# of queries read last week: 79
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 1
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: fantasy

# of queries read this week: 117
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 1
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: fantasy


Close to 600 queries left in the reading queue

Have read all queries received prior to March 1st


Give yourself the time you need. Lately, have been seeing many queries that come across as rushed. Also, a number of authors jumping into the pool before they should. Some before the novel is even finished. (This week's example: A query in which the author informed me they were working on a novel and expected to be done this summer.) Additionally, even with those who have finished the novel, anxious to get the material out there, the query and synopsis may suffer.

Today is the official release date for Pinion by Jay Lake

Political conflicts and philosophical arguments find closure at last in this splendidly baroque whirl of geomancy and Victorian clockwork. Young Paolina Barthes, the gear-minded prodigy who became a target for the empire-building ambitions of rival governments in 2009's Escapement, is on the run, heading south over the Wall that God built to divide the hemispheres and keep the Earth's gear turning through the heavens. As spies and ancient secret societies scramble to find her, Paolina struggles to learn how to control her world-shaking abilities, while her heart pulls her toward Boaz, a golemlike man of brass. Lake wields big themes—magic and religion versus science, free will, colonialism, and a bit of romance—with surprising elegance, and readers will enjoy cherishing the characters and pondering the concepts of this “clockpunk” world. --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Congratulations to amazoni and to @etoiline on Twitter - the winners in the give-away of advance reading copies of Jim Butcher's CHANGES, the next book in the Dresden Files.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Changes (Dresden Files, Book 12) by Jim Butcher releases two weeks from today.

I have 2 advance reader copies (ARCs) available, so there's two chances to win... Between now and 10am EST Thursday March 25.

Chance #1 - On this entry: comment about the Dresden Files -- I particularly would like to know what you hope never changes about Harry. If you don't have a Live-Journal ID, use OpenID or leave your name in an anonymous comment. Winner will be randomly chosen.

Chance #2 - Over on twitter, "RT @arcaedia 2 ARCs CHANGES by Jim Butcher @longshotauthor 2 chances to win. RT & comment on http://bit.ly/afbgr8 by 10am 3/25 #dresdenfiles" This winner also randomly chosen. (*Please include the @arcaedia so I can find your entry.)


Disclaimers and Other Details:
(1) Will post winner(s) by end of business on Thursday.
(2) Only one entry per person in each venue.
(3) Will update with more info as needed.

# of queries read this week: 234
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 1
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: steampunk

450+ queries still to go

It's so much easier in these little updates to talk about what a person should _not_ do in a query -- usually based on examples seen throughout the submissions of the week... Why is that? So in the spirit of expressing things positively...

Do...

....finish (and polish!) your novel before you begin to query
....address the query to a specific agent (e.g. Dear Ms. Jackson)
....include your name, email address, postal address, and phone number in the body of the query
....be professional in the query
....use plain text
....pitch one book (even if it's the beginning of a series)
....include in the query package what the agent's guidelines request (in my case: query letter, first five pages of the novel, synopsis of the novel (as a general estimate, 2-3 pages seems like a reasonable length, and more than 5 starts to feel hefty, imo) -- be aware your mileage will vary here
....proff-read before you hit send ;)
....respect those exceptions that prove the rule
....be patient

(not necessarily an exhaustive list)

I've seen tons and tons of negative things said about the query system and about query-writing. What are the positive aspects of the process?

Shadow Mirror by Richie Tankersley Cusick

Unsettling. There's no better word to describe Miranda Barnes's ability to hear the cries of the dead, feel the wind move her hair when they run by, and—dare she look into a mirror—see the reflection of a ghostly woman behind her. There's only one person to turn to for support: Etienne. As sexy as he is mysterious, Miranda can't help but be drawn to him. He believes her; he wants to help her. But there's a secret in Etienne's past, something Miranda's on the verge of discovering. As paranormal activity escalates, passion grows, and soon Miranda is caught up in both love . . . and tragedy.

"Cusick gives the new-girl-in-town plot the Southern gothic treatment in this charming, atmospheric novel. The mystery is resolved satisfactorily, and the secondary characters are vividly drawn." Romantic Times (4 Stars) on Walk of the Spirits

Today is the official release day for Bound In Blood, a brand new novel in P.C. Hodgell's series featuring Jamethiel of the Kencyr.

When Jame returned to Knorth hall to help her brother Torisen name all the fallen fighters' death banners stored there, she made the disturbing discovery that those banners splattered with their owners' blood also have trapped their owners' souls. She also found a contract proving her cousin Kindrie to be legitimate, proving that there are three full-blooded Knorth. Three full-blooded Knorth means that the Three-Faced God can be manifested; something that none of the three are likely to want to do, if they have any choice in the matter.

