The dreaded query letter...

Once more, I am attempting to entice some unwitting agent with my work and convince them how much better their lives will be with me in at as their client. And, once again, I am met with rejections. However, this round of submissions, I sent out eight queries and debated whether I should continue sending or wait for a response to see if it was well received. I actually received three personalized rejections, which is one step up from a form letter. The critique I received was that, although I'm a skilled writer, they didn't connect with the voice. Which is encouraging, but not.

My interpretation of these rejections is that my sample pages were decent, my writing craft honed. What I lack is the voice that reaches out to these readers immediately. So I resorted to researching on my most trusted writing site, Kidlit.com, and found myself on the exact same wavelength as the agent who posts on that site. She spoke of the most effective way of sending submissions. Rather than send a slew of the same, although personalized, queries to fifty agents, send it to 6-8 agents and see how it was received. If there are only rejections, the query letter isn't up to par or the sample pages still need some revising and developing.

Based on her summary, I've determined that I need to polish my query letter and get it focused and powerful. It wouldn't hurt for me to review my sample pages either. To get more voice in there, I believe I need to insert more information, rather than just action, which was also a post found on Kidlit.com. So, even though I've finished another serious revision of my book, the work of revising is not yet over. Then, another round of queries and we'll see how those are received. Eventually I'll get it right.

Agent Research

This is a quick post, mostly curiosity driven. I want to know how many agents you all, on average, research and submit to. How intensive do you research them before you submit? Frustrated with the time investment I put into each agent only to be rejected, I've nearly reached the point where I want to find someone who is open to submissions, accepts my genre, and then conform my query letter and sample pages to what they ask and off it goes. I just want to get a bite, rather than waste so much time researching who I would like to work with, only to learn that they aren't interested in me. Boo. Is there a certain method of research and submission you employ? A site that you're drawing your names and agencies from? Help me out here. I'm excited to once more be involved in the submission process, but man, it's more time consuming, I feel, than writing a novel. It certainly, thus far, isn't as rewarding. Tips?