Plenty of articles explore the woes of querying. I want to focus on the bright side. New Year. All those hopeful feelings. So out the window negative query monster. Here are some things I love about querying!
- Twitter Pitch Parties and Contests: Fantastic tools to improve the quality of your writing, connect with other writers, and (hopefully) snag agent requests. Check out SunvsSnow, Fic Fest, PitchWars, PitchSlam, and all the rest!
- Agent Advice: whether or not you receive personal feedback from an agent, the querying process should lead you to research agents. And some agents have incredibly helpful feedback/tips on their twitter or interviews.
- Community: It’s really important to realize that querying is not just about you. There is a whole community of writers seeking the same thing – publication and representation. But it’s not a competition. Help others, be kind, and be a part of something big. I cannot emphasize this enough!
- New Books: researching and getting to know agents often leads me to new book discoveries! I’ve read some amazing books because I found an agent I liked and followed their publication deals.
- Rejection: As much as this stinks, it makes me a better writer.
- Feedback: I literally squeal with glee when an agent gives me personal feedback. it makes my week! Even if that feedback is full of what I need to do to improve the book. They read it and took time to comment. That’s huge. Be sure to give THANKS!
- Better Writing: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve revised my query and then revised my book. Querying is a genius plotting tool!
- Momentum: If you are querying, you are moving forward. You’re doing something. You believe in your work and yourself.
- Chuck Sambuchino makes it on this page because his query advice and blog on new agents is just fantastic.
- Game Plan: again, back to Chuck Sambuchino, he recommends querying 60 agents and then turning to small presses and then self-publishing if you so choose. It’s a game plan. Yours might look different. But querying is a way to measure your writing, improve, and plan how to show your book to the world.
What do you like about querying?
ellenmcginty.wordpress.com 
Found you in my querying journey and enjoyed this article. At just about every point you made, I was nodding my head. I, too, like Chuck Sambuchino– saw him at a conference and he critiqued my first page. He mostly liked it but ripped apart everyone else (according to them). For that, I dubbed him Chuck-the-ripper. In affection, of course! I wish you the best.
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Hi Kelly, so glad you liked the article! Thank you for stopping by the blog. Best wishes on your journey!
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