Returning with this unwelcome knowledge to school at Tentir, Jame continued to dodge the attentions of an unwanted admirer, strengthen her link to her feline hunting ounce, work with the rathorn colt Death's-head to insure that it doesn't resume its attempts to kill her, and, of course, kept causing plenty of unintended havoc. She also had to help fight off attacks from hillmen, repel a stampede of yarkcarn (think warthogs the size of mammoths), fight in the Winter War (a mock conflict—or, at least, that's how it was supposed to be), and solve the mystery behind the death of her evil uncle, who somehow is still spectrally manifesting himself in nasty ways. No doubt about it—Jame is back, and with a vengeance, as the popular and critically-praised fantasy adventure series continues.

Also available:

The God Stalker Chronicles -- collecting the first two books, God Stalk and Dark of the Moon into one complete volume.

Seeker's Bane -- Books 3 and 4, Seeker's Mask and To Ride a Rathorn

via jaylake from the Wheatland Press Blog

**********************

In 2002, the Polyphony anthology series debuted. Conceived as a short fiction venue for stories that would skate gracefully across the boundaries of science fiction, fantasy, magic realism, and literary fiction, it was quickly recognized as the standard bearer for cross genre work. Since then, the series' six volumes have become a vital, unique collection of voices in literature of the fantastic.

Polyphony has been twice nominated for a World Fantasy Award and the stories therein have been featured in several "Year's Best" anthologies, along with garnering accolades from several award judges and committees. Polyphony authors range from multiple-award-winning seasoned writers to the previously unpublished. The series is truly a melodic interweaving of many voices: old and new, speculative and literary, heralded and unknown. Polyphony has not merely crossed literary boundaries, it has reformed and redefined them.

The harsh economic climate threatens to kill this vital series. Wheatland Press is asking for your help.

The authors have graciously made concessions to make Polyphony 7 a reality. They've agreed to a reduced pay rate to see the volume published. Now we need readers.

In order to publish Polyphony 7, Wheatland Press must receive 225 paid pre-orders via the website by March 15, 2010. If the pre-order quantities cannot be met, Polyphony will cease publication. It's that simple. The preorder link is here: http://www.wheatlandpress.com/polyphony/v7.html

If the preorder number is met, then Polyphony 7 will be published on or about July 1, 2010.*

We have heard from many in the SF/F literary community that Polyphony is a vital part of landscape. We agree, but we cannot continue without your support. We hope that you will support our fine authors and their art by becoming part of the Polyphony community and pre-ordering a copy of Polyphony 7.

**********************

Please spread the word!

# of queries read this week: 188
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 2
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: fantasy, YA-fantasy


Oldest query currently in queue: 2/19/2010. I have sent replies to all queries received prior to this date. If you sent a query but did not receive a reply, either the query didn't reach me, or my reply was caught in your spam filter and/or eaten by the grue.

Still a little over 500 queries to go.

Still not opening unsolicited attachments (still not king).

Oddly if a query about a type of book I explicitly do not represent garners a reply indicating same (and I know a *lot* of agents who just delete without replying when this happens to them), re-sending that query a few weeks later when there has been no announcement indicating a new agenda to acquire said genre, will not change the result. All this does for me is to slow me down in getting to read the queries that do actually fall into categories that I'm interested in representing. What it indicates to me about the author is they don't care. Not about the other authors submitting. And, not about doing even the barest amount of research.

And speaking of research, an odd thing I've been noticing lately is when I get a query from someone that I think should have the instincts and skills to do it (e.g. they are an investigative journalist, they have many graduate degrees and prominently list their Ph.D.), but they very obviously have not done any. I saw somewhere recently a comment where a person said it had never occurred to them to google search the agent they were interested in sending a submission to.

I'm sure this is wasted on those who read agent blogs. They're out there doing the research, following the guidelines, and giving it 110%. I appreciate that every time I see it in a query. Thank you to those who do that.

Congratulations to Anne Bishop for Shalador's Lady at #16 on the New York Times hardcover list and to Jim Butcher with Turn Coat taking #12 on the paperback bestseller list!

# of queries read last week: 135
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 0
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: n/a

# of queries read this week: 133
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 0
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: n/a

500+ queries still awaiting review


Recent commenters inquired along the lines of what percentage of queries I receive actually follow our guidelines....

For the record, our guidelines say to send a query letter, the first five pages, and a synopsis of your novel.

From Saturday, February 20th through Monday, March 1st, I tracked and categorized email queries received on that basis. This amounted to close to 250 queries.

Percentage of submissions that followed the guidelines close enough to pass: 48%. That's right. Slightly less than half.

The other 52% either:

(a) did not include a letter (or sometimes even a salutation of any kind)
(b) did not send the first five pages
(c) included *way* more than five pages (the record was the first five chapters)
(d) didn't include a synopsis
(e) sent attachments
(f) some combination of (a) through (e)

Over 30% of these queries did not include a synopsis (for the purposes of this review, a pitch paragraph in the letter wasn't considered a synopsis -- because, really, it's not).

