#amquerying

[corvidarcana]

A quick guide to my seafaring fantasy debut, BLOOD OF THE GODS, book one of The Divine Archive duology 🩸⛈️

[themswritinwords]

I'm not saying I'm gonna print this rejection letter and frame it for when I'm feeling down about my writing, but "I loved it, it's really strong and entertaining, I have literally nothing bad to say about it and am only passing because I don't personally know the right editor for it and want it to be picked up sooner rather than later, and fully believe it will be" is pretty good for Baby's First Full Request.

Querying sucks and never ends but gosh darn it some days you feel like it might just be possible to make it through, and I'm holding onto that.

Gonna file it alongside the 18-hour beta binge read, the "I'm actually crying rn" text, and the "I was supposed to be sleeping but I couldn't not finish it so if I fall asleep at work later today I'm blaming you" message that also keep me going when I want to launch myself into a dumpster and scream.

[anonperegrine]

The Libertango series rewrite is something for sure

[chronicallydragons]

There was a pitch party over on twitter earlier this week, #UnhingedPit, and I just felt like Writeblr might enjoy my contributions I just need to also point out that "behold, the phases of the pancake" IS a direct quote AND I'd already painted the phases of the pancake before the pitch event was announced. The vibes of the book and the vibes of the pitch party matched perfectly

[thepedanticbohemian]

True story. I'm going to do the agent hunt thing again once the #WGAStrike is over. I had to fire mine of 3 years. She sat on my ON DEPLOYMENT erotic novel for 3 years without submitting it to any publishing house. 3 emails and 2 phone calls in all that time. NOPE! I fired her and canceled my own contract. I mean, really? If you're going to take 15% + off the top of my earnings, you need to do your job.

[ineffably-good]

My querying journey so far...

So many of you know that in between writing ridiculously long fanfics about Good Omens and the ineffible husbands, I write novels in the real world. And then try to sell them. I have not succeeded so far at the selling them part, but I'm shopping my third manuscript around right now and it's exciting to see how much better I think I'm getting at crafting a novel through the process of working very, very hard on this for the last three years.

At the start of this, when I was shopping around the novel I made from one of my fanfics, I used to post a lot about querying and how it was going, but I haven't in ages. Thought I'd share a little bit about that today.

Novel #1 - Adult Fantasy Romance, written in 2021

Status: shelved Queries sent: 43 Requests received to read the full manuscript: 1 Rejections: 39 Percent requests: 2% Things learned: worked great as an AO3 fic, but I can understand what it was lacking, in retrospect, when I tried to novelize it. I'd like to rewrite it someday. There are not very many agents looking for fantasy in any genre, so that's a little limiting.

Novel #2 - YA Contemporary, written in 2021-2022

Status: on hold, needs some rewrites in act two Queries sent: 136 Requests: 11 Rejections: 125 Percent requests: 8% Things learned: I got much better at pitching and querying in this, and my story was also a lot better. At the *very* end of the querying process, on my 11th full, I got some great feedback on what wasn't working in the middle of the book (which I'd gotten that sooner) and because I'm not sure what to do with this yet and was already writing another book by the time I got it, it's on hold. But I loved this story and I will return to it.

Interestingly, I won a pitch contest on this book and placed second with it in an unpublished novel contest. But it did not get picked up.

Novel #3 - YA Contemporary, written in 2022-23 Status: actively querying since summer. Queries sent (so far): 71 Requests (so far): 10!!! Rejections: 30 Percent requests: 14.1% Things learned: trending up on all fronts! I've gotten more requests in the first three months than I did in almost a year on novel #2, and feedback so far even on rejections has been really positive. I feel like I was much more in control of my narrative on this manuscript, and I have a really good feeling that one of the fulls that are out right now is going to lead to something. Fingers crossed!

So... querying is a long, hard process. Most writers don't get their first book published; most debut novels are someone's third or fourth book. But boy, do you learn a lot about the process along the way.

[words-after-midnight]

I am obviously doing my own research, but if anyone has specific recommendations for lit agents who will be open in or around fall 2023 & taking/looking for adult contemporary crime fiction and/or thriller and/or psychological fiction, I'm all ears!

[sydnycvwrtes]

So what's my book even about?

Someone gave Olivia Pope shadow magic.

