Revenge Querying

An author friend once told me that when she was querying her YA manuscript, for every rejection she received, she sent out two more queries. She called this revenge querying. And it must have worked (or something must have worked) because you could walk into almost any bookstore today and pick up her book.

The theory behind her revenge querying is sound. Rejections hurt, even when you’ve been querying for so long that you’ve lost count of how many you’ve gotten; but if you remind yourself that it’s just another no (and that, really, all you need is ONE YES), you get back out there and try again. And again. And again and again.

So I’m taking my author friend’s revenge querying to a new level.

Last week, I entered Michelle Hauck’s Nightmare on Query Street contest. I didn’t get in, but it didn’t upset me like it used to (way back a year ago or so). For one thing, I think I have contest fatigue. There are only so many you can enter before you realize you have great contest luck (like one of my critique partners) or you’re better off querying (me). There’s also the realization that getting into a contest doesn’t mean you’ll get an agent. Contests are just a way to stand out from the rest of an agent’s slush pile, which in the end might mean nothing.

Still, the NoQS contest wasn’t a complete wash. Because (back to the whole revenge querying thing) I do have a little resentment, a little rejection anger, and I’m putting it to good use. I’m going to take the list of Nightmare on Query Street agents and I’m going to query them. All of them. Well, okay, not the ones that don’t fit my category and genre, but as many as I can. For the rest, I’ll look into the other agents in their agencies and find the ones that fit my manuscript. I’ll query them.

It may take me some time to get through all those NoQS agents, especially since I’m going to also apply revenge querying to Brenda Drake’s Pitch Wars agents. (Yeah, I didn’t get into that contest either, but I was so close according to one of my mentors. See this.) I think I’ll feel just a little bit of satisfaction when I have success (partial or full requests) with any agents that participated in those contests.

My author friend said revenge querying works and I believe her. It hasn’t gotten me an agent yet, but I’m hopeful. Always hopeful.

All the Authors & Autographs

As a reader AND a writer, I have a special interest in talking to authors. I don’t just want to fangirl and tell them how much I loved their books; I want to say why. I want to tell them what specifically made it great. This scene, that line, this plot point, that character. These are things I think I pay more attention to than the average reader. Because of that, I want a conversation, an exchange of ideas, all in the hopes that I will become a better writer because of it.

This past weekend at Books by the Banks and yesterday at the Fort Thomas Branch of the Campbell County Library, I met eleven authors for the first time. I chatted so much with them, and four others that I had met before, that my friends ditched me at least three times. And I got fifteen books autographed. Yes. Fifteen. (I’ll list the authors and titles at the bottom of this post.)

From Books by the Banks:

 From the library:

 As much as I love the autographs (and believe me, I DO), it’s also about the conversations. Every author was not just willing, but also happy to talk to me. They wanted to hear my experiences, I wanted to hear theirs. An exchange of information, new friends made. I complimented their writing choices (the very end of CONVERSION, the who-dun-it in MY LAST KISS, the humor in THE VIGILANTE POETS OF SELWYN ACADEMY, the death of that one character in NOT A DROP TO DRINK, the intricate plot of MAID OF SECRETS). They told me about their agents and publishers, information I tucked away for the right day. 

Because someday, I want to be one of those authors. I don’t just want an agent and a published book. I want to sit behind a table, my book propped up in front of me, and talk to readers (teens or otherwise). I want to pay it forward, help new writers the way all these authors have helped me.

And I want to say thank you, a million thanks, hoping that they understand just how much I mean it.

Autographed books from Books by the Banks:

GIRL ON A WIRE by Gwenda Bond

THE VIGILANTE POETS OF SELWYN ACADEMY by Kate Hattemer

CONVERSION by Katherine Howe

HIDER SEEKER SECRET KEEPER by Elizabeth Kiem

OPEN ROAD SUMMER by Emery Lord

WILD by Alex Mallory

NOT A DROP TO DRINK and IN A HANDFUL OF DUST by Mindy McGinnis

MAID OF SECRETS and MAID OF DECEPTION by Jennifer McGowan

THE LAST KISS by Bethany Neal

Autographed books from the library:

PRETTY GIRL 13 by Liz Coley

CAIN’S BLOOD and PROJECT CAIN by Geoffrey Girard

RIVAL by Sara Bennett Wealer

Books by the Banks

This Saturday at the Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati is Books by the Banks, a free book festival.

Though I’ve lived in Cincinnati since 2006, this will be the first time I’m attending. I blame this on three things. 

First, for most of my time in Cincinnati, I was too focused on other things besides writing (like settling in, starting my science career, making friends, finding and dating and marrying my husband). Not that I haven’t always been an avid reader, because my mounds of books prove otherwise. 

Second, I didn't know the festival existed until a couple of years ago. And I even lived downtown for three years. Crazy, right?

Third, I never had anyone to go with. Not that this should have stopped me, but I was intimidated by the enormity of the festival. I’m an introvert. I’m a book nerd, not a social butterfly.

Things have changed. It’s been about fourteen months since I decided to seriously pursue a writing career and something like this book festival is a great networking opportunity. Plus, I know about a half dozen of the YA authors who are going to be there. 

And then there’s ALL THE BOOKS. Need I say more?