The Query Trenches | An Interview with London Sperry
In this series, “The Query Trenches,” we will get an insight to what today’s querying landscape looks like for a variety of authors seeking to traditionally publish.
There are two sides to publishing a book: The creative side and the business side. The first step, of course, is writing a book, which is the creative side. But the business side is actually publishing the book and getting it to readers. And the first step of getting published is getting a literary agent. To do that, authors must query, a process where you send a quick overview of your book, sample pages, and a synopsis to agents so they can get a sense of whether they’re interested in your work and representing you. Doesn’t sound too bad, right? Except it takes months to even get a response. Longer to get representation. Many authors have suffered through the trenches, but no two journeys look the same.
This interview is with London Sperry, a writer currently querying an adult romance book. Since this interview took place, London has signed with an agent!
First, why don’t you introduce yourself and the book you’re currently querying.
The book I’m querying is pretty tied to my personal story, so I’ll start with some background on me! I graduated from Penn State in 2017 with a BFA in musical theatre. My plan from a very young age was to be a working actor in New York City. I wanted to live the starving artist lifestyle, to grind hard so I could eventually see my dreams come true on the Great White Way. There was never a backup plan. So when I graduated with my class, moved to New York, and started auditioning, I was shocked that I found it not only disappointing, but almost impossible to withstand. I wasn’t performing, I was working in restaurants, and I was watching my friends all get fantastic jobs on Broadway, in National Tours, and in regional theatres. After sticking with it for three years or so, COVID hit NYC and everything shut down. Including theatre. So I packed up my things and moved back Upstate for the time being. It took me a while, but over the next year, I decided to give up on theatre for good. So where did that leave me? Passionless and directionless for the first time in my life, and grieving the loss of my dream. That’s when I started writing my book, PASSION PROJECT. It’s a romantic comedy about a young woman in NYC experiencing a similar lack of direction and passion, and overwhelming grief—only she was grieving the loss of her first love instead of a theatre dream. One day, she encounters a plucky young man who insists that he can help her find her passion. Together, they take weekly “passion project” dates, trying new jobs and hobbies until she finds one she wants to pursue. Also they fall in love, because this is a rom-com, of course! It’s an exploration on how we think our jobs or being a big success will make us happy, but it’s really about the people that surround us. It’s all about healing your heart, and loving yourself despite your perceived shortcomings, and accepting that love from other people as well!
Romance is the most popular genre in publishing right now. Do you think you have any sort of advantage or disadvantage in querying?
I’m not sure if there was an advantage or disadvantage, to be honest. A lot of agents have rom-coms high on their wish lists, but I didn’t seem to strike the right nerve with a lot of those agents. Funny enough, the most positive responses I got were from agents who were looking for “general commercial fiction” rather than romance. In some cases, agents noted that they were being really picky with offering to romances because they recently signed new clients. My request rate through the first four months of querying was very low. Less than 10%. Slowly, the numbers rose, and I’m finishing out querying at around 24% requests. I think the people looking for rom-coms in particular are looking for something super high concept and punchy. Easily pitchable in one short sentence. That’s true for romance, especially, since the market is so saturated right now. You have to have something that really stands out in the crowd of manuscripts.
This is your first time querying, right? Was it like you expected or were there a lot of things that surprised you?
I’d been warned before querying that it was going to be difficult, but I had no idea. I had some experience with rejection (okay a lot of experience with rejection) from my time in theatre, but what they don’t tell you is how often rejection comes with uncertainty. It’s common practice in the industry to not respond to queries if the agent isn’t interested. The author is just meant to assume that after a period of time with no response, that it’s a rejection. This is true of roughly 20 of my queries (and probably more given that I have 11 outstanding queries right now that I don’t expect answers from). The “no response=no” policy leaves a lot of guesswork and emotional labor from querying authors. It’s like being ghosted in dating. You’d much rather be dumped than left wondering why they won’t call you back. At least if you’re dumped, you can move on.
Another thing I didn’t expect was the sheer amount of time it takes to get responses on requests. I started querying in April, and from then until late October, I’d only gotten two responses on my full requests. At that point, I had at least 7 requests out, and one that was over 150 days old. That agent requested my book on June 23 and I still have not heard back from her, but I have a deadline now, so I’m hoping for a response by December 19th.
The last thing that surprised me was just how emotional the whole ordeal was. A book is like a piece of your soul, a chunk of your ego, an extension of yourself—or at least it is for me. So when you hand it over to people to scrutinize and they don’t like it, or don’t get it, or worse—they don’t care enough to read it, it can cut really deep.
You’re in a unique place right now, where you have an offer, but you haven’t signed a contract yet. What’s that like for you?
It was very scary at first. The first offer I got wasn’t my dream offer. That’s not to say she isn’t a dream agent, but for me, I was hesitant. Once you get an offer, you have to decide whether you will decline it and keep querying, or if you will “nudge” all the agents that have your query letter or who have requested materials. That was a big decision for me: to nudge or not to nudge. On one hand, this was only the third full response I’d ever gotten. I had a golden opportunity to push myself to the top of these agents’ to do lists and guarantee a response by my decision deadline. On the other hand, nothing guaranteed that these responses would be other offers. And once you nudge, you can’t take it back. It’s all or nothing. Ultimately, I decided the risk was worth it, and if I came out with no other offers, I’d be happy signing with the first agent or shelving the manuscript for a little while in favor of querying something new. So one Wednesday morning, I nudged about 30 agents with my offer of rep, notifying them of my deadline on December 19th. Responses started rolling in almost immediately. Rejections and requests alike. I got more responses in the first 2 days of my nudge period than in six months of querying. My requests doubled, and every time I got a rejection, a new request popped up. It was a lot of excitement and terror all at once. More requests means more opportunities to be rejected, and the end felt so immanent. I was really ready to say goodbye to this book, ready to watch it disappear. But luckily, I found another agent who was as passionate about my book as I was. I nudged on Wednesday, got a request on Thursday, and had a second offer on Friday.
Right now, I’m one week away from my deadline, and rejections keep pouring in. I got two today! But they’ve all been much nicer since I’ve notified my offer of rep, and much more manageable from an emotional standpoint because I have an offer from an agent I’m really excited about working with! It’s been the biggest swing of emotions over the past two weeks, and I’m extremely grateful that it is going in a direction I feel good about. I can’t wait for December 19th.
Querying is a highly emotional process. What are your go to self-care tips?
First of all, therapy. I started therapy right at the beginning of my querying journey, and I couldn’t have endured it without those weekly sessions. Having a third party to talk to, a professional who isn’t in publishing, is invaluable. Or at least it has been for me. I can’t tell you how many times I just cried for our hour-long sessions. My poor therapist.
Other than that, I’m a “little treats” person. Perhaps it’s not the most financially sound outlet, but I tend to buy myself something for every loss and every win. Okay, maybe not every loss or every win, because I’d be broke. But I made a habit of taking myself to the bookstore to get something exciting, buying a sweater I’d had my eye on for a while, or grabbing a nice coffee from a shop I liked whenever I was feeling down. I also started to go to the gym. Turns out, endorphins really do make you happy, and running around in circles keeps you from refreshing your email over and over again!