Unexpected upsides to submitting properly

As mentioned previously, authors are supposed to submit to agents in batches, rather than send out fifty submisisons in one caffiene-fueled weekend and then call it a day. Both approaches have their upsides and downsides, but I want to focus in on one particular upside I discovered yesterday.

I’ve been doing submissions for a little while now, but I’m still heavily targeting the agents I approach. I’m only submitting to agents who I have a really good reason to approach. This slows down the process a lot, but it means that occasionally I’ll stumble across something - an article, a novel - and find a new agent who I think would be absolutely perfect for my book. Submitting to such people brings a little thrill of discovery and, yes, hope.

I could have done this in the old days when I took the shotgun approach to submissions, but the dispair at being rejected such a huge number of times in a row would have stopped me. Submitting properly, in groups, means two things.

First, it means I can properly tailor my submissions, which is good for my chances.

Second, it means I always have an eye on what the next stage of the process is. This is important for me psychologically, as it means that I’m keeping in my head that there is a next stage of the process. When I submitted using the shotgun approach, the fifty or so submissions I made were plans A, B, C and D. I had no backup plans. The mere esxistence of backup plans for me currently is keeping my hope alive. That tiny flicker of hope is proving invaluable to following up on oppertunities when they occur, rather than feeling crushed and dispirited to the point where I don’t bother seeking such oppertunities out in the first place, or submitting to them if I happen across them.

So, it turns out, the advice that you should submit in batches is good advice.