I’m back in the query trenches. It’s official and I thought it would be fun to bring you guys along for the ride! If you’re new here, you may not realize that I was agented before. I blogged about how I got my first agent here. The day I signed with her (after eight years of querying) was one of the best days of my writing life for sure. We went on to sell three books together. It was a whirlwind few years!
But unfortunately our agent/ author relationship wasn’t meant to last. She decided to leave the publishing industry in Spring, 2020. You can read that story here. Faithful blog readers may remember that I stayed on with the agency for a few more months. But after some soul searching, I realized that we weren’t the best fit any longer and we parted ways on excellent terms. I still cheer for their authors as loudly as I can and I know they’re cheering for me too.
Essentially, I’ve been unagented since last fall and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me. Finding an agent the first time felt like validation of some sort. Now, even with three traditionally published books to my credit, it feels strange not to have a publishing professional in my corner, an advocate, an adviser, a cheerleader. Without one, I feel somewhat alone—even though I know I’m not. I have local writing friends, critique partners, Twitter and Instagram connections, and blog readers that I’d be lost without. I’m so grateful for the writing community because they give me motivation and support when I need it and hopefully I do the same for them. Publishing is really a tough business and it helps to have writing friends. Who else can really understand the up and the downs?
But, if I want to sell more books and reach more readers, then I need an agent too. Self publishing isn’t for me, so let the querying games begin! It took a lot out of me last time but I’m determined to stay positive an enjoy the process this time around. Nothing in publishing is easy. If it was everyone would get published! I’ve been anxious to get this process started again, so now that I have a brand new manuscript to offer, I’m ready to do it all over again.
I don’t plan to blog about every request and rejection that I get though. That won’t help anyone and it’s really not smart to be that transparent anyway. What agent will want to sign an author that has been rejected all over the continent? Instead, I’ll post about things like query letters, query forms, the dreaded synopsis, and my process—things that hopefully can help some of you. I’ll also be cheering you on because I know I’m not the only one in the trenches and hopefully when I’m celebrating with new agent news, you will be too.
BTW, I feel like a proud mom today…the swirl and spark blog is 8 years old on Friday!! So, whether you’ve been reading it since the beginning, just found it for the first time today, or fall someplace in the middle, thank you so much! I appreciate you being here with me. It’s much better than writing these posts for myself!
Cheers for now. Hope you’re having a wonderful week!
swirl and spark 