Querying seems to be going alright so far. I think I move slower than some prospective authors; this manuscript’s my baby, so I’m not about to send it blindly out to every email address I can get my tiny hands on. It’s not like parents send their children to just any ol’ kindergarten to let them get a beating.
So I research every single agent, with several pages of Googling and Firefox tabs. I even run down to my local Barnes and Noble and buy a book from one of their authors sometimes. The great thing about this method is I’ve found some awesome books. THE SECRET YEAR is a good example, with definite crossover. (If you’re an adult that thinks YA’s silly, just suck it up and go flip through the YA books for five minutes. You’ll be amazed at the quality of writing.)
Lots of agents post statistics for their queries on their blog. At the risk of possibly be too Interwebs-open, I thought I’d do this as well!
How long I spent revising my query letter: Months. Check out the Public Query Slushpile to see where I turned towards the end of that process. (I was letting rough drafts of my query letter age throughout nearly all six months of my fifth draft of my novel.)
How long I’ve queried: 8 days
Number of queries sent: 15
Number of queries declined: 5
Number of partial requests: 1
Number of partials declined: 1
The first partial came with a personalized (I think?) rejection; the agent claimed he didn’t connect with the narrative voice, but to keep trying and that the market varies widely. I found it extremely encouraging considering it was the first agent I queried and the partial request happened in hours. I lost at least one fistful of hair before the partial’s decline came in several days later.
If you’re interested in learning more about my novel, you can read about it on my website.
In other news, I am switching from a copywriter position for a marketing firm in the education industry, to a copywriter position in a much larger marketing firm in lots of industries. My last day at this internship-transformed-to-job is Friday, and my first day at do-you-really-have-that-many-employees-and-oh-wow-I-get-to-be-one company is Monday. No rest for the wicked!!!
Well, except Saturday and Sunday. That’s more agent researching and movie going time. Maybe I’ll even finish my out-loud reading of THE LATHE OF HEAVEN to my boyfriend. 
