How long is too long before sending out a partial or full?

[bcomet]

This is wonderful news, Richard.

Please keep us informed on your progress.

[Bryan Russell/Ink]

Congrats! Sounds like you're doing something right. :)

[Dixon Ticonderoga]

Thank you so much!

When I was writing the draft, all I wanted to do or think about was writing the draft. When I was editing, all I wanted to do or think about was the editing (the editing alone took a year). Which worked great. But once I got into the query business, I realized that it would have been smarter for me to have been thinking about queries from the get go. It took me months to find my "book hook" groove. The breakthrough came when I was floundering at the idea of boiling down my book to 250 words. My wife said to me: "Write your entire book as a single sentence." At first, I thought the roof of my head was going to blow off, but then the sentence popped out! It needed a couple days of polish, but suddenly I understood how to distill my book down to 250 words for the query.

When I started the querying business, my goal was 10 agents asking for material. I've sent out fifty-eight queries and have gotten five requests. I'm no longer sure I'm going to make my goal, but I still have utter faith in the project.

[bcomet]

Richard,
If you want, please share your query letter with us here. We all benefit from looking at a successful query.

[Dixon Ticonderoga]

At present, I'm only sharing my query with agents and editors. However, I can assure you, my query nothing out of the ordinary: I have a sentence giving the name of the book, how long it is, that it's part of a planned series, and its target audience. My second sentence tells the reader the book takes place in present times. Then comes the "book hook," where I channeled my inner jacket copy editor (that part is 243 words). I end with three short sentences mentioning that I'm a member of SCBWI, a little on what I do for a living, and a thank you for their time.

Everyone's book hook will be different, and I don't feel like mine is anything special, so I don't know how helpful I can be. Speaking only for my book, I can tell you this: I stayed away from starting with rhetorical questions. Instead, I decided the best route was to strike out at the reader's mind, poison it with curiosity, and then slowly swallow it whole.

I wish you the best of luck.

Dixon Ticonderoga

[BlancheKing]

That's unfortunate, but it makes me curious. How many queries have you sent out? And how many times have you been rejected + how many material requests have you gotten?

[Dixon Ticonderoga]

That's unfortunate, but it makes me curious. How many queries have you sent out? And how many times have you been rejected + how many material requests have you gotten?

I've sent out fifty-eight queries. I've received thirty negative responses. I've had five requests for material: two fulls, one fifty-page partial, one seventy-five page partial, and one for just the first chapter.

I try to send out a query every day, but I usually end up getting five or six out per week.

[BlancheKing]

Thank you. That is helpful.

[Dixon Ticonderoga]

My query developed over many weeks. I'm glad I didn't send off a huge number of the first one right off the bat. My early queries weren't exactly bad or anything—they just didn't reflect the manuscript properly, didn't capture the mystery and adventure. Trickling out the queries has allowed me to improve them without burning as many bridges. Also, I recently rewrote the first four pages, which are so crucial in this process. Overly so, I'd say. Novels don't have to start off with a bang, but when you're sending out manuscripts for your very first book, and you need to catch an agents eye, you can't dilly-dally for very long.

[BlancheKing]

That's an interesting philosophy. I usually only send out 2 queries at a time. I'm still on my first letter, and so far, it's okay (though I'm starting to think it's more interesting than my book) but as I've only sent out 10 so far, it'll probably get old and I'll have to write another one...

Since you've gotten a few material requests, I really want to know: do you ever get tired of re-reading/editing your own book? As in, after the 100th time or so, the book just seems to get worse and worse with each new read?

[Dixon Ticonderoga]

I really want to know: do you ever get tired of re-reading/editing your own book?

On every single previous project, short or long, I would have answered: yes.

But not this one.

This is the project I've been waiting for all my life. It hasn't let me down for a second. I was excited when I wrote the outline, when I expanded the outline, when I wrote the draft, and for the entire edit.

