A Response or Two

Yesterday I said at the end of my post that I hadn't got any responses yet to my first five query letters. Right after I completed the post the mailman came and there was one of my self addressed stamped envelopes (SASE) in the mail.

I felt like Charlie in Willie Wonka opening the candy bar. You know don’t you, Charlie had to open more than one bar before he got the golden ticket.

I opened the envelope and inside it looked like the agent had sent my letter back????? I took the letter out and flipped up the top of the letter and sure enough it was my letterhead. I didn't see anything other than my letter. Then I opened the rest of the letter and there it was, a circle around a word, and a line coming off the circle to some words.

My heart was in my throat. I was sure that it was a note saying I had misspelled a word. I've been told that's a death sentence for a query letter and I sent out five of that letter. Well, it wasn't a misspelling. The agent circled the word autobiography. She wrote that she wasn't doing any autobiographies at this time.

Today I got another one. This time it was a form letter saying how I must know that publishing is a difficult business and the agent didn't "feel strongly enough about the work." I was happy to see that I'm one more response closer to getting that golden ticket.

Sending the Query Letters

Today I made my final selection of the first five agents to receive my query letter. With the selection finished, my work had just started. Sometimes I think it would be easier if we owned a typewriter. The process of getting the letters out is a long one. First, I had to write the letter in Word. That wasn’t too hard. Second, I had to check each agent on the Internet to make sure they were still in business and their address hadn’t changed. I’m using the 2004 edition of the Guide to Book Publisher, Editors, & Literary Agents. The book’s three years old so I didn’t want to take any chances. I just read about a guy that sent his query letter to an agent and he got a call from another agent in the office. The guy asked the agent how she got his query letter and she said that the agent he sent the letter to had passed away. In the end, she got him a million dollar advance on the book and a movie contract. Wait, maybe that’s what I should do, only send my query letter to agents that have… No that wouldn’t work, with my luck I wouldn’t hear from an agent until I got to…well you know where.

Third, after verifying all the addresses, I opened Excel and put the name of the agents in one column and their addresses in another. Fourth, I went back to the query letter in Word and attempted to do a mail merge. A mail merge takes the data from the Excel file and places it in the Word document. It’s not as easy as it sounds. I found out after my first attempt that the first and last name had to be in separate columns in Excel and the address had to be split into separate columns for street, city, state, and zip code. I got that done and after a few more changes I got it to work. Hurray, one letter turns into five with the correct name, address, and salutation on each letter. That only took about three hours. Now where was I, oh yeah, fifth, I had to perform the same mail merge in Word to produce the envelopes. That took a few tries. Now I’m done but I discover that I have some business paper but no envelopes. By that time, it was nearing dinner time so I stopped, ate dinner, and went to the store for envelopes. I now have paper and envelopes that match.

It’s now 8:10 PM and I have to wait for Cheryl to finish working before I can print the letters and envelopes. I haven’t set up our computers in a network; another very long process that neither of us has time for. Because we aren’t networked, I can’t access the laser printer Cheryl’s connected to. I want to print the letters and envelopes on the laser printer because the ink from ink jet printers can smudge. Just what I need, send out the letters and the envelopes get a little damp and the addresses smudge (not possible in this humidity). I think it’s time to stop and print in the morning. I would ask for a vote on this but I’m too tired. Tomorrow the letters go out; then the long wait. Reading the web sites of some of the agents I see that it takes them four to 10 weeks to send an answer. Maybe I should take a walk while I'm waiting.

The Query Letter Completed

Okay, the query letter is finished. I am so ready to get this letter out. This week I will print five letters and send them to five literary agents. That’s the easy part. The hard part is waiting for a response. With each letter, I will include a self addressed stamped envelop (SASE). From what I’ve been reading on the Internet, the SASE will be used by those agents who will be sending me a form letter thanking me for my submission but no thanks. If an agent is interested, I could get a phone call or an email asking me for a chapter for their review.

I can only imagine what Cheryl and I will feel when we get that phone call or email. What an experience that will be. I have been so fortunate to have had so many challenges in life and succeeded that I am excited to have the opportunity to show others that no matter what challenge they’re facing you can not only survive it, you can come out the other side healthy, happy, and on top of the world. I don’t mean to lessen the hardship that people can endure but there is life on the other side of the struggle. My friend Bob, who has been my friend since before I had polio, has faced challenges that I hope to never face.

Bob’s wife died of cancer and not too many years later his youngest daughter died of cancer. I couldn’t imagine facing those challenges. Bob is an inspiration to me. I’ve completed almost four chapters in the first book of the series of three books that I plan on writing and Bob is in the first three chapters that I’ve completed. I sent them to him to read and he said he told a friend of his, who is a screen writer, about the books I’m writing and she said she’s interested. The idea of getting the books published is exciting. The story becoming a play or movie is just beyond my imagination. Stay tuned this could become very exciting.

The Query Letter

Last night our company arrived and I gave them a copy of the rough draft of my query letter. They were here to pick up some furniture and they had two other stops to make so we didn’t get a chance to talk about the letter. I’ll see them Thursday night and get their comments. I’ve been thinking of posting the letter here and finally came to the conclusion that if this post is about my journey to getting my book published then I needed to include the query letter in the post. So here goes.

I contracted infantile paralysis, or more commonly referred to as polio, at the age of 20 months. When I was released from the hospital after three weeks in isolation I couldn’t move my legs, sit up, or move my head. My parents elected to take me to therapy three days a week and do my exercises at home the other four days rather than house me in a facility where I would receive therapy and schooling. After twelve years of physical therapy I walked with crutches, had a full leg brace on my right leg, and my left leg was just barely strong enough to no longer need the brace. I have never understood the words “I can’t.” It’s not in my vocabulary. If I had to tell you my philosophy of life, I would say that you live life by doing “Whatever it Takes.”

I attended public schools, I was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout, I graduated from college, and I have a wonderful wife and two grown daughters who share my philosophy. I have been an automotive machinist, a draftsman, a teacher in four public high schools, an instructor in a high tech computer company, a technical writer and trainer for a high tech oilfield down hole services company, the manager of a documentation department, and a national sales manager. My wife and I have lived in four states and I’ve traveled throughout the United States and in Europe training computer service engineers and customers. I’ve had an exciting life and if I wasn’t being challenged I changed it.

If that wasn’t enough, in the midst of the 56 years since polio I have become a Type 1 diabetic, I have arthritis, I’ve had two heart attacks, bypass surgery, and a heart stent. Does life get any easier? No, if it did I’d be dead. I'm going to write three books that chronicle my life from polio to diabetes, diabetes and arthritis to bypass surgery, and bypass surgery to the present. Each stage of my life has given me new and escalating challenges physically and emotionally.

There’s more to add to this letter but that’s the body of it. The question is, if you were a literary agent, would the letter cause you to pick up the phone and offer to represent me. If it would, then you think the book will sell and you will get paid for your efforts. If you have any comments about changes that would improve the query letter, let me know. I can use all the help I can get. One last thought. I forgot to mention that I started on a diet yesterday; a new blog and a diet all in one day. I was 130 pounds nine months after my bypass surgery and now I’m nearly 160 pounds. I looked like death warmed over at 130 pounds so I’m looking to get down to 140 lbs. At 130 pounds I was the same size I was in college; 29 inch waist and a size 40 jacket. It’s funny that I didn’t look like death warmed over then. I wonder what changed.