We’re all still reading, requesting, and making decisions, but here are some statistics while you wait. I received approximately 100 submissions. Note that I am allowed to choose ONE as my mentee. Just one. This means you have a 1% chance of ultimately being chosen.
Anyway, here’s what’s in my inbox:
- Approximately half of my submissions were women’s fiction. This is not surprising.
- Approximately 1/4 were romance (this includes historical, contemporary, and romantic suspense).
- Roughly 20 mysteries/thrillers.
- 14 submissions had word counts outside the bounds of what is generally accepted for the stated genres. This is why it’s so important to be familiar with industry standard.
- 5 submissions contained things I specifically I wasn’t interested in. Do your research.
- 1 author withdrew due to an offer of representation. Yay for that author!
Requested materials so far include:
- 60% Women’s fiction
- 20% Romance
- 10% Historical
- 10% other
- I also had other mentors forward materials to me in a wide variety of genres. If I already knew someone else had it, I probably didn’t email you to ask for it directly.
Note: I have not made my final pick and am pretty sure I’ll request more materials. It ain’t over until it’s over.
Now, go try to relax. There’s more than a week before final entries are announced. Write something else, read a book for fun, swap queries with another author, go for a walk, join a gym, eat cake. You’ll be glad you did.