I've had some questions in the past about the synopsis length, but, as some have pointed out, our website doesn't have anything officially listed. Ergo, I'm somewhat forgiving when it comes to that. I do want it to deliver information in summary (not outline or bullet-point) fashion about the story, the characters, the setting -- you know, those things that go in a book. (I find the ones that don't include the ending perplexing and unhelpful.) As a general estimate, 2-3 pages seems like a reasonable length, and more than 5 starts to feel hefty, imo. They don't have to say everything; they just have to say enough.

For me, the letter, the first five pages, and the synopsis all assist me in making a decision. The letter gives me a feel for the author and their perspective on the book, the first five pages an impression of their writing style and talent, and the synopsis a way to see where the story is going to go and whether it seems marketable. If one (or two) of these are missing, I have less with which to make a decision. It's that simple to me.

Percentage of queries included in this review that I've declined: 0%

No content assessment was made on any of these queries. In fact, they are still waiting to be read as I'm working on those dated during the first week of February.

So... do you send a synopsis if the submission guidelines request one? Why or why not? Are they a challenge or a snap to write? Are they a necessary evil or helpful tool? If you were going to a synopsis workshop, what should it cover to help you? What would you tell other writers about writing a synopsis?

Shalador's Lady, the latest book in Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series, officially out today.

For years the Shalador people suffered the cruelties of the corrupt Queens who ruled them, forbidding their traditions, punishing those who dared show defiance, and forcing many more into hiding. Now that their land has been cleansed of tainted Blood, the Rose-Jeweled Queen, Lady Cassidy, makes it her duty to restore it and prove her ability to rule. But even if Lady Cassidy succeeds, other dangers await. For the Black Widows see visions within their tangled webs that something is coming that will change the land-and Lady Cassidy-forever...

Now in mass market: The Shadow Queen.




Also in mass market today: Jim Butcher's Turncoat, the 11th book in the Dresden Files series. The Warden Morgan has been accused of treason against the Wizards of the White Council—and there's only one final punishment for that crime. He's on the run, wants his name cleared, and needs someone with a knack for backing the underdog. Someone like Harry Dresden... Now, Harry must uncover a traitor within the Council, keep a less-than-agreeable Morgan under wraps, and avoid coming under scrutiny himself. And a single mistake may cost someone his head—someone like Harry.

And coming in April, the aptly titled Changes (Dresden Files, Book 12). Read the first chapter here.

Today is the release day for Elizabeth Bear's Chill.

Having survived the events of 2007’s Dust, the crew of the generation starship Jacob’s Ladder, marooned for centuries, find themselves once more racing though space. Unfortunately, the ship is badly damaged, large sections are out of communication with the central computer, and the highly augmented Exalt who rule the ship and its merely human occupants have lost the knowledge of how to select a destination. Antagonist Arianrhod is still alive, free, and a potential threat. Dealing with these problems involves epic journeys across a massive, poorly mapped spacecraft and confrontations with forgotten and suppressed relics of the past. Bear enhances the usual generation ship themes—social amnesia, decaying infrastructure, and mission-threatening grand calamities—with enough new flourishes, including a biotechnology-based class system and cruel experiments based on misapprehensions of Darwin, to keep readers happily engaged. --Publishers Weekly

# of queries read this week: 134
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 0
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: n/a

350+ queries still pending....

Recently someone asked rather curiously what percentage of queries that I receive per week are dead in the water before they even get off the ground (mixing mediums a bit there). I'm not sure it's quite that simple, though there are a handful every week that are genres I don't represent (for example: nonfiction, poetry, children's picture books) or where the entire query is less than 4 or 5 lines long (with no pages or synopsis). Overall, though, I do my best to give everything a fair read. But with that person's question in mind, I tracked a few more things this week.....


So, now some extra! stats!

# of queries that neglected to include the first five pages: 16, which is roughly 12%

In the case of these queries, I still take a look, but, for the most part, these don't pass muster. Unless the idea knocks me down and steals my lunch money, I'll pass. I'm not blown away by them that often. And too frequently these also fall into other categories, such as the aforementioned genres I don't represent. Conversely, there are people who send *way* more than five pages, often accompanied by phrases like "I've taken the liberty" (which as you might guess doesn't get them any extra points).

# of queries that were attachment only (with no accompanying text): 3

Sometimes (depending on how buried I am) I will respond to these and send a link to our submission guidelines which clearly state no attachments and mention the first five pages and synopsis. I am then puzzled to receive replies still lacking those pages and synopsis.

