In the midst of querying, I found myself turning to other writers who were usually only to happy to share their experiences of being in the trenches. I learned that no two experiences are the same.

My own querying journey began last September. I had been through a few rounds of edits and had been longlisted in the Page Turner Awards over the Summer. Being longlisted gave me the encouragement I needed to start the querying process. I read a lot of helpful articles and posts which suggested querying in batches of 5 – 10 agents at a time. The theory is that if you receive any feedback you can use that on another round of edits.

I had a copy of the Writers & Artists Year Book but I also did a lot of Googling to see who represented authors writing in the same genre as me. Research is really important before sending anything out. Many of the agents on my list had social media accounts or had been interviewed on podcasts. I found some of this information useful for tailoring my cover letter/email. After I spent time researching I put together an excel sheet so I could keep track of everything. I spent a few days sending queries to the first eight agents on my list. Some agents want the first three chapters whilst others want the first twenty pages only. It’s important to read the guidelines and send only what they ask for.

Then I waited. I had expected to wait weeks or months to hear back so it was a huge surprise when I received an email on day two asking for the full manuscript. I was screaming and jumping up and down whilst my children stared at me in confusion! I sent the full and then received an email from another agent asking for the manuscript. More requests came through along with really nice comments. At this stage I was a bag of nerves so I emailed my writing coach at The Novelry asking for some advice. They advised I should let the other agents know that full requests had been received and they also asked if I’d like them to send it out to their partner agents as well. Since I had already submitted to agents we scheduled a call and discussed who they would send it to.

I sent an email to let the other agents know and then I continued to query the next five agents on my list. In the meantime The Novelry were also submitting to their partner agents. In the end there were a lot of full requests and phone calls with a few agents. The agents that were interested wanted changes made and asked if I would be willing to rework the manuscript and then resubmit. At the time this felt daunting since I wasn’t guaranteed representation even if I embarked on another round of substantial edits but apparently this is fairly common. Some agents have said they like to do this to test the working relationship and also to see if the writer is able to make the necessary changes needed to sell a manuscript. So, I agreed and then set to work on the first lot of changes. By this stage I was around six weeks into the querying process. I spent ten hours a day for eleven days (including weekends) revising the entire manuscript. My eyes were falling out of my head and my hair was permanently unwashed but I finished the revised draft and sent it off. Thank you to my husband for holding the fort because I honestly cannot remember what was happening. I sent the revisions off in the middle of the Frankfurt Book Fair so I knew I probably wouldn’t hear back for a while.

Cue weeks of depression and moodiness. I must have been awful to live with (worse than usual ha). I couldn’t focus on anything and was constantly refreshing my email waiting for news. I convinced myself that the agent I wanted to work with would hate the changes. Weeks went by and I was still receiving full requests but felt exhausted and also didn’t want to send the revised full to anyone until the agent I wanted to work with had a chance to read it. To take my mind off everything I tried to research the ideas I had ready for book two but it was hard to focus. Anyone in the querying trenches can probably relate to this!

Then one evening I received a call from one of the agents I had made revisions for. We locked in a meeting for that same week. After a three hour meeting where we discussed everything from the book, my next book, and covers he said he wanted to work with me. And it took everything in me not to cry! I knew from the first time we spoke that he was very enthusiastic about the premise. The best part of the experience has been finding someone who is as excited as I am about my book but also other ideas I have.

So if you’re in the querying trenches keep going. Receiving a full or partial request is huge and that alone should be reason to continue submitting. I hadn’t realised how subjective the process would be. You really need to find that one person who gets your idea and wants to develop your writing career. I think its also hugely important that you like each other since you’re entering into (hopefully) a long partnership. Whilst I was initially daunted by the revise and resubmit process it definitely was invaluable since I was able to test what it would be like working with my agent. Since signing I have worked on another round of revisions and have started researching the second book whilst I wait for feedback. Hopefully I will be able to update on the progress in the next few months!