Stop. Comparing. Your. Submission. Stats.

I'm deep into the querying process, and if you are too, I see you.

Sara Leternou, a poet and editor, recently published a piece on rejection here. She shared some of my advice in that piece, and I wanted to expand a little on those thoughts.

If you're querying, you're likely using Query Tracker (QT) to contact some of the agents you're interested in. Don't get me wrong. QT is a great tool, a cool database, but it can also strain your mental state. Case in point below:

Not a real clip from Query Tracker

The graphic above does not reflect my stats or anyone I know - I recreated it with my limited graphic design skills in Excel and made up the percentages - but this is what you'll see if you sign up for QT. Your stats will shout at you every time you log on to your account, and you will click on the comparison link, won't you?

Then you'll see a page showing you how your stats compare to the average QT member. You might feel great. You might feel like sh#%.

But here's the thing: the data is meaningless, because you don't know the variables of the comparison. Even if the stats compare your category (Adult), genre (Fantasy), and word count (95k) with similar submissions under that category, genre, and word count, there are still variables that cannot be compared:

• The quality of the query letter. You have no idea what letters yours is up against unless those members you're being compared to share those letters. They could be perfect, they could be terrible, they could be meh. Your submission is being compared to all.

  
  

• Writer experience. Are you being compared to writers with a lot of good, meaningful writing credits? Yes. Writers with no writing credits whatsoever? Yes. Those who killed it in indie and now want a traditional deal? Yes. Writers who are just starting out to ones who've been writing for years to those with MFAs? Yes.

  
  

• Connections. Are you being compared to writers who have connections with an agent, through a pitch event or referral? Yes. Writers who've had agent(s) or those looking for a second agent for a different genre? Yes.

  
  

• Quality of the work. You don't know the quality of the work being submitted by other writers, so how can you compare your stats with others, even if you're writing for the same category, the same genre, and even a similar premise?

• Right place right time. You might have a great, well-written story about sentient spaceships, but the agent you queried might be reading a pile of requested material about sentient spaceships and they're pausing on that for now. Maybe your story about a boy losing his cat hits too close to home for them that month. Maybe they went to a funeral last week for a loved one and anything about grief makes them pass for now. Maybe, and this is probably the biggest of all, they don't think they can sell it.

Yes, you're on social media, and you might be tracking # amquerying, # querytrenches, and several other feeds where writers post their querying stats. I never understood why certain writers share this kind of information. I'm not talking about the occasional posts of I got a rejection send chocolate or Full request from dream agent! - I'm referring to posts where writers list out their stats down to every detail, or share a clip of their QT stats like the one I created above. Does it help you? Is it useful information?

Here's my answer: get off social media and spend your energy and time working on your next book. The only comparison that matters is the writer you were yesterday vs. today.