91 Chances Is Probably Not Enough

I finally finished working my way through the Literary Agents database. Of the 151 agents listed, I submitted 91 queries, customized to fit the required format of the agency. A full 60 of them are either duplicates from an agency or they didn't accept "unsolicited queries". Of the 91 who were pinged, a number of them have already responded that my novel, Eternal Moments, is not a "good fit" for their list, or words to that effect.

I don't keep track of who's responded. The rejections don't matter. Over the course of the next three months or so, I will trash the negatives and keep hoping for a positive response, keep hoping that an agent sees the potential of my novel - and by extension, the other 16 books on my list - and takes the plunge to represent it to a traditional publisher. Success there is probably at least as elusive as success finding an agent who believes in my writing, but I am an outsider in an insider game, and as George of the Jungle used to say, I knew the job was dangerous when I took it. It's also possible that my books are not as compelling as I think they are, that even if I found an agent and a publisher, I wouldn't sell anything, but I guess I'll never believe that no matter how many rejections I receive.

I did find it interesting that one of the agents to whom I submitted a query admitted that he had written a novel, but no one would accept his manuscript, so he self-published it. If I do need to go that route, I will work with a group known as shepherd.com to market my book. I'm not good at marketing, but I will try because I do think this is my best novel and I do think it's an interesting and enjoyable read. No matter what those agents say!