Know When It’s Time to Query Your Book

If you want to pursue traditional publication, there’s something you need to remember. The competition in the publishing sphere is absolutely steep, but you’ll never get published if you keep putting off the querying process.

You edit a little bit, lose morale, and put it aside.

You edit a lot, you feel great, but then you get caught up in other things, and it gets brushed to the side.

Whatever your editing habits are, you need to prioritize finishing your book. On top of that, you need to make your book presentable for agents and publishers. Once your book is ready, it’s time to start querying. You want to make your book the best it can possibly be, but you also can’t waste months or years tweaking tiny things when you could be querying.

Mentally prepare yourself for a slow querying process.

Querying isn’t an easy process. Sci-fi and fantasy author Dan Koboldt did some research on the average numbers on querying literary agents. Out of the group of reputable agents he looked at, the average rejection rate was about 87% for electronic queries.

There’s obviously a lot of variations depending on the agent, the genre, and so much more, but those high percentages of rejections are common across the board. You could have a solid book, but it could still take a long while to find the perfect agent to represent you.

If you’re making excuses, put them on a paper plane, and throw them out the window.

What’s your excuse to wait to submit?

For me, I set a benchmark of followers to reach before I queried any of my poetry manuscripts. I’ve been actively posting poetry on Instagram since I took part in National Poetry Writing Month in 2018. I wanted to reach 10,000 followers before I sent out a single query. The logic is sound; if you have a large following, it shows a publisher that you have an audience.

If they publish your book, you’re going to have at least a few sales beyond your grandma, your best friend, or that second aunt twice removed who likes everything you post on Facebook.

However, make sure you have tangible plans and not just excuses. It took me three months after I reached the goal I set for myself to actually send out my first query. My “goal” turned into an “excuse” for inaction very quickly. Don’t make this same mistake.

The first query is the scariest; the rest get easier.

When you sit down to send your first query, you’ll most likely be some flavor of terrified, anxious, or worried. It’s only natural. You’re doing something new, you’re putting a sample of your manuscript that feels more like a child than a book out there for professionals to survey.

That first query is mortifying to send, your stomach will churn at the idea of there being a typo you and half a dozen other people somehow missed, but you’ve got to hit the send button. You’ve got to get started.

One way to warm yourself up to the idea of sending queries and preparing for rejections is to submit to literary journals and get your feet wet with both situations.

It’s a much smaller scale, but it’s one way to make the process less scary. Even literary journals are forced to decline fantastic literature sometimes. If you get used to writing small cover letters for poetry and short stories, you’ll be a little more prepared when it comes time to start writing query letters.

You will never think your manuscript is perfect enough.

The same is true for your cover letter. You’ll keep looking at both, thinking you could perhaps make something better. Do all the research you can to optimize your manuscript and your cover letter, make sure your query is appropriately customized for wherever you’re sending it.

Take care of those steps, but once those boxes are checked, send out the book.

I sat on a finished manuscript for fourteen months periodically making tiny edits and tiny tweaks to my cover letter. This was after it had been fully edited by many, many others, and myself.

If self-doubt and fear are holding you back from sending the query for your carefully manicured manuscript, you’ve got to pull the trigger. You’ve got to overcome your doubt and remember that the worst thing that could happen is that you’ll get a rejection letter.

You won’t be dragged out into town square and pelted with rotten tomatoes. You don’t be publicly laughed at or humiliated. You’ve got nothing to lose by starting the querying process.

Edit as much as you possibly can, get as many critiques as possible, but then start querying.

Go through the steps and don’t cut corners. You do have to put the work in. However, once you’ve put the work in, stop floundering.

It may sound obvious, but you’ll never be published if you don’t start the querying process. You may feel like you’re not ready, but if you’ve done your research and put your time in, you’re as ready as you’ll ever be.

Be patient when querying and keep editing; it will take a lot of time.

To give you an even clearer idea of your chances, let’s look at what some literary agencies are receiving in terms of queries. The Nelson Literary Agency publishes its annual statistics every year, so let’s take a look at their numbers. In 2018, they had over 20,000 queries and a total of 21 book deals done.

There are more numbers you can look at if you’re curious, but don’t let yourself be defeated before you’ve even started. Be aware of what you’re up against, but don’t be too afraid to put yourself out there.

It could, honestly, take years of querying before you get a bite or a contract. That’s why there’s no better time than the present to start. You need to know when it’s time. When your book is ready, even if you don’t quite feel like you’re ready, you’ve still got to start the process.

It’s time. Pull the trigger and send your first query.