To finish my series on dos and don’ts of querying, here are some tips on what worked when I was querying in 2008 for my current agent. In this case, I had learned from my slapdash experience with my first novel.

So for my third novel (the one that landed me current agent, but not the book we sold first), I actually did something pretty crazy for a writer. Ready?

I finished the first draft it in March 2008. Then I worked with a freelance editor to refine it. By May 2008 it was ready. So rather than query it, I sat on it for the entire summer. Crazy, huh? I didn’t touch the thing. I didn’t even look at it.

When September rolled around, rather than query every agent under the sun who repped this genre, I was strategic. I picked the best agents. I picked agents who had strong sales records. I picked agents at top agencies. And I only sent out about ten to twelve queries. Then I waited. I didn’t rework the novel. I didn’t tinker with it. I didn’t tweak it. And I didn’t freak out when I got the inevitable rejections from those who requested it and read it and passed.

Sure, there was some drama. I had interest from a big muckety-muck who said he’d agent me after reading only one chapter, then changed his mind after reading the synopsis. During this time, I had to play it cautiously when other agents requested the book and expressed interest. But I was straightforward with all and that honesty served me well because my the agent who became my agent waited patiently while I waited on the other one.

In the end, the biggest difference between querying the first time and the second was this — I had polished and refined and spit-shined my manuscript for the novel BEFORE contacting agents. The result? It took two weeks to land an agent, not 100 days.