(no, I'm not kidding.)

My gorgeous, sexy, totally fine main character Esme has many hobbies, including but not limited to wearing expensive dresses, affectionately killing her plants, and murdering whoever King Turiel commands her to.

For the past ten decades, she’s been magically bonded to the various monarchs of Micrea. She must follow their every order to the letter, lest the magic that keeps her in this world decide to kill her instead. However, Turiel, the latest king, is a boring man with boring missions. For years, she’s been able to lead a nearly-normal double life away from the capitol and her bloody work.

That is, until someone takes King Turiel's heart out during the night.

When a magic will spells out a bloody competition for the crown, Esme decides it is her chance to give Micrea the king it, and she, deserves. She takes a young could-be king, Balthazar, under her wing in hopes of molding him into her perfect ruler. However, as they wade deeper into the competition’s twists and turns, Balthazar proves himself to be more than just the compassionate man she thought he was. And as he reveals more and more of who he is, Esme is left to wonder if she’s damned not just herself, but the entire country.

(Everyone is a mess. There's a lot of crying. There's even kissing. With blood.)

[jennadevillierwrites]

Revision work this morning! I finally finished my scene list and I’m ready to get started on my opening chapters once I write my new synopsis and query letter 😌

[indigowinterauthor]

on the road to publishing (and holding onto hope)

I’ve officially entered the querying trenches.

The first round of literary agent submissions has been sent, and let me tell you—it’s a weird mix of excitement, dread, and quiet hope. Pressing send on those queries was like handing over pieces of my soul wrapped up in a Word document. I’ve spent years writing Edge of Darkness, and now I’m asking, essentially, “Hey, would you like to represent this very personal thing I made?”

No pressure, right?

Before I even started querying, I spent months researching agents—cross-referencing MSWLs, interviews, agency websites, Twitter threads. I wanted to make sure I was reaching out to people who might actually love my story, not just tolerate it.

Some agents I’ve heard back from. Some are still silent. Some probably won’t ever respond. And I knew this would happen. I prepared for it. But even knowing doesn’t make it easy. Rejection still stings—even the polite kind.

But here’s the thing: Just like I have to push through the tough writing days, I have to keep going with this too. Another round of agent research. Another batch of query letters. Another deep breath.

I never thought this would be easy. I didn’t go in assuming the first agent I queried would say yes. In fact, I’m fully expecting this to take years. Maybe many years. Maybe it never happens the way I imagine.

And yeah—self-publishing is always an option. It’s quicker, in many ways. But for me, traditional publishing is still the path I want to try first. That’s not shade to anyone who goes the indie route (honestly, it’s a lot of work and I admire the hell out of those who do it). It just comes down to what works best for you—and for me, that means exploring this path for now.

At the end of the day, I write because these stories live in me. And I think they’re worth sharing. Even if it takes a while to find the right door to knock on.

So, I guess I should stop rambling and get back to writing. After all, there’s always another story waiting to be told. 🌒

— Indigo Winter

[anonperegrine]

Yes I want to publish Incentive (Unknown) as a real book

And that is not a crime!!

Anyway, I'm very excited about my rewrite :)

I've decided in lieu of the headlines I put in chapter 26 of the original, I'm making fake news articles to go on the pages of the real book, because reading 600 headlines is BORINGGGG.

Here's one of my mockups :D! Mirage is now Lucien Koffer and Hysteria is Charity Regis, a loveable girlboss whom I adore with my whole heart.

And it somehow gets darker than the original Incentive. You'll see...

I hope you guys'll like it when it's finally done and hopefully has a publishing deal! Incentive fans are hardcore I know y'all would follow Mirage to the ends of the earth LMAO

[vsholmes]

QUERYING IN 2025

The dead deserve a proper afterlife, with a real necromancer for a grave warden. But in Eth, they are stuck with Ivigh and eternal unrest.

When failed-necromancer Ivigh’s town is struck by a magical storm, the bodies he was supposed to have put to rest spill from the soil. Facing imprisonment, or worse, for his con, Ivigh flees. Then his magical impotence is discovered by Mudlark, a cheerful sex worker makes him a deal: she won’t turn Ivigh in if he helps her find Eir Lahren, the very necromancer who unleashed the storm ravaging the world. He has a darker history with Lahren, one rooted in the gaping, bloodless hole in Ivigh’s chest and his inability—despite his best efforts—to die. But, with his terrible reputation barreling down on them and a drug habit he can't afford, he is forced to accept Mudlark’s offer.

