My writing journey has moved into the querying process!! I sent my five five query letters today.

There are four major processes for an author, and writing is just one of them.

1. Writing
2. Editing
3. Querying
4. Publishing & Marketing

Querying is when a writer sends letters (or emails) to literary agents in hopes of being chosen to be represented by an agent. An agent will submit the writer’s book to big publishing houses, and then negotiate with publishers for them, and handle all the contracts. Most large publishers will not consider publishing writers who do not have an agent.

There were three pieces I needed polished and complete before I could begin.

1. A complete, edited manuscript (Awake, Awoke)
2. A synopsis (torture to write, summarizes the entire book in 3-5 pages)
3. A query letter (which includes an even smaller description of the whole book, details like genre and word count, and an author bio.)

After learning how to write steps 2 and 3, I hired my professional editor to critique both synopsis and query letter, which have been through numerous revisions.

Today, I sent out my first five queries to five agents to represent YA fantasy authors!!!

The waiting for the response is the hard part.

I’ll either be rejected, as my project isn’t a good fit for the agent; or asked to send the full manuscript in; or receive an offer of representation.

We’ll have to wait and see!