Friday, May 30, 2008

The BEA Hiatus

I'm trying a slightly different query tactic for now. Letters are sent out in small batches, five to eight at a time, and then I wait to gauge the response. Every two weeks ought to do it, if I pay heed to Noah Lukeman's query advice.

This week, however, is not one to be counted in the two week interval. There's no great response to the query letter because the agents are flocking, like swallows, to California. Book Expo America has descended on Los Angeles and there's no one in New York to read the letters or stuff rejections into the SASEs.

Granted, the expo is geared towards book buyers, but it's gotten to the point that agents will attend so that they can meet and greet foreign rights buyers or editors. They do lunch, they have drinks, they network and socialize and make connections. But they don't consider queries from authors.

The new and improved query went out a couple of weeks ago, but between the long weekend and BEA, there's not a single response. With the literary journals closing up for the summer holidays, I'm running out of places to submit to, and that makes the waiting that much more difficult. Nothing better to do, it would appear, than work on another manuscript.

No comments: