The First 25 Agents

So I call 5/13/2011 the completion date for "Mississippi Sizzling." Somehow my browser takes me to this site http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/agents.html I whittle the prospects down to 25, disqualifying only those agents who clearly are not interested in marketing grown up (as opposed to 'adult' and its racy connotation) fiction. I discarded those agents who want to write authors of children's books, encyclopedias, cook books and 12 step pamphlets. But I had a list of 25 and I was going to get published.

I first wrote to the agents located in Alaska and Canada, thinking they would not get as many queries. I think it is difficult for anyone from another country to represent Americans so I wasn't expecting a swift reply from the Canadians. When I went down this road before the Canadian agents sought Canadian writers. I have to get a response from any Canadian.

The email to the Alaskan agent was apparently invalid and it bounced back.

Next on the list was Doriss Michaels. They mentioned in their propaganda that they sought material that had "strong screen potential." I emphasized that "Mississippi Sizzling" was to be the first in a series and TV and movie producers seek a built-in audience above all else. Series of any kind are better than stand alones of any kind. They wrote me a prompt email that was not a formal rejection. They wanted to review andif they were interested they would contact me...I was hopeful.

I sent an email query to Jane Cheliut Literary Agency. Yes it said explicitly no science fiction. I made the point that this is near future sf and as such was not really sf. They wrote a polite reply that they don't handle science fiction.

Let's review the math...A list of 55 agents is initially trimmed to 25. Two are Canadian and do don respond. 23. The Alaskan is an invalid email. 22. Eight of those listed are "snail mail" only. I will address these in a minute. 15. Fourteen.

On May 29, June 5 and June 6 I send out eleven queries. Not sure how I got from fourteen to eleven. But that is how many I sent out. Eleven queries reaped eight rejections, one "we will review..." and two non-responses. Still batting zero, am I.