Read 'Em And Weep

Stumbled across these sad, sad, statistics on the blogs of Agents Kristin Nelson and Jennifer Jackson for 2008.

Queries Received

Nelson -- 35,000
Jackson -- 6,500

Full Manuscripts Requested

Nelson -- 88
Jackson -- 10

New Clients Signed

Nelson -- 2
Jackson -- 6

I'm not even gonna bother doing the math. Y'know...come up with percentages and stuff that'd really make my eyeballs bleed. The numbers kinda speak for themselves.

Now let's look at my submissions for the year, shall we? (Get ready: this could be equally scary.)

Looks like I sent out 16+ queries last year--a mixture of one-page letters and partials for both Leftovers and Lights! Camera! Love! From those, I got four requests (3 for partials, 1 for a full). Considering most "experts" say you should query 100 agents before giving up on a project, I'm thinking I should, um, amp up my efforts for 2009 (although, based on the above agent stats, you can forgive me for feeling like why bother.)

Sigh. That's why this biz ain't for the weak-of-heart, boys and girls.


*Sidenote: (I also submitted and sold about 10 stories--averaging about 35 pages each--to True Romance last year, so I'm not quite the slacker I appear. Ha.)