I can attest to the amount of patience required. I've been through this three times in the last 15 years with 3 different books. No agent yet, but I'm gearing up to do it again with another.
I appreciate your perspective, Audrey, and your resolve. It's a tough industry, for sure. If you don't mind my asking--have you received requests for a partial manuscript from any of your queries?
What’s tough for me is knowing if what I have is something that is good enough to begin querying with. I have a finished book, and I think it’s good, but I can’t tell if it’s just good to me or actually good. The only people who have read it are friends and family. I can’t seem to find any volunteer beta readers, and I don’t have the money for hiring one unfortunately.
There's one more author with an agent here :-) The 4th draft of my novel got a MS assessment award, the 6th an agent. That was the first pitch letter I sent out and when I got the reply two weeks later, I sat down and cried. It sounds like a fairy tale and I keep my fingers crossed not to jinx it. There's been no positive reply from publishers yet, it's a waiting game. So, I'm here, reading, writing, and learning to think positively :)
Perfect timing. Just sent out my first batch of queries and the self-doubt and "why am I doing this?" set in. So annoying. I've kept tabs on Cindi's journey - amazing how she navigated the process (and a great example for me). Persistence is queen.
Thank you for including me in this post! I hope it helps people. :)
I can attest to the amount of patience required. I've been through this three times in the last 15 years with 3 different books. No agent yet, but I'm gearing up to do it again with another.
I appreciate your perspective, Audrey, and your resolve. It's a tough industry, for sure. If you don't mind my asking--have you received requests for a partial manuscript from any of your queries?
What’s tough for me is knowing if what I have is something that is good enough to begin querying with. I have a finished book, and I think it’s good, but I can’t tell if it’s just good to me or actually good. The only people who have read it are friends and family. I can’t seem to find any volunteer beta readers, and I don’t have the money for hiring one unfortunately.
There's one more author with an agent here :-) The 4th draft of my novel got a MS assessment award, the 6th an agent. That was the first pitch letter I sent out and when I got the reply two weeks later, I sat down and cried. It sounds like a fairy tale and I keep my fingers crossed not to jinx it. There's been no positive reply from publishers yet, it's a waiting game. So, I'm here, reading, writing, and learning to think positively :)
Perfect timing. Just sent out my first batch of queries and the self-doubt and "why am I doing this?" set in. So annoying. I've kept tabs on Cindi's journey - amazing how she navigated the process (and a great example for me). Persistence is queen.