Paving the Way to Publishing

Since attending a writing conference in early April, I’ve been on a new track with my writing goals. I feel more focused. I have 4 finished books at the moment, and now I have a clear plan of where each is going, or at least, what I want to do with each: the cozy mystery, part of a self-published series, will join its companion mysteries via self-publication soon (I’m working on it, lol); my memoir will chill for a bit (I’ve entered part of it in a contest and am curious if that will lead to anything); my “superhero” story is in the query trenches, and my “romance” with an unhappy ending pairs with the superhero story and would work best being published after the “superhero” one. Did I mention I have 3 works in progress? (And I wonder where my son got his ADHD.) Focus, Sarah.

So, the “superhero” story was the obvious choice to take to the query trenches. It did a brief stint there in late ’22 under a different name and it’s since been revised extensively. Since mid-April, I’ve sent out 45 queries to literary agents. I tend to research beyond the agency websites to find out if an agent’s truly a good fit, which takes me more time. To date, I’ve only heard back from ten, and one other has passed the 6-week date that they have listed on their agency’s site, so I suppose I never will hear back from that one. Still, this leaves 34 potentially interested agents. And I have a few more on my list that I want to reach out to– they are simply not open to queries at the moment. I think having a solid 50 would be a good goal. I fee like I’m on the right track this time around, and here are three reasons why:

In the past, I’ve felt dejected or given up after only ten or twelve queries on a project and have been quick to hit “pause” on publishing dreams, certain that nobody will want my writing if ten experts have already rejected it. This time around, I feel determined to keep going. I’ve heard of people sending out 100, 200, or 500 (!!!) queries before finding the right agent, often having a successful career afterward. With that in perspective, ten rejections hardly means anything about one’s writing abilities. 50 seems like a reasonable goal before switching my writerly focus to one of my WIPs. And just maybe, with luck, I’ll find the right fit within those 50 queries.
Of the ten recent rejections, I’ve received 3 incredibly nice, personalized ones. A “nice” rejection may seem like a contradiction, but I’ve heard from others in this highly subjective industry that it’s a good sign. One agent even specifically told me that she couldn’t take me on because she’d just signed another “cancer survivor superhero” book. My initial reaction? “Yay, mine isn’t the only one in the world!” 😂 Maybe I’ll finally have a comp title for my queries. I truly hope that a survivor has penned that one, too, as the industry is totally lacking in #ownvoice AYA survivor stories. Seeing agents pick out elements that they specifically appreciate about my work, even if they cannot represent it at this time, still feels empowering. One agent even apologized for taking over two months to respond and added that she was certain I likely already had representation by now but still wanted to reply to me. I don’t, but it was sure sweet of her to say such a thing! *blush*
I feel more “mature” about the whole publishing process. While I’d love to get my book traditionally published, it’s not an “end all” if it’s not. I’ve walked the self-publishing route before, I have lots of other work in progress and finished, and I know the literary market is everchanging. People will always be reading and I will always be writing. I felt really rushed and desperate to get my words out there during and shortly after cancer treatment, but now, 3 years out from treatment, I’m daring to hope and have good evidence to believe that I might well be here in 5, 10, even 20 years, if I’m getting really optimistic. I ~~likely~~ have time. There’s no rush.

If you’re in the query trenches, don’t feel discouraged! Maybe you can relate to the above. Two things that helped me the most were finding a writing community and attending a writing conference. Best of luck out there. ❣