Despite Mudlark’s harebrained quest to save the world and Ivigh’s copious complaints, her love for life are as intoxicating as the poppy he injects. The farther they travel, however, the more Mudlark’s story is unearthed and Ivigh realizes perhaps he isn’t the only one with corpse-ridden secrets. Now, he will do anything to save the impossible woman he has come to love—even if exposing his darkest, bloody secret breaks his beatless heart.

THE PASSING OF EIR LAHREN is a blend of gothic romance and folkloric fantasy. You can expect an unreliable, acerbic trans masc narrator, body horror, ritualistic sex, and a grumpy x sunshine duo in a world inspired by my own Frisian heritage, the otherness of being queer, and our deep connection with the land that makes us and breaks us.

I'll actually be querying this project, so details are expected to change, but if you'd like to follow along with some of that process you know where to look.

[fyri-writes]

Crossroads of Destiny

I've been discouraged the past few weeks. Contemplating my form rejections, I'm wavering between pursuing self-publishing or trad publishing and still fighting with my word count.

Hi, yes, I used the title of one of my favorite Avatar: TLA episodes for this post. Who am I kidding? They’re all my favorites. I’ve been discouraged these past two weeks. I sent out a batch of five new query letters after getting my package edited by an agent and all of them have returned with form rejections. I know this number is nothing. This is, however, my third time querying, and these…

[thepedanticbohemian]

WGA Strike Ends

Guess what I'll be up to this week? #amquerying

[fuentes-fantasy-writing-n-art]

Round-up?

I don't usually do end-of-year round-ups until after Christmas because before Christmas is absolute clown shoes here. I also get things done between Christmas and New Years because I don't have to run the kiddos to all things.

So this is a pre-round up. In 2024, I finished editing the first book of my finished quartet and started revisions on the second. I pitch agents and a publisher at two writing conferences. One agent eventually requested a full, but passed. I went through it with a fine-tooth comb based on her suggestions and cut over 20K words off the manuscript. I do have some queries out and active right now, but I also have a few beta readers going through it for reader reactions.

People ask which book I'd like to forget and read for the first time again. Sometimes I wish I could do that with MY book! I've been through the first 3 chapters so much that I can't even tell if they're good or not. Would I like them without that overexposure?

I am also tweaking my query letter to highlight the parts of my book that agents seem to be looking for. It's strongly, although not exclusively, fem-focused. Half or more of the book is written from women's PoVs, from the main character, Zehra, who sees the future, to sheltered Imperial Princess Soraya trying to untangle palace intrigue, to Beryl marching over the mountains as part of the invasion, praying it succeeds so she can finally escape the man who murdered her family. It's not an ode to girl power or dropping women into traditionally masculine roles. If victory hinged just on battle, Zehra would lose.

When I first started it, I called it Sword & Sorcery & Sandal, because it was influenced by both actual history and antiquity and the Sword & Sandal movies I often watched while growing-up, but it contains magic and elements of the classic sword & sorcery genre. All those are OLD though! And very male-focused. It's a little like Gladiator x Hannibal of Carthage (If you focus on Lucilla). But it's a little like Ben-Hur. It's inspired by the doomed seer, Cassandra, but not a retelling. In part, it's answering the question, "How did the people he invaded and conquered see Alexander the Great? What if one stopped him?"

I can talk forever about my inspirations (my kids asking, "Why didn't Hannibal bring wooly mammoths over the Alps?"). Boiling it down to an eloquent, compelling query letter is far harder.

[sydnycvwrtes]

Ah long time no weep.

Basically, I'm almost out of the revisions process. For those of you lucky enough not to know, revisions happen a lot, especially after you get an agent. Truthfully, they just know a lot more than the average writer and revisions are them helping you make your book as perfect as it can be (if they're editorial, like my wonderful agent is :3).

But revisions are fucking hard. I didn't understand just how hard.

But they're also done today (I think) and that means moving on to a whole new step in this process. Submission scares the shit out of me sometimes, but what are ya going to do?