"tweet, tweet"

a little boid told me she was taking queries again. . .

I've been waiting a long time for a certain agent to open the floodgates again. And she has. And I learned about it on Twitter, which is totally ridiculous.

For me, I mean. 

Before I reveal this literary agent's name and provide a couple of sobering stats (just to keep myself grounded), I want to talk about this Twitter business.

I've mentioned I'm a luddite, right? But I thought it was important to start putting myself out there in the virtual world, step out of my comfort zone. Hence, this blog. Funny thing about having your own blog: you start checking out other people's blogs. Fascinating how many literary agencies and agents have blogs.

I happened to be reading a certain literary agent's blog and caught a tweet off to the side, from another certain literary agent who just started accepting query submissions again, after a long hiatus. Months long. During that time, she made a significant life change, leaving one agency to join another, and she took some extra, needed time to regroup. Catch her breath.

Her name is Sarah LaPolla. Her new agency is Bradford Literary Agency: http://www.bradfordlit.com/ . And Sarah has a blog: http://glasscaseblog.blogspot.com/ . It is from her June 13 blog that I pluck the following sobering statistics:

Total number of unsolicited queries received from January - April of this year: 1,182

(Note: "Unsolicited" does not include referrals, conference/contest requests, or revisions I had asked for previously.)

Total number of manuscripts requested out of the 1,182 queries: 17

Total offers of representation out of the 17 manuscripts requested: 0

Since January 2013, I signed 1 new client, a YA author who I met through a blog contest.

Sarah is a kind person who added the following, just for me:

But don't be discouraged, querying writers! The year is only halfway through and I just re-opened to queries. I'm at a new agency and am actively growing my list. (snip)

I sent CHERRY's query today to Sarah LaPolla, along with a hastily written synopsis (!) and Chapter One. Chances are slim that Ms. LaPolla will request further chapters but I figure it's worth a shot. Seems like Karma almost, seeing that tweet. 

Gotta believe in something.