually according to their bio, it is exactly for them.
Well, I hope this time with my latest work, one agent will say YES. Few weeks gone already.

Hi! My name is Dominique Gibson. I have been watching your videos for a while when it comes to traditional publishing and I had a question about being a hybrid author. What is your advice when it comes to someone who self publishes books but are interested in going the traditional publishing route as well (being a hybrid author?) Thank you.

I am having an odd issue. I expected to get a few rejections with people who didn't like the story or maybe my writing style. Instead I have gotten 6 rejections saying they loved the story and concept, even enjoyed themselves while reading, but it wasn't for them and encouraged me to keep trying. I'd much rather them tell me I sucked. Then I'd had something to go back and work on. I feel like I'm in a debut purgatory.

I have sent out more than 150 queries but no luck yet! Your videos are always very helpful tho! After months of waiting, I am starting to think about self-publishing on an online publishing platform. Any advice?

I tried for a couple of years to get a query accepted with no success. My way of dealing with this is to keep writing. Occasionally, I will send out queries once I complete a book. If I don't hear back after a few months, I head down the self-publishing route. One way or another, the book will see the light of day. Keeps the morale up. One day, I might get a book traditionally published, but I'm not putting all my eggs in that basket.

I expected a long wait to get a reply to my queries; but what has really gotten me down was the near total absence of any response. I sent out six queries three months ago; I got one auto-reject within 24 hours of submission (no reason was given). I haven't heard from any of the others. I've checked that the genre, word count and content did match up with the wish lists of the various agents I queried, so I am assuming the problem lay in the opening pages. I'm considering doing some revising, but without any feedback, I'm not certain what to change. Am I jumping the gun? Would you advise that I continue submitting with the book in its current state, or should I revise the book - or at least the opening? Thanks!

You have impeccable timing Alyssa! I just sent out my first batch of queries this weekend and already got my first rejection this morning. Good tips to keep from overanalyzing/second guessing everything. Thanks as always!

I've sent close to 100 queries. I'm sooo sad. I was ready to self publish but this came up on my que.

When you’re single and unemployed, query rejections are a distant third after job and date rejections. :D

Will you accept fantasy genre in future?

While I was incredibly lucky to find my agent quickly, I did receive a few rejections first.

I had an agent point for point describe my book then rejected it, while the agent I wasn't even sure I was a good fit for ultimately picked me and is the best partner I could ask for in this process.

Also, in terms of response rate. Agents receive literally hundreds of queries a day and some are requesting anywhere from the first five pages to the first three chapters per query. So if one agent receives just 7 queries a day (when it's more likely to be 70+) that is an enormous amount of reading to parse through on top of their other duties and client list. And while form rejections are also not helpful, I would not envy having to tell hundreds of thousands of people a year exactly why they weren't picked.

The very first agent I queried rejected me within 16 hours, but they graciously shared they received nearly three hundred no's before they got their one yes. All it takes is one, you just have to hold on until you get yours

Thanks Alyssa. I expect to start querying in the next 1-2 months, so this is very timely. You have a lot of great tips around using email and social networking as well as your industry expertise. I'd love to see a book from you on "best practices in querying". The separate email is really smart, and not just from a state of mind perspective. I think it would also be helpful for tracking the correspondence, and it shouldn't attract the amount of junk that my personal email does. Right now I am querying magazines for a number of short stories I've written, and I wish I'd thought of it for that!

Thank you so much for your videos! I’ve started querying a couple of months ago and have already had a few breaks from the process. As a result, I haven’t approached that much of the agents (10-15), but at least stayed more or less sane and motivated :) the downside of this approach though is that it might take an eternity to find an agent...

I've been a subscriber for awhile. I queried last year and got a couple of full and partial. The last agent almost offered but she felt like her expertise wasn't fit for my genre and advised I should query her colleagues. I took that as hope after all the rejections. I edited my manuscript some more, made it better, and oddly, I am very excited to query again even about getting rejections 😅 it is such a weird feeling to miss it.

