Profile Update: Genres updated.

EQ: 04/05/19

Contemporary Romance, 67k

EQ: 3/24
ER: 4/3

YA contemporary 63k

EQ: 3/20
FR: 5/18 (My first one. Eek)
YA Contemp 70k.
ER: 11/20 Very personalized and that gives me hope I’m one step closer to finding my agent.

EQ: 11/7/2017
FR: 11/7/2017
FRS: 9/7/2018
ER: 11/20/2018 Personalized. So close...
YA contemp

EQ, DVpit like by both her and Kemi Faderin: 10/18/18
ER: By both, slightly personalized

Contemporary Romance/WF, 70k

EQ: 9/10/18
Nudge with offer: 9/26
Full request: 9/27

Lauren didn't have a chance to finish reading before my two-week decision deadline. She emailed me the day after to apologize and left me with a kind message of well wishes on the success of my manuscript.

MG Contemporary <50K

EQ November/7/2017
Full req 11/7
Pulled to revise 11/28/2017
Resubmitted Sept 2018
YA contemp 65k #MSWL

EQ: 5/31/18

YA Contemporary 78k

@ispyamystery - That's the biggest frustration and irony about querying. Agents encourage you to personalize a query so they feel all special, but then for doing just that, you're gimmicky, being a pushover, annoying, inappropriate, etc. That's why I just cold query, it has always worked for me, while personalizing always leads to either a CNR or just a rejection.

The thing is, I think social media always brings out the "mean" in the agents who use it so frequently, they sound so harsh. My experience with Lauren was nice though, even though it didn't go anywhere (I was close but no cigar)! A note I always make to myself though, cold querying works, the strength of the pitch always speaks for itself.

EQ: 4/27 (#DVPit Request)
ER: 5/7 with personalized note about why she was rejecting it.

YA Contemporary 90K

EQ: 3/16/18
ER: 4/23/18

Form rejection addressed to "Dear Author."

Email rejection addressed to “Dear Author”.

EQ: 2/15
Nudged 4/16
last night she put this on twitter:
"writers: you want your query to stand out because your premise & voice are excellent and the perfect fit for the agent, not b/c you wrote a gimmicky query. Follow basic query rules and save the creativity for your novel. " An author asked what she meant and she continued:
"Basically anything where you think, “Ah, THIS will get their attention!” Some common ones: inappropriate chumminess or flattery, writing as if the protagonist wrote the query, “let’s cut to the chase”/“do you want to get rich?” bravado, lies about what the agent’s looking for."

okay on most of that, but a tad confusing since there is a fine line between personalizing a query (because you've done your research on the agent and you put a couple of lines at the beginning of the query as to why they might like the book/things you have in common with them) and "inappropriate chumminess."
I worried a lot last night that she was talking about me.
This morning I got a "Dear Author" form rejection. Well. Okay. I guess I was "inappropriately chummy".
As a note: I have an agent already for one genre; I'm querying a different genre. So I do know how to get an agent from the slush pile and query trenches, meaning I know how to write a query.
Sigh. This business is brutal sometimes. I wouldn't have wanted her as an agent at this point, because she sounds a little bit mean, even if she wasn't talking about me. Which is why this business feels brutal this morning.
She may not have been talking about me; but writers who are working hard take everything personally.
Dear Agents: please realize most authors are doing their best. They're not trying to piss you off, be inappropriate, be gimmicky. They're just doing their best.
I love query tracker because I can mark it rejected, hide the rejects from my list, and move on.
Onward!

EQ on 2/19/18 MG Fantasy Adventure 38,500 words. Received an automatic reply that she was out of the office but would get back to me when she returned. Nudged on 4/22/18