Great post, as always, Erin. My querying situation was wild because my very first query got a full request (because of a friend’s referral) but after then it was a slog of form rejections.
Ugh, that is frustrating! But good to know referrals still work! I had a referral when I went back into the trenches and it was met with cricket. When I got an offer from a different agent, I updated the referral agent and did end up hearing back in the end (a polite pass), but not until the day I'd set as a deadline to get back to the offering agent.
I felt silly for expecting anything after that! We assume referrals will at least mean a full request, but that's definitely not the case. 😅 It was a humbling moment, to say the least.
Erin, what are your thoughts on Alpha readers at this point? That may help determine if a book is marketable. If your Alpha readers come back and say "No" or, "It needs work, here is what tripped me up." That might help. Just my inflated .02 😉
Great post, as always, Erin. My querying situation was wild because my very first query got a full request (because of a friend’s referral) but after then it was a slog of form rejections.
Ugh, that is frustrating! But good to know referrals still work! I had a referral when I went back into the trenches and it was met with cricket. When I got an offer from a different agent, I updated the referral agent and did end up hearing back in the end (a polite pass), but not until the day I'd set as a deadline to get back to the offering agent.
I felt silly for expecting anything after that! We assume referrals will at least mean a full request, but that's definitely not the case. 😅 It was a humbling moment, to say the least.
Erin, what are your thoughts on Alpha readers at this point? That may help determine if a book is marketable. If your Alpha readers come back and say "No" or, "It needs work, here is what tripped me up." That might help. Just my inflated .02 😉