Querying LSOTL: What it means and how it's going

If you are unfamiliar with how the traditional publication route proceeds, I'll share my (admittedly limited) understanding with you.

Fundamentally, your book is a product. Taking it to market represents a radically different undertaking than writing it was, and one for which you, as the author, are likely unequipped. As such, taking your manuscript directly to the publishers yourself represents a likely misstep. By writing, you are a writer, but not necessarily a salesperson; hence, you are best advised to find yourself an agent, some of whom are writers, but are all primarily salespersons.

So, I began my search for an agent to represent Last Song of the Leviathan--- my first completed fantasy novel--- shortly after finishing my second full revision of the manuscript in early September of 2023. At that time, the novel stood at 106,000 words. It was not the shiniest version, certainly. I submitted my first agent query (still unanswered), and have since submitted a further thirty-five, about twelve of which can reasonably be considered currently active.

I've had only a single request for the full manuscript, back in November of 2023. She, the agent, tarried only ten days before returning a "no." That said, it was the first helpful rejection I'd received up to that point. She said three things: that my plot was unique, my characters were well motivated, and that my lapsing into telling over showing kept her from immersing as fully in the novel as she'd hoped. She'd read only fifty pages before declining representation.

To have been buoyed by hope for those ten days, only to be turned away? It was a blow, as I'm sure you've guessed; but it also led to the most productive revision of the manuscript. I reviewed the first few chapters, and was appalled to find that I was guilty of the sin of which I'd been accused. So, I dove back into the revision process, and found I'd have to re-write extensive portions of several early chapters which, foolishly, I had drafted as the aftermath to more interesting events rather than as accounts of the events, themselves. Gross. Then, I had to spend part of my word budget recapping events (telling) rather than making them the focal point of the chapter (showing).

So, the most recent queries contain the bets pages I've sent out. Still, no new request for a full reading of the manuscript have manifested. The agent who rejected the book after fifty pages stipulates, on her website, that she's willing to reconsider after six months have elapsed, and if there's no significant movement before then, I plan to do exactly that, come May.

Otherwise, my queries are out there, pitching for me. We will see how it goes.