Once you've revised and believe it's the best it can be, you must query.
But querying agents and publishers is a big job. It's a full-time job, and for someone who is trying to revise a novel, it's nearly impossible.
I tried to keep track of querying, a few years ago, by writing the name of the agent down and the date. But I soon realized that I was no good at coming back to that piece of paper and recording anything.
Then I thought I'd just keep my emails in a folder marked QUERY. But my computer got stolen, and I lost all that information.
Finally, a writer friend recommended:
QueryTracker | Free Database of Literary Agents and Publishers
QueryTracker is a place for writers that are ready to find an agent or publisher for their book.
What I love about QueryTracker:- Organization: you can organize your letters and responses easily
- Knowledge: you can see which agents are open right now and which agents are closed to querying
- Community: you can see what other authors say about agent/publisher responses
- Cheap: you get a lot for less money
- Search Engine: you can search agents/publishers by genre
- Alerts/Reminders: you can set these to tell you when to check in with agents you've queried or when an agent will be accepting queries again
- Profile: you can share information about yourself with other Query Tracker members
Once I joined QT, it made my querying life much easier. Now, when I receive a response, I log it into my Query List (which can never be stolen from me.)
QT will also close out any queries you have going once they've passed the agent's allotted time frame for requests.
QT uses emoticons to keep track of requests - partials get a half smile - full requests get a full smile. I like this part the best because I finally have some full-on smiles in there!If you are intrigued, I suggest you go to QueryTracker and watch the video What is QT?
