Results

It should be clear that I did all the research and work and didn’t find an agent.

In total, I researched 165 agents and submitted queries to 34. If you’re counting along at home, for every five agents I researched I submitted to one. That’s a pretty low turnaround rate and looking at it purely numbers-wise, a very small pool of agents I contacted.

I don’t know if that’s normal or not. Maybe I could have queried more, but so many base their representation on identity politics that it was clear we wouldn’t be a good fit. Plus, probably a couple dozen of the agents were closed to queries.

Without receiving comment back from the agents who did reply, I can only assume they didn’t like my book, or at least not enough to give it a further look. Maybe it actually sucks and I wasted a good chunk of time, but I don’t believe that. It just means I don’t have someone who’s going to negotiate a seven-figure deal and movie rights for me.

Do I regret spending all that time? Or wasting it, if you think along those lines? No. I told myself up front that I was going to give it a go. I’d always wonder if I didn’t try. And maybe it sounds trite, but I did learn a lot. More than I wanted, in some cases. I better understand how the traditional publishing industry works and thankfully, there are alternatives.

What next?