I share your query pain. I find the process even more brutal and inhumane when querying for a novel. All agents/ publishers want a finished product; beta tested, edited, and proofed. They also want a query of varying sizes with or without a synopsis of (again) varying length. There is a sense of subjugation when the creator must kneel before an unknown entity to render up 'Shylock's requested pound of flesh.' It would be easier to build a platform by murdering or committing some heinous political crime. Then the agent would come to you with cup in hand as there are assured sales even though nothing may even be written. A platform of cultural notoriety, fame and infamy sell a novel to an agent far faster than the quality of the words which will never see the light of the agent's desk because the query letter did not ring with the agent's current criteria. What is current?

I wrote a novel about a pandemic sweeping Europe with flu like symptoms in 2010 - two agents said it was an unlikely scenario. Really? Another was a novel 2018 about the internment of Japanese Americans - trending now. A third was the disastrous fall out from Tiananmen, again currently in the news. All were rejected with a plethora of formatted responses and thereby self-published. All now have 5 star reviews (but dismal sales - that fault dear Brutus lies with me not my stars)

The querying process, without a platform, is a fiction novelist's biggest hurdle. One would hope platforms can be built on such venues as Medium to alleviate that problem. We all live in hope.

Sorry for the rant but a nicely written article.