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| Photo credit: ladytimeless on Flickr |
Oftentimes, at the end of these How I Got My Agent stories, writers will include their query statistics, which include numbers like how many queries they sent out, how many rejections they received vs. how many partial/full requests they received, etc.
What I found really interesting was the sheer number of writers who reported sending well over fifty queries before finding representation. And so out of curiosity I collected data from thirty How I Got My Agent stories scoured across the web.
The results, to me at least, were both surprising and somewhat encouraging.
Out of thirty now-agented writers, the average number of queries sent before finding representation was 59. The most was 154 (although four writers sent over 100 queries), and the least was ten. The majority of those writers only received one offer of representation—and that’s all it takes. You only need one yes.
Think about that: most of these writers, all who now have agents, received a lot of rejections. When we say rejection is just part of the process, that all writers face their fair share and then some, we really mean it.
Everyone gets rejected. Everyone gets disappointed or discouraged, and I’m willing to bet that just about every writer who has entered the query trenches has at one point or another seen a form rejection.
It’s an unavoidable part of the process, and it’s not fun, but it’s ok.
So whether you’re querying now or will be in the future, remember that rejection is expected.
And above all, remember this: in the end, it doesn’t matter how many rejections you get. Because all you need is one yes.
Have you entered the query trenches?
Twitter-sized bites:
Entering the query trenches soon? Here are some encouraging statistics to keep you going. (Click to tweet)
"In the end, it doesn't matter how many rejections you get. Because all you need is one yes." (Click to tweet)
