For those who wish to pursue the traditional path to publication, it often involves finding an agent who will, in turn, submit your work to editors at publishing houses. In order to find an agent, one must send out query letters. The purpose of my Wednesday Query Critique Giveaway (which I swear I'm getting back to next week) is to help people polish their queries before they send them out into the world. If you're at the stage where you're ready to query, and have carefully researched agents using sites such as Querytracker and AgentQuery, here's why I'm a proponent of sending queries out in batches of 3-5 (aka The Batch Method):
1) If you don't get any responses other than form rejections or the sound of chirping crickets, your query likely needs work. The good news is that since you only sent out a few queries, you haven't used up all your top picks at once.
2) If you get partial requests off the bat, then you know your query doesn't suck, BUT that's all it means (sorry, harsh but true). Wait and see what happens. If the partial requests are all rejected, then it means the book didn't live up to the query. Take any personalized feedback to heart and work on the book again before sending out more queries. Again, because you're using the batch method, you still have a ton more agents to query.
3) If the partial requests turn into full requests, then you should do a little happy dance because it's definitely a step in the right direction. I'd also recommend sending queries to any remaining top choices if you haven't already because things can move pretty quickly at this point. Some people recommend waiting until you actually have an offer of representation and then dashing off queries to any remaining top picks, but that feels icky to me. If you've done your research, you should only be querying agents that you feel confident about in the first place.
Has anyone used this method? Any other tips people would like to share about querying?
Happy Querying! And I'll be back with Query Critique Wednesday next week.
I'm slowly working my way through the query onslaught after last week's post. The creativity and dedication of writers never ceases to amaze me, so thank you to everyone who submitted their query for critique. Since I tend to be direct and have been giving a lot o' feedback on the queries so far, I was a little worried about upsetting people. Instead, I've been inundated with amazing emails of gratitude and kindness. You all blow me away. I need to give a special shout-out to the awesome TIANA SMITH, who put the tabs and follow buttons on my blog for me...even before I sent her the critique! NOTE: I haven't actually added content to the tabs yet, which is next on my list, but they are THERE and they are PRETTY!
Okay, after reading a bunch of queries, a few common things stood out so I thought I'd give some general query tips. NOTE: None of these examples are from actual queries sent to me--they are my own creations, but you get idea.
1) Avoid cliche terms. e.g. "When 'x' happens, his world turns upside down." Anyone's world 'crumbling,' 'falling to pieces,' etc. is cliche. Be specific as to what happens.
Better: "When the space monkey lands in Evan's bedroom and injects him with a strange substance, Evan must find a cure within twenty-four hours or he will become a monkey himself."
(Does Evan's world "turn upside down?" Hell, yes, but an agent is going to be way more interested in something specific like this--unless they hate space monkeys, in which case you don't want them as an agent anyway.)
2) Start with the hook. DON'T START with something like, "This book is about love and loss, family and betrayal, beginnings and endings." You've just described approximately 50 bazillion books, and the agent will already be moving on. Start with a one-sentence killer hook about what your book is about. See space monkey example above.
3) Avoid questions when possible. You don't want the agent to answer your questions in a way that doesn't benefit you. e.g. Will the heroine save the world in time from the onslaught of possessed elves? Potential agent response: I'm guessing so or you wouldn't have written the book. Granted, that might just be my response because I'm sarcastic by nature, but still. You want the agent to read the last line of the query and think, "Holy hell. I must get my hands on this book NOW!" The best way to end the query IMHO, is to finish with the highest stakes possible. What is the worst thing that will happen to the MC or to their world, if they do not overcome their obstacle?
Better: "Sakahara must defeat the army of possessed elves before they enslave all humanity and harvest their pets for food."
4) Follow the agent's submission guidelines. I figured that people wouldn't be as formal sending their query to me as they would to an agent, but I was a little surprised by the number of people who didn't follow the guidelines (not attaching the query as requested, using a different format than requested, etc.) For me, it doesn't matter. I'm critiquing all of them because I'm nice like that, but if you're submitting queries to agents--FOLLOW THEIR GUIDELINES! It's not that agents aren't nice (in fact, most of them are quite lovely), it's that they're incredibly busy. Also, you don't want them to think that you can't (or won't) follow directions, because they are considering you for a long-term business relationship. Yes, many of them have different guidelines, so you will have to do your research, but it's worth it in the end.
So, those are my query tips thus far.Feel free to add your own tips in the comments below. I hope to finish up all critiques within the next week. Also, this query critique thing got such an amazing response that I will make it a regular thing on the blog in some fashion. Thanks again for participating
I've done this since my earliest querying days. Granted, when I first started, my batches were larger (like 10 at a time), but I quickly changed that strategy when I came back with a ton of rejections and little helpful feedback. I started tweaking my query, and finally tweaked (well, rewrote) most of my novel before starting back with smaller batches of queries.
Sadly, I think one of my older queries was more successful than my current incarnation, and I'm totally confused about what to make of that! I think my current "query by committee" is overworked at this point, and needs to incorporate some of the voice it lost by having half a dozen people share their input on it on my blog.
Laura--that's a great point about having too many people critique your query. Too many opinions can dilute the original voice, and you want your voice to be the one that shines through. I hope you can find the spark in it again, and best of luck!
Oops--I responded below this. :)
Agree with the batch method. Not only a time saver, but I find it's helpful to have several opportunities out there, which lessens the blow when one comes back rejected. ;o)
Not sure about tweaking as you go? I've researched enough agents to know that what works for one might not work for another. Some like it simple, some like a bit of something different, with added voice. It's difficult to figure out a standard query with so many people wanting different things - or not actually specifying what they want!
I guess it's like the book... once YOU are happy with it, then that's a good sign.
That said, I can't stress enough how essential I've found it to have someone with experience in the arena (like your awesome self, Kristi!) give me a professional query critique to identify all the issues I missed. So my next batch should rock.
You're absolutely right that different people like different things, so I'd only tweak it if you're getting NOTHING but rejections. I mean, even if you're happy with it, it ultimately won't help if no one else is. ;)
The researching piece you mentioned is so true, because if you know you are querying agents that represent your genre, you will find out much faster whether the query is good or not. Best of luck with yours, Dan!
That's a great method. The timing of the feedback (whether it's a request or rejection) can really speak volumes about the strength of your query letter and your work, especially if you start to notice a pattern (i.e.: all form rejections or all rejections after a partial).