Query Stats & Publishing Notes
Query Stats & Publishing Notes
A Brief* Guide To Small Press Publishing (*relative)
PLEASE NOTE: These stats are to the best of my ability. I am not a statistician. I’m a writer with an academic background. I mention this because my partner is a numbers nerd. Hi, babe.
In sharing these stats, I hope to contribute to more ethical, sustainable, and reasonable storytelling industries of all kinds.
As well, please know each publishing journey and, honestly, each book itself is unique to its own experience. No one benefits if we continue to compare ourselves to each other.
TL;DR
33% success rate after leaving the traditional publishing model for Tilting Gravity and going to small press publishing.
CONTEXTUAL NOTES
I believe authors are entertainers and writers are artists. Balancing both is a tricky, murky area that causes a ton of unfair business practices and unpaid labor in the publishing industry. Also, I am stubborn. Like, really, really stubborn. Also-also, understanding the difference between traditional publishing, small presses, hybrid publishers, and vanity presses is helpful.
As well, it took me a decade to write this book. A decade daydreaming about, wishing for, and believing in Syd and Ad’s story. A decade sitting with the world of the book in my head, constantly. I moved to 6 cities and went to two MFA programs in that time. I got married in that time. I sold two houses and bought one in that time. I loved and lost during that time. I changed careers thrice in that time. Not to mention the two full-on years of preparing to query, querying, and revisions/editing. The unpaid labor that goes into writing books is a (solvable) problem.
QUERY STATS
Agents Vetted: 76
Vetting an agent meant using Publisher’s Marketplace, Manuscript Wishlist, Query Tracker, Twitter, Instagram, and Googling/Agency/Agent Websites to cross-check and reference information. It also meant finding competitive titles (comparable books) and searching for who the agent is/was of that book.
This was HOURS of unpaid labor to find a list of agents, and some money spent on buying books (I don’t mind that part). Don’t get me started on the emotional labor of this. A lot of authors call this “the stalking phase”. It’s not. It’s necessary to finding a quality agent who might be interested in your book or stories.
This number includes agents that might be a good fit for a future book or project, and I added agents who might be a good fit but weren’t open to queries when I vetted them.
Agents Queried: 49
Resource: Query Tracker for tracking your queries when/where possible.
Be prepared to spend time paying CLOSE ATTENTION to each and every query you send out. Consider the agent and publisher query submission guidelines (found on websites, Manuscript Wishlist, etc…), the mode of submission (the myriad forms and/and email submission options varied across agent, agency, and publishers).
It’s not the query letter that scared me here. It was the sheer volume of keeping track of things. The query letter is just a cover letter. We hate them, but we do them because we have to. Just Google for query advice.
Agent Rejections: 34
We all know what these are. Self-soothe, rely on your support network. Understand that rejection is part of the business side of being a working writer/artist. It sucks, absolutely.
Agent Nudges: 15
This is the number of agents I nudged after I received my contract from my small press publisher. Typically this type of nudge is called something like a “‘contract-in-hand’ nudge”.
I have no idea if this is the “correct” way to go about this given I was querying both agents and small publishers at the same time for a little while. It felt right to me. Sorry to anyone for the faux pas, if there is one. No one explains these things. 🤷🏻♀️
PAY ATTENTION to nudge preferences between agent and/or agency. Again, hours of unpaid work to track this information.
Manuscript Withdawals/No Responses: 14-15
This is the number of agents I attempted to follow up with that were still outstanding/hadn’t heard from.
I waiver on this number because I hired an agent to help me review the contract. See below for more on that.
# of Small Presses Vetted: 12
Process similar to agent vetting.
# of Small Presses Submitted To: 3
Process similar to querying.
# of Small Press Rejections/No Responses: 2
# of Small Press Contract Offers: 1
ADDITIONAL PUBLISHING PROCESS DETAILS
Was getting rejections from agents with positive general feedback. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that it may not be the right time for traditional markets/the right agent isn't available for this specific story. So, I got really clear on my niche audience. I also had a phone call with someone who forced me to ask the question, "What do I want my writing to do for me?"
After I answered that question personally, I started Googling, Twitter-Diving, Blog-Reading, Publisher's-Marketplace-Scouring for small presses based on my very specific niche:
"Science Fantasy Small Presses", "LGBT+ Fantasy Small Presses", "LGBT+ YA Small Presses", "YA Fantasy Small Presses", etc.
I vetted probably a dozen and walked away with three viable options. I submitted to these three based on their catalog and mission/ethos. The pickin's were slim, to be honest, because most small presses are capital L Literary.
Knowing your general aesthetic is really important in finding a small press. Knowing the type of publishing journey you want to have is even more important.
I sent, copy and paste, my agent query letter and just changed the relevant wording when I submitted to the three small presses. The one I ended up signing with requested the whole manuscript upfront, which I did think was odd but there had been a few agents on my list who also requested the whole thing (or half of it) in the query package, so I just went with it.
Discernment has been a critical skill I’ve gained over years of practice and thinking about traditional publishing. It’s easy for me to say, “just listen to your intuition!” But, that’s not very helpful when it comes to a lot of the publishing industry.
I sent my small press submissions out the at end of October-ish 2021, and the publisher I signed with had told me they wanted to offer a contract at Thanksgiving 2021 (a month-ish later).
I signed on January 24, 2022, after some minor tweaks to the contract with very little (possibly none, if I remember correctly) pushback. I also hired a book/literary agent to look over the contract for me as mentioned above. This agent was recommended to me by a friend who had left the industry, and I paid my friend in exchange for her expertise.
The other two presses were never heard from again. Still, I can claim a 33% success rate, right? 🤷🏻♀️
AFTER SIGNING THE BOOK CONTRACT
I plan to share a little more whenever I get around to the next blog post about what happened after I signed until now-ish (almost a full calendar year), but one thing at a time! Pacing yourself in a publishing career is vital. (Here’s To better futures, hopefully. 💜)
PS - Publishing is intense. Not recommended to go it alone.
PPS - “It only takes one.” Ugh, groan, yes. I know. But also…
PPPS - I do plan to create a resources section on my website someday soonish. This is a lot of information all at once. If you’re researching or just getting started, take your time. Breathe.
Publishing is a slow industry; it’s ok to go slow.
I didn’t. And it was an incredibly stressful two years since I decided to take my writing seriously during a global pandemic, not to mention the decade spent writing and daydreaming about this damn moment.
Take. Care. Of. Your. Self. Please.