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I meant to post this yesterday, but I got distracted and forgot.
My picture book cover letter contest winner was Oliver Collosal submitted by Debra Mayhew.
Congratulations!
And thank you to everyone who entered the contest.
Ah, the time has come to test the cover letters and one page summaries you've been practicing. Announcing:
The Buried Editor's Cover Letter/One Page Summary Contests
There will be 2 categories for this contest with one winner in each category. They are:
- Picture Book Manuscripts:
To enter this category you will need to post a cover letter for your manuscript on the forum board set up for this contest. The cover letter needs to be just like a cover letter you would attach to the top of a manuscript submission.
Prize: The winner will receive a free critique of the manuscript mentioned in the cover letter.
- Chapter Book/Middle Grade/Teen Manuscripts:
To enter this category you will need to post a cover letter and one page summary of your manuscript on the (separate) forum board set up for this contest. Again, this should be exactly like the cover letter and one page summary you would include as part of a submission.
Prize: The winner will receive a free critique of the first 3 chapters of the manuscript mentioned in the cover letter.
Rules:
- You can only enter one manuscript in one of the categories. So, pick your best cover letter!
- This is not the time to offer feedback to each other. You'll be able to see other entries, but do not comment on them.
- This is open to all manuscripts including ones that have been rejected by CBAY in the past. The only manuscripts that cannot enter are the ones that are currently under consideration by CBAY. This is 8 picture books and a few other projects. If in doubt email me, or submit a cover letter for a different project.
- I will not be picking the winner. I will choose my two favorites in each category, and then we will vote on this blog.
- Finally, I'll be picking the two for voting based on the quality of the cover letters/summaries not on whether or not the book is right for CBAY. This is unrelated to CBAY's wants or needs and will not result in any kind of publication. The prizes are literally just critiques.
Best of luck!
The first part of any book proposal (or submission for that matter) is the cover letter. A query letter is also, in many ways, identical to the cover letter. Basically, these are incredibly important things to be able to write. Also, you're going to be writing quite a few of these over your professional career, so you might as well learn how to write them now.
Of course, I talked extensively about cover letters during the picture book submission process back in January. To review that post where I talk in detail about cover letters (electronic, query, or otherwise), click here. Today though, we are going to quickly review the parts, and then do a little practice.
Again, the parts of a cover/query letter are:
- Introduction
Where you explain how you know the editor/agent and why you are submitting/querying. - 1-2 paragraph pitch
Where you sell the book. - Series Pitch
Where you define and explain the series. - Biography
Pertinent information about yourself. - Conclusion
Thanks for allowing to submit/Ask politely to send the manuscript.
Again, for more detailed explanations, go
here.
By far, in my opinion, the most important part of the letter is the 1-2 paragraph pitch. You really have to make the book sound intriguing, yet not give away everything. You don't want to rid the book of it's suspense. You need to try to convey the voice of your writing, but still keep everything in a short 1-2 paragraphs.
Since I consider this section so important, I thought that for the rest of today and tomorrow we could practice writing these. If you haven't already, join the
Facebook Buried in the Slush Pile Page. Click on the discussion link in the left hand box. I've already started a One Paragraph Summary discussion thread. To post your own one paragraph summary of the book you're building your book proposal for, click "reply to topic." Although in the cover letter you can take 1-2 paragraphs, for this exercise, try to limit yourself to only one paragraph.
After that, look at other people's summaries and offer them feedback. You can do this by hitting reply just under their paragraph. And if you don't want to post a paragraph right now, still feel free to offer feedback to others. I'm sure everyone will appreciate it.
Of course, that being said, let's remember some critique rules while we're at it. Positive comments are always encouraged, but of course negative comments are necessary for growth. When posting a negative comment like "This summary doesn't work for me" always follow it with an explanation. Was the plot arc unclear? Could you not tell from the paragraph which character was the protagonist and which the antagonist? Things like that. And at no time is flaming or general "this sucks", "your writing is terrible", "find a new pasttime" allowed. Those types of comments are absolutely prohibited. The children's writing community is about fostering new writers and supporting one another. It is not about bolstering your own ego while tearing someone else's down. Let's continue that tradition.