Thank you for your passion in helping us authors, Alyssa! Will continue to support you :)

You are such a nice person and I love your videos.

This is a sad, defeatist question. If I can't secure agent representation, what are the options for making my novel available online for anyone to read for free?

I was surprised to hear how many writers are discouraged about the query process. I guess I am used to moving beyond rejections since I am older and have experienced many life difficulties so I am able to cope. I learned so much writing my first novel that I have moved on to the next one while still querying for the first with about 10 a month. I don't think of my first novel as I feel it's ready when the time comes and I get an agent. I am loving my second novel even more enjoying the process a much wiser person. It is for me the very best thing to keep my spirits up. Your videos have given me confidence that I am on the right track. Thanks again!

I’m actually sending out my first batch this week…& I’m petrified. Hearing about everyone’s disappointment really knocks over my usual “glass half-full”.

What my writing friends and I find fun is to aim for 100 rejections in a year.
It absolutely turns anxiety into excitement.

It's very painful to spend so much time researching agents, reading their bios, studying their wishlist, tailoring your query to that person specifically, only to be given a generic, copy-and-pasted rejection that makes you believe they never even bothered to read a single word. I wonder if agents realize how much power they have to crush dreams? Just some indication that they actually read a page of a book you spent 7 years working on every day would go a long way to keeping spirits alive. The whole process basically makes me want to kill myself.

I only just got into Twitter, this whole platform is quite foreign to me to be honest, but I thought I came across your account there. Was that you or an imposter?

You forgot a "d" in your intro...
Disheartening, disappointing, and depressing.

Very interesting you've done this. Directly relevant to my current concerns. Thank you for facing this topic. I respect your willingness to engage with this kind of thing. Can you sometime face off to this one. Please do a whole YT on this. It's the question that's getting increasingly pertinent these days: Why is a deal with a publishing co the best kind of deal? What exactly do they give you when you are told they won't necessarily pay you more. Just the opposite. Is there a genuine advantage getting a publishing deal despite the money question? If you say yes, precisely what is the nitty gritty of that? Further, modern publishers are actively looking for successful self pub authors and they take them over. Could give details but you will know. These are number one issues for authors today. Trad publishers know they have to adapt - or else. The conspicuous amalgamations speak volumes.

The problem with agents saying that if you get no response consider it a rejection is that you don't know if it's time to try another agent at the same agency.

I've sent out about 50 queries in the past 11 months. I've had a handful of full requests and some interest from agents, but all have ended in rejections. While I can't help but get my hopes up every time I get a full request, I try to go into the process with the mindset that someone else's opinion of my work doesn't affect my opinion of myself. And that I can always self-publish. Lol

I'm currently querying and yeah all this. It's so disheartening right now. Everything is taking so long and the rejections are awful after waiting weeks to hear back. It does help knowing I'm not alone in feeling this way. Good luck out there writers.

I am deep in the querying trenches, and really appreciated this video. Thank you.

The idea that writers are complaining about a lack of response after only a few weeks of querying is laughable. Literary agents don't owe writers a quick response. The sooner writers realised this the less dejection and angst there'd be.

Thank you for this ... as always your videos and thoughtful and insightful. If you have no objections, I plan to thank you in the Acknowledgements of my first novel (someday).

Question for Ask Me Anything: once someone has an agent, and wants to post their stats to encourage other queriers, how do you count your rejections? Example, a person lands the 20th agent they query, but sent out 50 queries total, got 30 form rejections, had 3 rejections after full manuscript requests, and the rest didn't respond. Was the author rejected 19 times before getting an agent? 49 times? 33 times? This may seem silly, but ... is there an "official" way to count?

literally the exact perfect timing for me ❤️ thank you

This is such a timely video for me, as I was just talking about taking a querying break for my mental health. I knew it was gonna be a hard task, but I didn’t realize just how hard it was to see nearly 15 rejections + over 50 queries that haven’t gotten a response yet. Thanks for the reminder to be patient ❤

How many rejections should one take before returning to do more work on their manuscript and trying again?