You're My Only Hope.....

So out of 6 partial requests, I've had five rejections. There's one more out there in queryland....and I know it's cliche to say it, but Dear Agent #6, "You're my only hope."

Now the good news: I'm working out the details for my 200 followers giveaway! Yay! I'll let you know asap when I figure things out.

And I just had an awesome flute recital at the Nashua Public Library today. I'll have a You Tube link posted in the next entry, probably tomorrow or Friday.

1 Acceptance and 1 Rejection

After over a hundred days of waiting I heard from Pill Hill Press last night! They accepted my necromancer story, Queen of Bones, for their fall anthology: Flesh and Bones, Rise of the Necromancers. I've sent a few stories to Pill Hill for their anthologies, and this is the first one to get in!

Everyone should check out their website because they have many more anthologies going on: a apocalyptic one, a Dixie undead one, a bloody carnival one. Writing short stories has improved my novel writing skills immensely. You have to pack everything into 3k-10k words, and the action can never slow down too much.

On the query front, I received a rejection on a partial *sad face* this week. That leaves only 3 more partials out there with agents. I try to keep working on my fifth book, but after a while I feel like these rejections are wearing me down.

Do you get worn down by rejections?
Is anyone going to try for a Pill Hill Press anthology?

Reduced Blogging Schedule and Query Update

For the next few weeks I'm teaching flute class at the Summer Youth Music School at the University of New Hampshire, so I'll be on a reduced blogging schedule.

It's a great music program for kids ages 7th-12th grade. They stay in the dorms and take music classes all day with concerts at night.

Bad news for me is, I don't have as much time to devote to my blogging or writing. But this is the way it is with duel careers. Sometimes one takes over the other for awhile.

My query stats are looking a little down:

Queries: 55
Rejections: 24
Partials: 6 (2 rejected)

I'm still waiting to hear back from 4 agents with my partial for Paradise 21. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's been four weeks for some of them, so I'm bound to hear back any time. And of course, I'll keep you all posted!

Two More Partial Requests and Mia's Fabuloso Competition

Yesterday I got two more partial requests! Here are the updated stats:

Queries: 55
Rejected: 18
Partials: 6 (1 rejected)

So now I know if none of them like it, then it probably wasn't meant to be. Remember, this is the fourth book I'm querying, so I've had my share of rejections on partials in the past. I'm hoping, though, that I've FINALLY broke through.

Secondly, Mia is having a SUPER AWESOME GIVEAWAY. She's giving away a copy of my sci fi novella, Nebula's Music as part of it. Thank you Mia! If you get a chance, go over and enter!

The Agents Are Silent

Query Stats:

Queries Sent out: 53
Partials: 3 (1 rejection) 2 still out
Rejections: 18

I haven't heard from an agent in ten days. I wonder if this is a busy time of year for them, or if a lot of them are on vacation. Has anyone heard anything lately?

2 Acceptances and 1 Rejection

So I opened my email yesterday night and had two acceptances and one big old rejection.

First the acceptances:

My short story, Rainbow's End, has finally found a home. A Fly in Amber accepted it for their next issue. They actually vote on the stories over there, so I'll let you know when it's up so you can go over and vote for me!



And, Gypsy Shadow Publishing accepted my short story, Malicifer as a ebook.

This is the image I'm going to use as a cover:


Now the bad news, one of my partials came back as a rejection. It was a big time literary agency, so I wasn't expecting them to like it, but it stung all the same.

Here are my query stats now:

Queries sent out: 46
Partials Requested: 3 (1 rejection)
Rejections: 14

Two small wins today and one large loss. Do they balance out? What do you guys think?

Shhhh... be wery wery quiet. I'm hunting agents

Stats are about the same:

Queries sent out: 37
Partials: 2
Rejections: 5

But I'm already running out of agents representing science fiction. Right now I'm using Query Tracker, Agent Query, and Publishers Marketplace. I just read on Publisher's Marketplace that Denise Dumars of the Ashley Grayson agency is taking queries for science fiction only up until June 21. Usually she doesn't accept science fiction at all! So it's perfect timing for me.

Now I'm branching off and querying agents that rep romance and action/adventure. But I'm not sure they'll like Paradise 21 because of the element of science fiction.

Does anyone know of any other sites for agents?

Query Letter Questions

So I'm working on my query letter. (I know, I'm not finished my novel yet, but I always work on the letter as I write the novel. I figure, if you spend 6 months writing a novel, you shouldn't spend one day writing the letter that goes with it.)

I have the first two paragraphs down. What I'm questioning is how much of my accomplishments to tell the agent.

*Will they cringe if they know that I already have a published book in print with an indie company?

*Or scoff at the fact that I write for three different ebook publishers?

*Should I leave out all the little publication credits from non pro markets?

Help me out, here! What would you put down in your query letter?

Work in Progress Wednesday!

So I'm at 30,000 words in Desert Nomad and I need your help! When you submit a query to an agent you have to put the genre in the subject line. Such as: Query: Science Fiction. Now, my book isn't hard core science fiction, it's more space opera, adventure, romance spun out in a women's lit kind of way. But I can't put all three of those genres up there in the subject line.

What genres fit it best? Which genres will get the agent's attention?
I'm thinking of the following ones:

Query: Science Fiction, Space Opera

Query: Space Opera, Romance

Query: Space Opera, Women's Lit

Here's the blurb if you need more info to help me out:

Aries is a Lifer: a sixth generation colonist living aboard the Ark, a deep space transport vessel destined for a paradise planet three hundred years away. Her purpose is to maintain the life support systems and marry Lieutenant Barliss, producing two genetically superior children to take their place at the helm.

Stifled by an existence predestined by computer calculations, Aries manipulates an escape months before her marriage ceremony to Barliss. Her flight pod crashes on a desert planet with minimal survival conditions and she is caught between the search and rescue teams of the Ark and the primitive hunters on the alien world. While struggling to survive, she is rescued by Striker, a space pirate exiled by his mutinous crew. Together they search for the last relic needed to revive an ancient alien craft, their only means of escape. With the search teams flying above and the hunters stalking them below, Aries is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice; her freedom for Striker’s life.

If you could help me in the comments section with what genre you'd pick for it, that would be great!