In the past I've allowed people to critique one another's work on this blog without incident. Let's keep in that way.
By: Adventures in Children's Publishing,
on 5/24/2010
Blog:
Adventures in YA Publishing
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This week's conference round-up comes to us courtesy of Leah Odzen Epstein. She's one our fantastic followers, so please give her a warm welcome! If you have attended, or plan to attend a conference, please let us know. We'd love you to guest blog for us!
Getting Past the First Reader—
How Your Manuscript Can Make the Cut was presented on Tuesday, May 18th, as part of the SCBWI Metro New York Professional Series. It was held at the Anthroposophical Society on West 15th Street in Manhattan. Even though there was heavy rain, people showed up for the event, which was sold out.
Two editors spoke, Katherine (Kate) Jacobs, an associate editor at Roaring Brook Press and Grace Elizabeth Kendall, an editorial assistant at Blue Sky Press/Scholastic. Their advice included many nuggets of wisdom for authors who want to make their books rise to the top of the submission heap.
If you were to take away only two things from their presentations, they would be:
1.
Know who you're submitting to and bring a personal touch to your query letter. Be specific when submitting to editors or agents. Do some research—look on the acknowledgments page of books you admire for the editor’s or agent’s name, or Google the author or editor, or even call the publishing house to find out what book a certain editor has published. (EVEN BETTER, though the editors didn’t mention this, the
SCBWI has a publication that lists which editors are at which houses, and what books they’ve worked on. See the SCBWI website for details). Know what books they’ve published, and make a connection with the editor or agent by mentioning books they’ve worked on that you’ve admired or that are similar to your book. There’s nothing worse to an agent or editor than feeling like they’re part of a mass mailing. It wastes your time and theirs.
2.
Spend time distilling your book down to its essence. Write a one-word keynote, like editors do when they pitch a book to their publishing house. Pretend you’re the one selling your book. Study jacket copy for books you like, and write the flap copy for your own book. Think about what books are comparable to yours. You don’t have to say your book is exactly like another book, but there may be elements of your book that are similar e.g., the humor of the
Wimpy Kid series, or the honesty of another book). Write a synopsis of your book. All this will be time well-spent when you go to craft your query letters.
Now for the longer version. Here are my detailed notes on their talks:
Kate Jacobs:
How Editors Pitch Their BooksKate Jacobs spoke first. She felt it would be helpful for authors to learn how editors at Roaring Brook Press pitch their books, so they could apply those same skills when pitching their books to agents or editors.
As an example, they discussed Jacobs used Jacqueline Wilson’s young adult novel,
Kiss. Jacqueline Wilson is enormously successful in the UK, but she’s not as well-known in the U.S. She wrote the middle-grade novel,
Candyfloss, among others, and her editor felt she could break into the YA market with
Kiss.
Here are the steps Jacobs took to pitch
This is a great post that brings the facets of dressing for success and trying to get published together.
What's not to love?
Happy Styling,
Marissa
Every week, members of the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club are invited to an informative and fun teleclass that helps them with some aspect of writing and publishing for children.
This week’s teleclass will take place Thursday evening, August 28, at 7:00 central time. The teleclass will be recorded and club members will be given a link to the recorded class in case they were unable to attend the live call.
Rita Milios will present this week’s teleclass. Here’s the scoop!
Query Letters and Cover Letters:What to Do and What Not to Do to Capture an Editor’s Interest
The query letter or cover letter that pitches an idea for an article or introduces your story to an editor represents your one and only chance to get your work read. If you can’t capture an editor’s attention with your letter, you will never get a chance to show her how great your manuscript really is.
Writing editorial correspondence is quite different from writing your article or story…or is it?
• How do you balance the need for correspondence etiquette and the need to show off your
unique personality and writing style?
• What do you need to include in a query letter? In a cover letter?
• What two things should you never include in a query or cover letter?
