A Calculated Risk

I may be asking for trouble here…but even though the book’s not finished, I’m going to start querying agents, because it’s the only way I’ll stop procrastinating and focus on the last leg. 

Of the 94 agents who meet my criteria (represent my genre, belong to AAR, are currently seeking new clients, and are the best fit among the potential agents at a given company), roughly 50 don’t even want to see writing samples enclosed with a query.  They make the decision on whether they are interested in the project before they even see a word of the actual manuscript.  Then consider the fact that representatives typically take weeks to get back to writers.  (I’ve even heard of some taking a year to respond).  So I’m going to break the rule I’ve read in more books on the subject than I can count.  I’m going to query a selected list and finish the book knowing I have a deadline.  I’ll liberally estimate the word count, which should be rounded off to the nearest 10,000. 

I’m culling the database for “Query Only First” agents who:

Want or welcome snail mail queries;

Are on my “B” list.

My B list includes agents who perhaps deserve to be A-listed where my project’s concerned, but don’t leap out at me.  Or perhaps I still don’t know enough about them from the research I’ve done to think they might be A caliber.  Like anyone hiring an employee or vendor, I have prejudices.  I prefer a female gynecologist;  I visit restaurants with certain ambiences and clientele.  And when it comes to my perfect agent, I am looking for specific qualities that may not matter in the long run.  So it’s no shame to be on my B list.  (Why do I suddenly imagine myself telling a guy this?)

Anyway, I’m going to send out queries to agents on my Query-Only-First-B-List… then put this baby to bed, once and for all.  It’s not that I’m struggling with words at this point — I’m simply dragging my heels getting started each day.

So the countdown begins…