In the last four months, we’ve sent out 40 query letters, and all we’ve received so far are rejections. It’s a really disheartening business, pleading for an agent to look at your book. I don’t have the patience to research every agent, figure out how to appeal to them in particular, and send them an individualized query letter, so my wife is doing it for me. She also gets the responses, so that I don’t lose all my confidence when the rejections come back. Here’s how the process looked from April to July.
April 9th – The first block of query letters
My wife sent out ten query letters to literary agents today. Some go out via email and some get uploaded to the agent’s website. Each one is different, but they all sound something like this:
Dear Agent,
Raising money can be hell. Especially when one of your business partners is murdered at an investor pitch meeting. Marty and Bo were just trying to keep their startup alive – but now they’ve got a bigger problem– keeping themselves alive. If they don’t find ten million dollars and a mysterious missing painting in the next four days, it’s not just their company that will be dead. The Russian mob is after them, and they have some hard choices to make about just how far they’ll go to protect their families, their company, and themselves.
Chasing Money was inspired by actual events. In 1945 the Nazis stole … [to avoid spoilers I’m deleting the rest of this sentence and the next.] This fast-paced thriller examines what happens when the masterpiece resurfaces in the hands of a con man and his unsuspecting partners.
Readers of Daniel Silva’s ‘The English Assassin’; Aaron Elkin’s ‘Loot’; Steve Berry’s ‘The Amber Room’; and Jonathan Santlofer’s ‘The Last Mona Lisa’ will want to read Chasing Money, but the book’s appeal is broader. It provides a well-researched look at how the Russian mob and Russian oligarchs operate in America. And it gives an inside view of the sometimes seedy practices of raising venture capital for startups, from the perspective of someone who has done it.
In my 40-year career as a technologist and an entrepreneur, I raised capital and managed startups, including an international art company. Some of the most unusual characters and situations I encountered over those years have made their way into my 87,000-word debut novel.
I am pitching my manuscript to a select group of agents. I chose you because you mentioned in an interview that you prefer flawed characters, and that’s a good description of the hero in this novel. The first chapter is pasted below, as requested. I look forward to hearing from you and thank you for your time and attention.
April 25 – The second block of query letters
We sent another ten query letters out to agents today. Only two agents responded to the first set of query letters, and they both said no. My wife said the emails were short but polite.
“I’m sorry, but I’m just not the right agent for your project and so I will have to pass. Thank you for considering me and best of luck with your future queries.”
“Thank you so much for thinking of me, but this does not sound like a fit for my list at this time. Thanks again for your query, and I wish you the best of luck with your book.”
April 28 – A request for more information
Hope – one of the agents we queried three days ago replied “Can I see 50 pages and a plot synopsis as attached word files please?”
April 30 – Another rejection
Another negative response – “Thank you for your query and sample pages of CHASING MONEY. Unfortunately, I don’t feel this is the right fit for my list at the moment, so I’ll have to pass. Keep querying! Another agent might feel differently.”
May 3 – Hopes dashed
The agent who asked for 50 pages and a plot synopsis on April 28th came back with a rejection, “This is not for me, but thank you for the look.”
May 10 – The first rejection that provides a reason
“Thank you for thinking of me with your project, CHASING MONEY. I read the query and sample pages with interest, and certainly felt the concept was intriguing. Regrettably, I’m afraid I wasn’t as in love with the voice of the work as I would want to be to take on a new project in a crowded genre, and so, I must pass.”
May 24 – A kindly-worded rejection
Another negative response, this one from one of the first agents we queried six weeks ago. It sounds like she actually read what we sent, and at least likes the characters.
“Thank you for the opportunity to consider your query for CHASING MONEY. Although you have an intriguing premise, ultimately I’m afraid I don’t think it’s quite right for my list at this time and am going to have to pass. I’m sorry it isn’t a fit but I wish you the best of luck in finding the right agent for Marty and Bo.”
June 23 – The third round of queries
Starting a new round of agent queries. We sent well-researched, individualized, and personalized query letters to 20 agents today. Some of the world’s top writers were turned down 30 to 40 times before finding an agent and a publisher.
June 27 – More rejections
Discouraging. Four replies so far, all negative. Three of them were form letters, but the fourth was more personal and seemed to at least like my writing style, even if he didn’t think he could sell it.
“Thanks for the intriguing query, Michael. You’ve got a solid concept and an entertaining writing style, but it’s a kind of hardboiled/semi-humorous/mob that I’m not sure I could sell. It’s outside the kind of thrillers I normally do, as well as for the editors I know best and trust most. I appreciate the chance, though. Best of luck connecting with an agent who feels this is more in their area of expertise.”
July 21 – Summing up
It’s been six weeks since we sent the last round of twenty query letters, and beyond the four responses we got early on, we haven’t heard back from a single additional agent. This doesn’t seem to be working.
Michael
