Now what?

You've queried. Now comes the choose-your-own-adventure part of querying. It's a long process any way you slice it, so get used to burning the midnight oil and always keep in mind:

"The difference between a published writer and an unpublished writer is that the published writer never gave up." 

(not sure who wrote this so if you know, please let me know so I can attribute it!)

Did you:

• A. Get a partial or full request? Congratulations! (If so, sit tight and see this post on what to do while you wait.)

• B. Get a partial or full request and then get rejected? Maybe you need to polish up your manuscript a bit more. 

You can either:

• A. Hire a professional (a list of people who offer legit editing services can be found here) OR
• B. Look for some trusted Beta Readers to help you figure out what's not working (more info about that here)
• C. Keep querying! (When I was querying my novels and nonfiction projects every time I got a rejection I would send out two more queries. I don't know if that was the right or wrong thing to do, but it kept me sane and gave me something to do rather than get upset and depressed. As I sent each new query out I would say in my head "take that, silly rejection" and the song  with the lyrics "I get knocked down but I get up again, you know you're never gonna keep me down" by Chumbawama would play in my head - cue music here)