Questioning Querying

The literary world is vast, there’s not much that hasn’t been done, just writers doing the same things better. We all strive to get our stories out there. Why is one story better than the other? What makes our story special and stand out? Are we ready to put our stories out there? Is the literary world ready for us?

All these questions, and many more, go through my mind as I contemplate querying.

As a bit of a background, I feel I should say that I'm VERY VERY new to all this. I didn't know what a Query (when it comes to publishing) was a few weeks ago. I wasn't a person who grew up with stories in my head. It was the opposite for me, in fact. I always said that I lack the imagination to write and I would like to, if only I could come up with ideas.

It took 40 years and a writing prompt to get me on this journey and actually writing.

As I wrote, I didn't know what I'd do with my story. I thought it was for fun but the more I wrote it, the more I fell in love with it. And I thought 'Well, maybe I can put it on Smashwords, and we'll just see what happens'. But as I finished it and it had its first two readers, I found that they loved it, like really loved it and thought something could be done with it. Granted, I take both their opinions with a grain of salt, as I married one and the other is a close friend, but feedback from beta readers is positive as well.

So now I wonder, do I query?

The thing is, I know I have something a bit different. Not in that it hasn't been done, sure it has, but not much and not in a certain way. My themes are covered by a variety of books, but one of the themes isn't done much. It's just not out there. Then, I look at the age of my characters, and that's not done much either. Put together, and I have something that isn't everywhere in the market.

So, do I query?

That's the question I'll keep asking myself until, if, I do it. I haven't learn enough about querying yet, so that's my next step. Research and question and then, if it comes to that, figuring out how to write a query, how to stand out from the crowd.

Anyone else wonder if they should query? Anyone querying and having success or rejections? Anyone have any query tips they would like to share? :)

Good luck to you all!