I just sent out several new query letters today. Both are to some pretty high profile literary agents. When I looked at the stats for one of them, the Maas Agency, it showed that they had accepted no SF submissions in the last 30 days while rejecting at least 30 - at least among the users of http://www.querytracker.com. Not sure about the queries from other folks, but assuming that QueryTracker users are at least somewhat representative, this is a rather challenging statistic...
This is one of those times in which the ideas in The Secret can come in rather handy. Specifically, I like the idea of putting intent out to the Universe, in this case to have an agent accept my work - and subsequently, a publisher.
There is always the question: When putting intent out to the Universe, praying for results, or however you wish to phrase it, does something paranormal or metaphysical happen? Or does it simply mean that you really want something so you are going to go the extra mile to make sure the result happens? There is the old example of trying to manifest a new Maserati in your driveway - can it happen? Or does it simply mean that you will go to whatever lengths it takes to make that dream come true. In this case, I don't give a hoot about Maserati's, but agents and publishers would be really nice.
What I did do over the last couple of days, is to greatly optimize my query letter. Re-reading a few more of the tutorials on various writing websites, I discovered that I had made some big mistakes on the first set of queries I sent out. I'm not surprised as those were the first ones, even though at the time I thought I had them right. Now, I wish I could re-do those with a better submission. There has to be a first step for everything. We live and learn...
'Nuff for now. It's time to go meditate and maybe put out to the Universe visions of a zillion readers just loving The Fifth Key, flocking in droves to book signings everywhere.
Looks like I have a lot of reality to create. Wish me luck... :-)
