Slight Breakthrough

So I spent the week trying to improve my hook and therefore, my query.  The assignment I've given myself was to find a way to explain my plot in a way that revealed a more specific genre. So I wrote another letter and tried it out. Here's my first paragraph:

"This is my first novel. I currently work in an office in downtown Pittsburgh where I negotiate supply contracts. I'm just an average guy with an insatiable curiosity about the world and a compulsion to explore that curiosity through writing. I have a B.A. in Communications. There are currently three things which interest me most: Cosmology, Economics, and World Affairs.  I studied Economics and World Affairs while in college; but, in my adulthood, I have taken a somewhat informal interest in Cosmology - meaning I read everything I can while also periodically engaging several professionals in the field. I don't know enough to have a degree; but I do know enough to see how the Universe’s state of accelerated expansion serves as an apt metaphor for the relationships of its inhabitants."

It's a little more biographical than I'd prefer but the agent, on her website, said that this is what she wanted. I wrote this first paragraph with the intention of laying the ground work to explain the significance of my title. The final sentence introduces a connection between the larger Universe and its connection to the people. The second paragraph then connects the story to the current historical moment and ties this in to the future state of the world in which the novel is set. My final paragraph went over my modest history of writing credits.

Now while I didn't knock the socks off any agents yet with this revised query, it did yield my first non-canned response:

"You sound like a thoughtful intelligent guy and so I hate to be negative. Especially since the scenario you present isn't all that far-fetched, definitely not something I'd call science fiction. probably something that falls into the area of dystopian future, which has become something of a hot area.  But it is not my area, and so despite your thinking of it as literary fiction, editors are likely to see it as more in tune with those who do dystopian books. That's not a crowd I know, so I don't see myself as the most effective agent for you. Keep the submission around and you're likely to connect with an agent who is more fluent in this area. Good luck."

It was the first time an agent ever bothered to tell me something useful about my project.  Even though it was a rejection, this agent pointed me in the direction of dystopian literature...which wasn't something I ever considered as a "genre".  So, as you can imagine, this response gave me a much-needed boost of confidence. 

I plan to continue with this particular explanation when querying agents who work in the dystopian area. Of course, I will have to tailor the other portions to the specific guidelines listed on an agent's website but at least I now know two things which I hadn't before: 

1. Approach agents looking for dystopian literature. 
2. The new hook I have written has at least been able to pique one agent's interest...it's just not the right agent for this work.

Hopefully I will be able to affect the right agent in the way I affected this one.  I have regained the energy to keep slogging through.  Maybe next week's entry will reflect even greater news.