Hello, dreamers. So this was originally supposed to be the last of these posts for a while. But this week I had a revelation. I mentioned it in this week’s “WIP Wednesday”, but it’s worth getting into here as it affects my query process. So this week, on my penultimate “Dear Sir or Madam” post for the month, I’d like to focus on the right time to query.

There’s a Time for Everything

One of the hardest realities every querying writer must face is that literary agents are human. They have lives and limited bandwidth; they won’t get to your query immediately, and now and then they miss one. They’re subjective and selective; you can write a truly excellent story, and they’ll pass on it because they just don’t like it. And, like all of us, sometimes they run out of steam.

That, unfortunately, was something that hadn’t really occurred to me. Until this week.

As I mentioned last week, I’d been relieved to find only one of my second round targets was closed to queries for the summer. But after reading into things, I found my celebration was premature. The truth is, this is perhaps the worst time of year to submit writing to anyone, including agents. I’ve mentioned in previous posts that querying tends to follow a schedule over the course of the year. “Query Season” begins in January, when agents open for queries following the holidays. While I’d known that, I hadn’t considered the reality that they, like the rest of us, enter each new year with optimism. They’re looking for fresh ideas, eager to find their next marketable client.

Over the course of winter and early spring, they sift through their queries, deciding what piques their interest and what doesn’t. But by late spring, they’re hitting the wall. Even if they remain open to queries, many have likely already selected their next prospective clients. And as for the others, they’re exhausted, feeling like they’ve seen it all.

So while agents may still be open to queries at this time of year, that doesn’t mean I should go ahead and send mine along. I’m unlikely to find a receptive pair of eyes, simply because I’m sending another query to agents who’ve already seen enough.

Needless to say all of this produced some mixed feelings for me. On the one hand, it added to a mounting sense of frustration and impatience I’ve been experiencing this year. This has been arguably the most successful year in my (albeit brief) writing career thus far. I’ve received some encouraging feedback, and have now garnered multiple honorable mentions from Writers of the Future. I keep hearing I’m on the verge of finally getting something published. Granted I’ve been hearing that for years, but now I finally believe it. Realizing I need to push that back by at least a few months was, to say the least, irritating.

But it also led to a sense of relief. Over the past few months since I finished the final draft of The Ursa Frontier, I’ve settled into a comfortable new rhythm. I’m enjoying my work on Aquarius 1, and short fiction has been going strong. Part of me dreaded rushing back into the query trenches, and knowing more agents could close to queries any day left me feeling like I had a gun to my back. My research over the past week has told me there’s no point in rushing. I shouldn’t be sending out queries (or subbing more short fiction pieces) for at least another month.

So I’m taking some time to do something I haven’t done much this year: breathe. I’m continuing with short fiction. I’m still immersed in research for Aquarius 1. I’m thoroughly enjoying the new season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. And I’m trying to make the most of the rest of the summer.

Roughly a month from now, I’ll be making another transition. Starting in mid-to-late August, I’ll revisit The Ursa Frontier, hopefully after beta readers have had a good look at it. I’ll be redoing my query materials. I’ll also be shifting away from short fiction and beginning work on Aquarius 1 in earnest. More than likely, that means I’ll only have time for one more round of queries before the end of the year. And the chances of this round being the last one are only modestly higher than they were for the first.

But one of the underrated critical skills of any aspiring author is patience. Nothing moves fast in the literary industry; writing a novel isn’t a “get rich quick” scheme. For now, I’m confident that when I do step back into the query trenches, I’ll be putting my best foot forward. And for now, that’s enough.

Next week I’ll be making what will be my last “Dear Sir or Madam” post for at least the next month. In it, I’ll be reflecting on my query journey so far, and looking ahead. More than likely I have a long road ahead of me on my way to publication. But I believe I’ll get there. As Guns ‘n’ Roses said, “it just takes a little patience”. – MK