Hear ye, hear ye…
Querying has commenced! I repeat, querying has commenced!
For those who follow me on Instagram (or even my notes here on Substack), you know that I’ve recently attended the Kauai Writers Conference.
Soon, you’ll see a full-length post about being a first-time writer’s conference attendee, but I needed to share this exciting writing update first.
I suppose this is a bit of a spoiler for that post, but during the KWC, I received some excellent responses to my pitch/query.
Yesterday morning at O’Dark Thirty (because… West Coast life), I had the thrill of sending TWO full manuscripts and one partial to agents with whom I met during the conference.
Never one to leave “good enough” alone, I also sent out my first two query letters.
AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!
Now, for those who follow me but don’t know about the writing process, you may be asking what any of this means. What’s an agent? And what’s querying? Why is this a big deal? What’s a book? (…just making sure you’re paying attention)
In short, literary agents are the gatekeepers of publishing. Writers partner with agents who, in turn, represent the writer’s work and then try to sell the books to publishers. (They also do much more, but that’s the normal person gist.)
Agents, much like attorneys, are there to serve the best interests of the writer and her story…while also making a commission (not like they’re in it for the good of humanity/literature). Plus, they get to read books all day and get paid for it, so that sounds pretty freaking awesome.
Anyway, as a writer, if you want to get a book published by one of the more prominent names out there, you have to have an agent.1
And in order to get an agent, you must query them. Which is basically saying, “Dear agent, please love me…and my story, and my writing, and my genre, and my characters, and and and…”
So now that I’ve sent along pages, we wait. For how long? Hard to say.
LMK if your Magic 8 Ball is working better than mine, but it will probably be at least a month or two.
Perhaps the most thrilling part of this update is that by meeting with agents at KWC, I’ve been able to skip the cold query stage for a select number of agents. These lovely humans read my opening pages before we met and then actively asked me for submissions.
Now that my pages are in their overflowing inboxes, hopefully, they will enjoy the rest of the manuscript they haven’t seen yet!
As for the other agents I queried, I’m glad to have ripped the Band-Aid off the process. I can confidently feel that my head won’t explode from panic when I send another batch—a legitimate concern.
In other news, I’ve started a spreadsheet (IYKYK) for the character development of my next story idea. Yes, I’m ready to dive into a new story arc ASAP! More to come on that in 2025…
Until next time,
Megan
Exceptions may apply
New to your blog and so excited for you! Cheering you on in the query trenches, Megan!
Getting those requests at the conference is huge! Congrats! I’m also querying, waiting, and it is tough. Wishing you luck!