I see in a few groups questions about "should I query this agent" with like breathless excitement.

Let& #39;s talk about querying a second- less technical "how to" and more the proper brain space so you know what you& #39;re getting into.
First. That novel better be done and as polished as you (not a 3rd party editor) can make up. Don& #39;t fire off your first draft. Don& #39;t fire off ideas.
Second. Avoid obvious mistakes. That means google "how not to query" and don& #39;t do that. Several agents tweet about what not to do too.

Read directions. Follow them precisely. You& #39;re not special you& #39;re one in thousands. Avoid obvious mistakes.
Third. It& #39;s SCARY querying. Yes, polish your letter, workshop it w other writers if you can. Research your agents and also "how to write a query letter."

But while it& #39;s scary at some point ya gotta hit & #39;send& #39;.
Not only that, but at some point aside from hitting send you gotta have a system in place. It& #39;s not just one query letter. I& #39;ve written at this point... 3 dozenish. And that& #39;s small potatoes.
Like, yes, hitting send will also be nervous, but at some point it& #39;s also just WORK. A lot of it. Researching, tracking, writing queries, that& #39;s roll-up-your-sleeves work you gotta get comfortable doing. You don& #39;t have TIME to agonize for 3 days every time you go hit "send."
It& #39;s also not a fast process. If you& #39;re wanting immediate answers and you want to be traditionally published...

Uhmmmm I hate to tell you but fast ain& #39;t traditional publishing.
Don& #39;t let my gif fool you nor be taken as a disparagement of agents.

Agents are super-heroes. Remember, they don& #39;t get paid for reading queries, they get paid for existing clients. And they literally get hundreds or THOUSANDS of queries a year.
So when you start getting antsy and going "But I haven& #39;t heard back yeeeeet when will I?"

Chill out. They& #39;re not lounging around waiting to stamp "rejected" on manuscripts. They& #39;re working hard. You have to understand that, because you want them to be your partner.
You will hear back from some in two weeks on a query. Some will be radio silence forever. Some will write back in a day and then wait 8 months to respond to the partial you send.

It& #39;s a slow process. Be. Patient. And if in doubt, check their website.
I tell you all of this, about agent workload and the pace of this, because mentally prepare yourself for radio silence from that dream agent.

Prepare yourself to wait for 4 months and then get a form rejection, or something like "...it& #39;s a very individual process."
Seriously, so many people seem to get SO ANGRY at those form letters. "I wanted SIX MONTHS and you just gave me a FORM LETTER?"

If you don& #39;t understand the realities of workloads agents face, and empathize with that, you& #39;re probably not a good person to work with.
Not like, "you& #39;re a terrible person how DARE" but just. It doesn& #39;t sound like you have the foundation in place for a productive working relationship.

Agents work hard for not oodles of pay. It& #39;s a hard gig. Back em up and empathize.
It& #39;s slow. There will be rejections. Some will hurt more than others. It& #39;s the name of the game. And they don& #39;t ever stop hurting, but it& #39;s like a bad headache (not migraine)- there& #39;s a point where it hurts but you keep going.
Throughout all of this you should be working on the NEXT story, to keep yourself occupied. Otherwise a year and a half will go by and you& #39;ll be like "wait wat?"

And also. You gotta believe in your story.
It can be discouraging. It can be frustrating. It can be tempting to can your book or go "I& #39;m just not cut out for this." Almost worse: the temptation to just go back and keep constantly revising after every rejection.

Keep moving forward, not running in circles.
Like. My Pacific Rim x Firefly story?

Yall. I know this crew is fabulous. I know this story is setting up some awesome payoffs. I know it in my bones and you all will see it someday. This is a story I NEED to tell.

Hold on to that need for your story.
...but also, understand, now may not be the time.
You might legit not be ready. Had I queried my first book, my second book... gosh even my 6th book, they would have been bad trashfires because I wasn& #39;t ready. I didn& #39;t have my craft.
It& #39;s okay to not be ready. Accept it. Move on.
It could be you don& #39;t find an agent you connect with, it could be they& #39;re not looking for what you& #39;re writing now, it could be a MILLION things.

If your book doesn& #39;t find a home, that& #39;s *ok*. Hold on to that need and keep it in your pocket for the future.
Anyway. This was a longer thread than I expected, but when someone is eagerly going "Should I query this agent?" I just want to be clear what it is you& #39;re getting into. It& #39;s not one and done. It& #39;s not fast. It& #39;s a project, a slow project.
But if you want to be traditionally published it& #39;s also a game you gotta play.

You& #39;re welcome not to - self publishing is really big at giving stories trad pub didn& #39;t like a successful and thriving niche& #39;. For some stories it& #39;s best.
Just know what KIND of game you& #39;re playing if you& #39;re starting out on this. Be kind to yourself, be patient, and keep writing.

Cheers all.
Addendum: good agents to follow.
@_LisaRodgers (also occasional yarnie goodness)
@ericsmithrocks (occasional corgie and mighty fine hats)
@dongwon (great substack)
@BookEndsJessica (also @bookendslit has a great YouTube covering basics)
There& #39;s many more wonderful folks in my feed; I& #39;ll add them as they come up.

@stdennard also has an amazing series of blog posts being frank about the nuts and bolts of her query process.
@SaraMegibow also is always keeping it real about what agents face, and how they go to bat for their clients.
Final note to this note:
Do NOT just cold pitch these above agents on Twitter. Please. If that& #39;s what your takeaway from these are, you need to go back to the earlier step of "Google how not to pitch agents."

It& #39;s a basic mistake. Don& #39;t do it.
You can follow @BowTieWriter.
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