Blogger: Rachel Kent
Sometimes authors are faced with the decision to keep a query letter or project as is or to revise. Most authors feel pretty confident about the direction of a project when the project is sent out. It has gone through revisions and most of the time has received some sort of critique before submission. So how do you evaluate when you should do a revision? Here are a few tips.
Revise your query/project when:
- Your query letter isn’t getting any attention. Either your query is written poorly or your project doesn’t have a unique angle or hook. If both your query and idea are strong and unique, you’ll get some requests for proposals.
- You are getting proposal requests and your proposal gets detailed feedback from one or more agents/editors. Take what they have to say into account and revise and resubmit. Agents and editors are not going to take the time to give detailed feedback on every project they see. Something about your idea is special if they are taking the time to send revision advice.
- Your proposal is requested from your query letter, but then it is rejected over and over again without feedback. This means something in your query letter is sparking interest, but your proposal isn’t presenting it in the way the editors/agents were expecting. Take some time to explore where the disconnect is and revise the proposal accordingly.
Do not revise after a single rejection or even a few rejections. Not every editor/agent is looking for the same thing. Your project might be an excellent fit for one agent and isn’t interesting at all to another. Sometimes it is just a matter of finding the right person to champion your project. Be willing to revise, but not too eager to do so.
Have you ever experienced one of the examples in 1,2 or 3? Did you choose to revise? Why or why not?
Is there another scenario that would cause you to revise your project?
Rachel, thanks for the explanations. When someone sends a query or a proposal and gets rejections, it’s good to have an idea of how to “read” the feedback . . . or lack of. 🙂
Have a great weekend!
This also applies to suggestions from critique partners. Some suggestions just don’t resonate with me. Not my voice, not my viewpoint, not my goal.
And then there are comments that come packed with the power of the Spirit. I sense God saying, “She’s right, you know.” I suddenly realize that God has been whispering the same thing to me for weeks, but I’ve been too stubborn, too busy, too caught up in myself to hear.
Thus the revision begins!
So true, Shirlee. One whisper from God packs more punch than all the shouts of men.
Rachel, I especially love your last suggestion: do not revise because of a few rejections. Sometimes resisting the urge to rip everything into shreds and completely give up is tough. I’ve learned it’s best to follow my gut and stay the course unless I’ve received multiple rejections and/or feedback from other sources.
Knowing when to revise is hard. I’m currently wrestling with my WIP because I feel like it’s done but I’ve only done three drafts and that doesn’t seem like enough. My last book had at least ten! I don’t know whether I *need* to revise or only feel like I “should.”
Katie, maybe you only need three this time because you’re getting much better as a writer. Maybe most of it is already what it should be, and only a few small sections need polishing. There’s truth in the saying, “Practice makes perfect.” When I find I’m not making any more substantive changes when I work on a given section, I figure it’s been revised enough even if I’m still polishing elsewhere in the manuscript.
Thanks Carol, I appreciate your comment very much. I’m waiting to hear back from a beta reader before making any decisions about revising, but even if she says it’s ready I STILL won’t be sure. Mostly because she’s a good friend so her “critique” is kind of biased! So I will have to do some serious praying about it. Thanks again, Carol.
Katie, I find if I keep reminding my beta-reader friends that it’s the negative comments that really help me and I want to know everything that seemed even the slightest bit wrong, they try to be “negative” for me.
I agree that praying is always the best approach to knowing what to do.
Years, actually decades, ago I sent a manuscript to a periodical and got it back with lots of suggestions from the editor. Being new to writing, I took it as a strong refusal and never made the suggested improvements and resubmitted it. Several years later when I’d learned enough about the industry to know I should have followed the suggestions and sent it again the periodical had gone out of business. That was so disappointing.
Interesting you bring this up right now, Rachel. My query letter has generated enough interest that I received some full requests but also a lot of generic rejections. I haven’t been compelled to revise the query itself but based on the feedback I’ve received, I working on a revision of the novel itself. Thanks, as always, for the great discussion.
Thanks for this informative post, Rachel. I’ve wondered about this issue before, so I really appreciate this outline for how to know if revision should be considered based on the responses.
I’ve gotten such a mix of all of these. I have noticed that if I pitch in person, I will often get a request for a proposal. And yes, I have revised both the query and the story because of feedback, or a class I took, or just a new idea that pops into my head.
Andrew’s not doing well. He could use prayers right now.
Oh no! Praying.
I’m praying, too.
Praying!
If/when an agent says the opening chapter isn’t strong enough, then I’d revise. And that goes for the following chapters as well. If I can’t hook someone in the first page, or chapter, I need to up the game.
So sorry I was absent from responding to comments on Friday. Someone close to me was taken to heaven unexpectedly that morning.
Oh, I’m sorry to hear this, Rachel. May God bless you with peace.
Thank you!