Dear friends, I have been waiting to write this post for SEVEN YEARS! If you’ve been following me for a while, you already know that, but if you stopped by because you love how-I-got-my-agent posts, this current story might seem like a bit of a fairy tale, and I want to make it clear that…
Agents
Tracking Agent Responses & Knowing When to Revise
If you read my posts on Creating a Detailed Spreadsheet and Querying Strategy and Hitting Send, then you know I’m a bit of a statistics freak. Well, I actually take my statistics even a bit farther once I’m querying. I track how agents are responding to my query and pages so I know whether they’re working…
How to Research Agents: Querying Strategy and Hitting Send!
Earlier this week I posted on how to create a detailed spreadsheet, and I realize most people aren’t going to get as detailed as me :). But one of the reasons I have so many columns in my spreadsheet is because I consider a number of factors when I decide how I’m going to approach…
How to Research Agents: Creating a Detailed Spreadsheet
Thanks to my participation in Pitch Wars, I’ve met many wonderful writers through our Facebook group, and we’re in varying stages of the querying process. It’s reminded me that while some, like me, have been doing this a while, others are just starting out. A few years ago I did a series of posts on…
What I’ve Learned in Six Years of Querying
Well, friends, here we are: six years of querying. Three weeks ago I was in New York City with my husband. We went on a bike tour of Central Park, and I have asthma, so that’s already a bit of a challenge. But when you add in a cold, plus the fact that my bike…
How to Stalk WriteOnCon Ninja Agents 2017
If you’re in the kidlit community, you probably know about WriteOnCon and missed it as terribly as I did in 2015 and 2016. Well, hallelujah, it’s back! I don’t have anything to query at the moment, but I do have a work-in-progress ready for some feedback in the forums, so I’ll definitely be dipping a…
What I’ve Learned in Five Years of Querying
I’ve become a huge fan of the memories that pop up on Facebook. It’s a fun way to look through old photos, videos, and the occasional comment. Anyway, on July 3, a writing-related post showed up that made me smile and shake my head at the naive Michelle of five years ago, but it’s appropriate…
What I’ve Learned in Four Years of Querying
It’s here! I have officially been querying for four years. (Actually it was July 11, but since that’s a Saturday this year, we’ll just consider it today.) And in a strange coincidence, four years ago I sent off my first round of queries and then we packed up and drove down to Springfield, Mo., to…
A Prayer for My Future Agent
As a person of faith, prayer plays an important part in my life. I pray about pretty much everything, including my writing journey. I prayed about whether my manuscript was ready to query. I’ve prayed about when to wait and when to move forward. Most of all, I pray for patience. Lots of patience. Like,…
How to Research Agents: Ready to Query
It’s here! The final post! When I started this series, I had no idea it would take so many weeks to get through populating an agent spreadsheet. Wait. That’s not true. I knew it took that long to do the research. I just didn’t realize it would take me that long to explain it. But…
How to Research Agents: Querying Rounds
Ah, querying strategy. There’s no right way to do this, as I’ve written about once before. I’ve had a couple of people comment on the fact that I have 25 columns in my spreadsheet. Well, I didn’t originally have so many columns at the front of the spreadsheet. I added more columns with successive manuscripts…
How to Research Agents: Fun with Statistics
In case you’re just joining this series, I started it because a writer queried me and brought it to my attention that some newer writers may not know how to build an agent spreadsheet. We’re now on the fifth post in the series (sixth if you count the one I’d written last year on finding…
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