Singing The Blues

It's been close to four months since an agent has requested a partial manuscript. So, the query letter is an abject failure, as have been the previous collection of queries. Sent in batches of five at a time, I have been repeatedly rewriting the letter in hopes of creating a catchy hook in the opening paragraph, but no takers.

There are a few odds and ends still out that were never answered, and never will be at this point. If Melissa Chinchillo hasn't responded by now, and the query was sent four months ago, she's not interested. Alex Glass at Trident Media is another slow one, sitting on a query sent ten weeks ago and no answer. At the same agency, Laura Blake Peterson took only a month to respond, so it's not an agency issue but the work of individual agents. And even though I know that Jane Rotrosen's agency doesn't want new queries, I gave Kelly Harms a go. She must not want new queries either. It's been ten weeks for her as well, no response and none expected at this point.

I tried Tara Mark of RLR again, even though she never responded to the query sent in September. Let's assume it was lost, I decided, and off went a replacement. That was a month ago, and I'm beginning to believe that she's adopted the 'no response is a no' tactic, and thanks for the SASE that can be recycled for office use.

So it's yet another version of the query letter, and another batch sent out two weeks ago. It's mighty silent in the e-mail box, and the postman's not been burdened either. The waiting's such fun that I really must submit to another three literary journals, just to add to the excitement. With a new manuscript to work on, I hardly notice the time flying by. At this rate, I'll be running out of room under the bed, what with all the unpublished manuscripts stored there.