17 Rejections and Counting and Why That's Good

Update on my attempt to get my book published, and thanks, Jocko

I decided to edit this post and explain why I’m okay with getting rejections to my queries from literary agents. There is a quite famous former U.S. Navy Seal named Jocko Willink who talks about dealing with situations when things don’t go well and thinking “good” as a response. He states, “…unexpected problems - we have an opportunity to figure out a solution…” he explains this more in a two-minute video that is really worth watching: Jocko Willink "GOOD" (Official) .

I thought I should include an update on how my querying is going for Shame of Kings. I’m using QueryTracker to keep a record of my queries. It is really a great tool, as it makes it easy to identify agents to query along and provides very detailed statistics on their responses to queries and how often they respond to authors.

Query Tracker also records all the queries you place through them, which allows you to see how you are doing with rejections and how long it has been since you sent queries. You could do all of this yourself, but I can’t imagine a better, more effective way to manage your efforts to get pubished. I’m really just scratching the surface on the amount oof features on QueryTracker, so please check it out for yourself.

Now on to my results so far. According to what I’ve recorded on Query Tracker, I have sent out 47 queries and received 17 rejections. Note that this is probably not completely accurate, and I think I’ve received more than 17 rejections. This is because some of the rejections come via email and are not automatically attached to QueryTracker, and I don’t always remember to update my query list. Still, this gives me a good idea of how it’s going.

The following image shows a portion of queries for which I haven’t received a response yet.

I don’t know if it’s better to get a form rejection for just to never get a response. What do you think?

This next image shows a portion of the rejections I’ve received. This gives you a good idea of the data you can get from QueryTracker

So where does this leave me? You might wonder if all these rejections and long waits for replies are discouraging, and the answer would be “yes, a little,” but good. In no way does this mean I’m giving up. I have added a second part to the book since I last sent out any queries, and I will change the beginning, again, before I send any more. I’m also thinking about changing the genre for the book, as it seems to fit more into alternative history more than historical fiction.I have more ideas of things to try with the book in the coming months, and I’ll post about them here. 

I hope you will consider being a paid subscriber to the newsletter. I’m running a free 10 - day trial right now. Paid subscribers will get many more posts and also a look at sample chapters from Shame of Kings.

Good luck with your writing, and querying.

Will Granger