• What does a winning query letter or cover letter look like?
As author of more than 35 books for children, adults, teachers and counselors, plus numerous magazine and web articles, Rita Milios has mastered the art of writing successful cover and query letters. She will offer suggestions, tips and step-by-step templates for crafting both query letters and cover letters.
Join the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club HERE to receive an email invitation to this event and all monthly events for club members.
Childrens Writers Coaching Club,
cover letters,
Cwcc,
query letters,
Rita Milios
By: Madeline Smoot,
on 4/5/2011
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By: Writing for Children,
on 8/24/2008
PHEW - THAT WAS AMAZING!!
An enormous amount of EXCELLENT advice!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Major info overload!! Wow. #1 has always been a thought of mine. But, just how personal do you get. Not creepy-stalker, huh??
Ann Marie, totally agree! So much good information!
S.A., you're a riot. Creepy stalker would not be good!
Marissa
Wow - thanks for all this! That's a ton of information - and great timing for me. I'm nearing the point where I can use some of this so I'll bookmark the page - thanks!
Great info! I've been working hard on my pitches and queries and it's not easy trimming it all down to a paragraph. It is fun trying to make my novel sound juicy and exciting. Heck after my query I want to re-read my book. ;)
Jemi, wasn't this loaded with terrific advice? I know I'll be referencing this in the future.
T. Anne, you sound like Martina. The pitches and queries pose quite a challenge. You're right- it requires making your book sound as enticing as possible!
Marissa
Thanks for all the great information. I can't believe you got so much detail down. I'll definitely be using your advice when I submit to one of the editors at the last SCBWI conference I went to.
Wow - what a post! Thanks so much for sharing all of this great information!
P.S. Just added you guys to my blogroll under kidlit. Keep seeing such great info here!
Natalie, I wish I was as good of a note-taker as Leah! She brought us all such fantastic information from this event. Martina and I were really curious about this presentation. Thanks to Leah, we feel like we were there!
Julie, we are beyond elated to be on your blogroll! Thanks so much for the honor!
Marissa
Thanks for all the information...I think the personal touch is important when approaching editors and agents. Knowing who you are submitting to key. Even if you get a rejection, the editor/agent might give you a lead or some advice if you put genuine effort into researching them. :)
What a thorough round-up - so many valuable points. I love the part about putting yourself in the editor's shoes - so helpful to keep in mind what it would take to sell a book.
I'm tweeting this post on Twitter right now.
Thanks!
Thanks for this. Some great points to remember.
Sharon, I think you're spot-on. At least you can make an impression that you did your research before querying. That is a golden opportunity to make a first impression.
Megan, thanks for tweeting us! Good information has to be shared :) Thanks to Leah, we've got plenty.
Lindsay, thanks for stopping by and commenting. So much to remember!
Marissa
I couldn't agree more about these. A personal touch shows this isn't just a splatter query and the writer knows who they are sending it to and actually CHOSE them. And when you can condense your plot down to a few sentences, it really adds a feeling of authority to the writing. The person on the other end can feel the author's confidence and belief in what they are pitching. Confident writing and professionalism will encourage the person receiving the query to take a chance and request.
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
Angela, thanks for weighing in on this post. Confidence really is something we overlook as we query. Usually we're so nervous about getting it just right that confidence is the last thing on our minds! But you're right- if you can nail the plot down to a few sentences and show you've researched who the query recipient is, you have a leg up. Thanks for your helpful blog post today, too! We'll include it in our Friday post, but for those who are curious, follow the link below :)
http://lydiasharp.blogspot.com/2010/05/guest-blogger-angela-ackerman-blogs.html
Marissa
What great information! Thanks. Loving my "First Five Pages" book, by the way!
So glad you're loving your book Julie! There's plenty here to consider, too :)
Awesome stuff Marissa. The pancake story made me smile. Maybe that's what I need, more sugar in my query letters. (Laughs) Keep up the terrific work on this blog. It is incredibly useful. Have a terrific day today. Blessings, Buffy