Jan 15, 2012

Critique winner and how I got my agent

The winner of the full MS critique offered by Tawdra Kandle is: Suzi!! Congratulations!

And now, I'm very excited and happy to announce that Tricia Lawrence of Erin Murphy Literary Agency is my agent!
Honestly, as I type this, part of me feels like I'm living in an alternate reality. I'll wake up tomorrow and realize it was a dream and I'm still querying. :)

Anyway,  huge thanks to Patrick, the mastermind of  QueryTracker and everyone who posts on the forums. Without QT, agent Ammi-Joan Paquette wouldn't have seen my query posted there for advice and she wouldn't have passed it on to Tricia. (EMLA is closed to queries except for referrals or conferences.) Read all the deets here.

Moral of the story: Post your query for critique. Enter contests - especially those over at Miss Snark's First Victim or Mother, Write, Repeat. Agents troll the Internet, people, and they're always hunting for gold.

A few of my statistics:

Started querying: Mid-October
Queries sent: 25 or so
Response rate: around 45 percent  
Stopped querying: beginning of Dec. with 10 fulls or partials out. I worried it would take too long to hear back from everyone if I got an offer.
Offer: Dec. 23 from another, wonderful agent.

Dec. 23 was when everyone went away for the holidays. The offering agent and I agreed to speak after the holidays, and then I gave the other agents another ten days to respond. Tricia emailed me, we talked the next day and I signed with her immediately.

Because when it's right, there's no point in waiting.

She's suggested some great revisions for SA, which I can't wait to tackle. And I'd love to introduce her to you...perhaps through a pitch contest or something else fun? Hmmm. *mental note to strong arm convince Tricia to play along*

For those of you wondering when this news will be your news, I'm sharing this post from one of my favorite blogs. I don't talk about my faith much here but today I must say this: God keeps His promises. Always. And not just to me.

28 comments:

Lisa Regan said...

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's awesome. Congrats. I'm very happy for you. It's certainly well-deserved. I predict much success for Saving Andromeda. Good for you!

Kelley Lynn said...

Congratulations!! That's wonderful! So excited to read about your journey from here :)

Sarah Tokeley said...

Congratulations, this is wonderful. I love news like this :-)

Laura Barnes said...

Oh, yay!! Super great story!! Congratulations :)

LAH said...

Congratulations, that is super exciting!!!! I would be jealous if I weren't so encouraged to read about it :)

I'm about to start querying, so I find everyone's stories/advice invaluable! Thanks for writing about this!

Anonymous said...

Wow amazing! Congrats.

I'll keep the faith - thanks!

Deana said...

Melodie that is absolutely awesome news!!!! I really am so happy for you:) I can't wait to hear you've sold your book and are waiting for it to be on shelves!

Cassie Mae said...

Yay!!!!! cyber dance party!

This is awesome and so super great for you. Congratulations!!!!!!

Emily R. King said...

Yay! I was reading your timeline and wondering if I missed a previous announcement, but this is the big one, right? CONGRATS!

Chantele Sedgwick said...

Congratulations!! New follower! *waves* ;)

Carrie Butler said...

Congrats! I told you SA was gold! :)

Jolene Perry said...

YAY!!!!!

It took me like two months before I FINALLY realized that I didn't need to do any of the online competitions or agent searches.

CONGRATULATIONS!!

~JollyRoger~ said...

Congrats, love. I'm very happy for you!!!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

oh wow, a huge congrats!!!

prerna pickett said...

woohoo! Congrats!

Suzi said...

Congratulations on your wonderful news.

One of the cool things about getting into the blogging world is things like this. You are on your way to getting a book published and one day I will buy that book and can tell people--hey, I kind of know her (at least in the way of knowing someone thru the internet/blogging world).

I don't know many published author and it’s exciting to see others getting closer to their dream.

Thank you also for the ms critique. This last week I've been very lucky. Not with querying, but with getting help from others like this. I really appreciate it. Let me know what I have to do.

Congratulations again and good luck on this next phase of your publishing adventure.

Sarah B said...

I've had contact with Joan and they are a wonderful agency. Very supportive. You are in good hands. (Sorry I'm late on the congrats.)

Nancy Thompson said...

Congratulations, Melodie! May you sell fast and favorably!

Anita Grace Howard said...

Woohooo!!! So happy for you, Melodie! You got your shiny new agent, and now your book gets to go out into the world!

Keep me posted on all your forthcoming good news, because this is just the beginning. :)

Bethany Crandell said...

Congratulations, Melodie! Sounds like you found the perfect fit in an agent :)

And you're right--God can always be trusted with His word!

Melodie Wright said...

Thanks all!

Leigh Covington said...

Oh my gosh! Congratulations!!!! That is so exciting and such great advice. When I am ready I will try to do the same with my query, even though it scares me to death! Very exciting news for you! And thanks for visiting my blog today!

Unknown said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!! I'm so really happy for you! <3333
I'm not surprised, though! :D

Stephsco said...

Congrats! Glad you made a connection, and I'm definitely going to use query tracker when I'm ready for that stage. I hear it's very valuable!

Tyrean Martinson said...

Congrats!!! Great Advice about Query TRacker - I had never heard of it before!!! Thank you!

Peggy Eddleman said...

Congratulations!!! I am so happy for you!!

A.L. Sonnichsen said...

I'm SO late with congratulations, but CONGRATULATIONS!!! This is wonderful news! I'm so happy for you!

Yes, God does keep his promises. I'm off to read that blog post. :)

Sophia Chang said...

I never get enough of query story posts - thank you for sharing and congratulations!