The Curious Power of Query Positivity!

The Curious Power of Query Positivity!
#queryPositive

First off, I am currently an unpublished #amQuerying writer. But in querying, I have learned some essential truths. If you don’t even know what I mean when I say querying, read on! If you do and you’ve started your own journey, you can jump ahead here.

So you finished writing your first book, you got some beta readers to read it, you took their advice and updated it, and you did one final edit. It’s looking pretty good, and damn you feel accomplished, and you absolutely should! So, whats the next step in your writing journey, where are you going to put all this momentum towards?

Well first you’ve got to decide whats going to work best for you, self-publishing, traditional-publishing or hybrid. For the sake of this post, lets say your heart is set on traditional publishing (I’m not going to talk about the merits of each choice in this post). So your going to need a partner, someone who is going to be your advocate in the publishing world, your going to need to find a literary agent. Also almost all Traditional Publishers will not deal directly with writers, so once again your going to need an agent.

So you do some research and learn the term “Query”; which is basically a formal formulaic business letter to an agent, with some very basic information on your manuscript, yourself and your contact info. Back in the day you’d send this Query Letter via the mail, nowadays its usually either by email or querytracker.

Now, you ready? Time to take all that energy and momentum you built up creating and honing your masterpiece, building your agents list and *bam*:

Welcome to the Trenches!

Sounds ominous, don’t it. Well there is that story (or two) where a debut writer spent a month querying agents only to get snatched up by the perfect fit! This is a story, akin to a myth among us writers. We don’t call it the query trenches for nothing!

Traditional publishing is a long game in itself. It’s a slow cumbersome beast that takes, patience, perseverance, and the ability to accept criticism. The query trenches are no different, and probably the first place your going to come up against these unique challenges.

And now for the most useless advice ever:

STAY POSITIVE!

But in it, is a kernel of wisdom! Querying is a numbers game, your going to have to go through a lot of agents before finding that diamond in the rough that see’s your story as the masterpiece, that they can sell. That is right, you are going to hear that agenting is very subjective, you are going to read it in every rejection email you get, and you are going to get a lot. I like to call them “passes” but in all truth, they are rejections. But, every rejection from every agent has a reason, they have to decide whether they can sell your manuscript or not, so unless everything aligns perfectly, they are going to pass. They have to, they only get paid when they sell your manuscript. (Here is a great article by the former Lit Agent Kesia Lupo that every #amQuerying writer should read, it really gives a good insight on the other side of querying from the Agents POV)

So, should you just give up? Is your writing just crap? Do all these agents just hate you?

Simple answer is … probably not. I mean I guess it is possible, but again, probably not.

So, you gotta stay positive, and since it is a numbers game you gotta preserver, and not give up. You’re a writer, you have created worlds, and characters to live in those worlds, and you’re just going to give up on getting those worlds into thousands of hands because of all of this rejection?

I mean it’s not easy, that’s why we querying writers say we are deep in the trenches. It’s heartbreaking to see the world you’ve created rejected over and over again. Each rejection hurting more than the last, but you have got to remember, it’s a numbers game. Here’s where that useless advice of staying positive comes into play. Dealing with all that rejection is ego-breaking, soul-crushing, and you gotta stay positive!

Why!? Because only by staying positive can you preserver, can you make it to the next rejection, and the next, and the next. Until finally the stars align, and you find that one agent who see the brilliance in your words, the worth of your work, and knows they can sell your manuscript.

So I’ve got a mantra for you to repeat before you open that email, and probably after, after you scan for that word “unfortunately”, after you finally take that deep breath and click open;

Every rejection is a stepping stone in my publishing journey…

Dorky, right, but it’s the damned truth. Because each rejection is a lesson, that teaches you not only what agents are looking for, how to tweak your query letter, how to grow in your craft as a writer, but how to grow as a person who knows their worth even without instant validation.

It’s going to take time, and that’s OK.

So what do you do while you’re learning to be the best writer you can be, dealing with all that rejection while you’re querying? Find your tribe; whether in real life, or online. Find other querying authors, and help prop each other up. Support each other.

So we came up with this hashtag to use, and follow:

#queryPositive

Anytime you want to post about querying, or need support yourself! Use it!

You can find me on Twitter, er… X, where I am usually posting about my writing journey in the #writingCommunity, but also #queryPositive. Shout out goes to Saffron Asteria for the inspiration for this post, and catching some of my spelling mistakes!