My first rejection!

*This is a bonus unscheduled blog because I missed last Friday*

So this summer, one of the goals I had that I didn’t really talk about was to start sending out query letters for Eugenia, and if I finished editing my other books, for them as well. According to the ever-so-comprehensive Wikipedia:

A query letter is a formal letter sent to magazine editors, literary agents and sometimes publishing houses or companies. Writers write query letters to propose writing ideas.

For example, a standard requested format for a manuscript query letter to a literary agent could be approximately 200 – 400 words, expressing the following information:

• The topic of the work
• A short description of the plot
• A short bio of the author
• The target audience

The literary agent would then decide whether to contact the author and request to see the manuscript, based on the contents of the query letter. In this sense, the query letter is an author’s first step towards getting his/her manuscript published.

So basically I’m sending out letters and bits of my work in the hopes that someone will find me good enough to represent and/or publish. Right now, I’m focusing on literary agents rather than publishing houses, because I have a better chance not getting screwed if I go that route, and plus they’ll know more about the business than I do.

And on August 22nd, I sent out my first, to Barry Goldblatt Literary. Barry is the husband (and agent) of one of my favorite authors, Libba Bray, and represents a lot of authors who write genres similar to my books. I emailed him my query and the first five pages of Eugenia (which, admittedly, aren’t the most exciting five pages in the world) and crossed my fingers.

As the title of this post suggests, I was, unfortunately, rejected. Here’s what he had to say:

“Thank you for your query. Unfortunately, your manuscript doesn’t sound like something that’s right for us. We wish you the best of success in placing your work elsewhere.

Sincerely,
Barry Goldblatt Literary LLC”

I sent out my second email query today, and once I find the proper envelope I’ll snail mail my next one. It’s all very exciting, even though I know nothing much will come of it. But it’s practice, and the more I get, the better at this game I want to enter I’ll be. Woo!

Anyhow, new Doctor Who post on Friday (That’ll probably be a thing until this season ends, sorry non-Whovians), and for those of you who miss the personal-type blogs, I’ve got one about our new kitchen coming on Monday. I am going to try my darnedest to keep up this posting schedule, but my classes are starting to look more hefty than I’d originally anticipated, so we’ll see. Have a good rest of the day, and I’ll see you Thursday with a new video!