Agents: Consider Yourselves Queried

I sent 11 agent query letters out this evening. I will be sending out one more, but the agency only accepts hard copy (snail mail) queries, and I will have to get that together. I am really quite pleased that I was able to send out so many queries through "green" means (i.e. I don't have to pay for ink, paper, envelopes, or postage!), and I will be searching for a few more victims tomorrow. Right now, I am just proud that I actually did it. How many manuscripts have I written? 4. How many times have I queried before tonight? 0.

So... Go me.

I will admit, sending that first one was pretty nerve-racking. And the second one was a little easier. By the fourth, I was feeling pretty good... Until I realized I had a comma splice at the end of my letter... One that I missed at least a billion times! Ugh... I guess I can really only count 7 of those queries (head/desk). Oh, well. At least I tried. I just hope I get a few nibbles. I know that's a lot to ask, especially since it's my first time, but it would be so nice to feel validated.

After sending out the agent queries, I did drop a publisher a query--they, too, are super nice and had electronic submission (they published two of my friend and classmate's, Ray Atkins, books. He is amazing. Like OMG, amazing. You need to read his stuff, or your life will never be complete). If only one of the queries grabs interest, I hope it's that one... Or there is a bidding war. Either way....

And, in case you were wondering what a query letter looks like, I have a little treat for you. Here is my winning (or losing) query letter:

Dear Agent:

Aelith has known only Dragon Isle, but with the deaths of the aunts who raised her, she yearns to seek out the family she has never known. When a small scouting party arrives on her island in search of Elderlend’s most sought after future-criminal, she is presented with the means to see her desire fulfilled.

Tannus, Tyne of Rhowenne and son of one of the most powerful men in Elderlend, is grasping at straws when he arrives on the small island with his companions. The High Ruler has commissioned many before him with the task of finding the Blood Child, the prophesied usurper of the High Ruler’s throne, and Tannus knows that to do so will not only cement his own claim to the position, but earn him the respect he craves from his father. His own curiosity induces him to agree to accompany Aelith to the mainland and nearby kingdom’s capitol.

As they travel through a world in which the human race is struggling to reassert itself as the dominant people, Aelith is exposed to a reality that quickly shatters her naïveté. Tannus, in turn, comes to find that the High Ruler might not be the almighty savior Elderlend thinks he is. Though the two are forced onto very different paths, they find themselves fighting to fulfill the prophecy of the Blood Child.

The Blood Child is complete at approximately 115,000 words; it shares similarities with George Lucas’s Willow and Jeff Wheeler’s The Wretched of Muirwood trilogy. It will appeal to readers of epic fantasy, romance, and women’s fiction. May I send you a partial excerpt or full manuscript?

I am a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology.  I am a co-author for a university textbook, Fitness for Living, published by Kendall-Hunt Publishing Company and used by Kennesaw State University in metro-Atlanta, Georgia. I am married to a U.S. Army officer and currently reside outside of Seattle, WA.

Sincerely,

Yours Truly

Oh... And now you know what it's about. (Thoughts?)