Now, there have been times when I've tired of the act of editing, but only at the end of fourteen hour days. Am I ready to move on to the next book in the series? Yes. Will I thrill to work with an agent or editor? You bet! There is no passage that I've written that I can't write better. Even my very best material can be improved. It is all a question of time. As a busy person, with a family and a business, I do not have unlimited resources. When editing my manuscript, I devoted what time I had available until the prose was serviceable to the narrative. Nothing is more important than the narrative. Narrative is all.

[BlancheKing]

Hmm... maybe it's just impatience on my part...
I get so frustrated with my novel. On some days it feels like it moves too quickly, other days it feels too slow, but I can't seem to enjoy reading it when I'm tired. I remember reading Harry Potter 5 and just couldn't put it down no matter how sleepy I was. Not quite there yet. Then after my first partial rejection, I scrapped the whole prologue and write a new one... then I scrapped the first 3 pages of chapter 1 and rewrote it after the full rejection. I'll probably end up scrapping-rewriting another chapter when the other partial and full come back...

how are the material requests on your front?

[Dixon Ticonderoga]

Hmm... maybe it's just impatience on my part...
I get so frustrated with my novel. On some days it feels like it moves too quickly, other days it feels too slow, but I can't seem to enjoy reading it when I'm tired. I remember reading Harry Potter 5 and just couldn't put it down no matter how sleepy I was. Not quite there yet. Then after my first partial rejection, I scrapped the whole prologue and write a new one... then I scrapped the first 3 pages of chapter 1 and rewrote it after the full rejection. I'll probably end up scrapping-rewriting another chapter when the other partial and full come back...

how are the material requests on your front?

Question: The parts that you're rewriting—do they feel wrong when you finish editing them? Or do they start to look wrong only after subsequent readings. If the later is the case, you might need to set your MS aside for five or six months and then go back and edit the entire piece. I felt no frustration with my novel after I finished the edit. Narratively, it's a gem, and the prose is plenty serviceable to the narrative. I gave myself six months between draft and edit. It was very beneficial, and is one of the few perks that come from writing without a contract!
When I first re-wrote my first chapter (this was after having finished editing), it was as a result of feedback from an agent and editor at the SCBWI winter conference in NYC. The agent (from my first session) wanted me to lop off the first two pages. The editor (in my second session) didn't get to see the first two pages, because I ran up to my room and edited them out, then printed new copies in the business office of the hotel. I did this because I didn't want the same feedback from the editor. I wanted new feedback. Verdict: still not happening fast enough. There were some minor problems caused by lopping off the first two pages, but it was worth it for the new feedback from the editor. After I got home I took the time needed to rewrite it properly. But I didn't think it was better. After a couple months into the querying, I had an idea of how to fix it. Now I love it again, and it's much faster. I feel no reason to revisit the work until an agent or editor gives me feedback. And like I've already said in this thread: there is nothing I can't rewrite better—even my very best work.

Concerning the material requests: I'm very happy. Once I started the querying business, it quickly became apparent that I'd be hard pressed to find more than a hundred agents that I thought had the possibility of being a good fit. I was hoping to get a request from one out of ten or better. So far, I'm a little ahead on that. I've had a full and 75-page partial out for over a month to two agents that, according to QueryTracker, may be nearing their typical response time. I'm expecting lots of Rs, but not because I lack confidence in my project. My manuscript is fine. I expect Rs because I know agents only want to represent works they're excited about. This makes total sense to me; who would want an agent that wasn't excited about the work? I feel confident that all the agents who have requested material from me are pleased with what they're reading, but excited? Excited it tough! I imagine getting an agent excited is a lot like getting a comic to laugh.

[bcomet]

I understand keeping your query close for now. In the meantime, it is very generous of you to share your success and processes here.
Much gold.
Thank you and keep us posted!

[brando]

All great information. What about this, though: you send your query via email and within the hour you get a request for a full. Your ms. is ready, more or less, but could use, as always, some tweaking. IE, you are not ready to just send it out within seconds of receiving request. You'd like, in fact, to take a day or two. Question is: do you write back to agent to say thanks, that you'll have it to them in that time frame etc?