An Unexpected Email

"I've got to admit it's getting better/ A little better all the time." - "Getting Better" by The Beatles

When I was checking my email Thursday night, I saw a response to a query I had sent an agent that immediately jumped out at me. What was strange was that my old title for Secrets was in the subject line. My first thought was that I had made a mistake was lucky enough to receive a form rejection instead of being ignored. I was wrong. My responses from agents are indeed getting better!

The weirdest part however, was that this query had been sent out in May of 2010 and I was just now getting a response! This is not unheard of, but I was still shocked. So, I opened it up to find a message saying that the agent thought I had "a nice writing style and sense of story". Wow, a compliment! Then she went on to say what I have come to expect, that it is very difficult to sell a first time author to a publisher unless the book is perfect. I get that, honestly I do. Then she said that she could put me in touch with an editor and she feels that I will ultimately see my work in print. That sounds like a pretty positive comment to me!

There is no way I can afford a professional editor on my salary, but I immediately realized something. I have done massive editing in the past year after gaining knowledge on my own and taking the advice of another agent who gave me some amazing editing tips. So, I decided to take a chance and email her back, mentioning the editing I had done and asking if she would be willing to look at the first three chapters again. I am not expecting anything to come of this, but it was a wonderfully unexpected surprise if it did. I just hope I hear back from her sooner than last time!