# of queries shorter than five lines total: 2

# of emails with no query, just pages and synopsis (not even a salutation of any kind): 6

# of people who apologized for the formatting in their query: 5

# of people who trashed the genre they were writing in: 7 (this really gets on my nerves)

# that were in genres I simply don't represent: 8 (I think I usually get a lot more of those in a week)

# that were just plain weird: 9 (we're talking really strange LSD-land stuff or author has been drinking so much political/religious/gender/racial-related koolaid the novel is drowning in it)

winners in the really long manuscript category: 190K fantasy (at least it was epic), 189K author listed 3 different genres, 250K YA (wow, that's a doorstop)

Doing this really slows down the pace of reviewing queries and responding so I don't think I'm going to keep this close track that often. But I might do it once in a while just out of curiosity. Should I go this route again, what type of stat would be interesting to see?

# of queries read this week: 166
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 0
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: n/a

Over 300 queries still in the queue. And not quite a month since queries re-opened. Where does all the time go?


Two things that popped up a lot in queries this week....

-- First-time novelist querying before the book is done. A number of people mentioned that they had started a book, were such and such percentage done, planned to be done by a certain date, etc. If any of these are true, the person sent the query too soon. Finish the book before querying. Better yet, revise the book before querying.

(Yes, the rules are different for nonfiction proposals - read this.)

-- Emailing the query and the sample separately. Please do not do this. Given the amount of incoming email to the query address finding and pairing these up may end up happening after the fact. Which may be too late.

# of queries read this week: 148
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 0 *
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: n/a

* That is to say, no requests on the queries read. However, a previously requested YA partial generated a request for a full manuscript.


First. A BIG thank you to everyone who follows submission guidelines and sends me those crucial _first_ five pages with their query and synopsis.

(And, yes, I'm still working on my synopsis post but got derailed by this fun Amazon / Macmillan thing. And then our email server decided to take some time off without actually filing a vacation request which resulted in random arrivals of backlogged emails for a couple days. All fixed now I hope.)

Second. Professional, articulate queries really do stand out from the crowd. But, here's a few examples from this week (all true) that seemed double-plus-ungood to me:

-- Sending an email to my personal email address and addressing it "To Whom It May Concern" (see also: sending a query via Facebook or any other social media)

-- An email requesting permission to send a query letter (this tends to strike me as similar to a conversation that starts with "can I ask you a question?")

-- Stating that our submission guidelines were carefully reviewed, and then sending the synopsis and (way more than) the first five pages as an attachment

-- Telling me you copyrighted the book already (bonus points for telling me that the reason you did this was so I wouldn't steal your novel)


What do you wish you could go back in time and tell yourself about queries before you sent your first one?

Today is the official publication day for Cherie Priest's Fathom in trade paperback.

"A decidedly dark departure from Priest's Eden Moore saga (Four and Twenty Blackbirds, etc.), this stand-alone novel is equal parts horror, contemporary fantasy and apocalyptic thriller. During a summer vacation to her aunt's coastal Florida home, innocent teen Nia sees her cousin Bernice commit a brutal murder and then get dragged into the ocean by a monstrous water witch. Nia becomes inadvertently entangled in a conflict between primordial creatures that endangers the very existence of humankind. Entombed in stone for countless years, Nia eventually emerges from her cocoon transformed, only to realize that an old god is close to awakening and destroying the world. Priest's haunting lyricism and graceful narrative are complemented by the solemn, cynical thematic undercurrents with a tangible gravity and depth. This is arguably her most ambitious—and accomplished—work to date." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Since Tor is part of Macmillan, it is not currently available from Amazon.

However, it is available from
B&N.com, currently offering the member price to all comers.
Or, Powell's
If you want signed copies of her books from the University Bookstore in Seattle, see these details.
Or check out IndieBound.org to find a bookstore near you.


Cherie Priest is also the author of:
Four and Twenty Blackbirds (Tor, 2005)
Wings to the Kingdom (Tor, 2006)
Not Flesh Nor Feathers (Tor, 2007)
Dreadful Skin (Subterranean Press, 2007)
Boneshaker (Tor, 2009)
Those Who Went Remain There Still (Subterranean Press, 2009)
Clementine (Subterranean Press, 2010, now available for pre-order)

So.... did something happen over the weekend in publishing? Oh. And. My.

Friday evening, John Scalzi mentioned someone had expressed annoyance that his books weren't available via Amazon. Sure enough, when he checked, it turned out to be true. In the time it takes to tweet, many other authors of Macmillan imprints discovered the same thing. Another database glitch some wondered? (Like the GLBT one from last year.)

VentureBeat and NYT posted pre-emptive news bites, which made it sound as if the e-book pricing issue was at the root of the whole thing.

Discussion broke out over the blog-verse and the tweet-verse. You can see initial thoughts from my clients Jay Lake and Laura Anne Gilman, who summed it up with "This isn't about pricing; it's about control." The former's Tor titles were among those pulled and his on-going commentary throughout the weekend looks deeply inside the author perspective. In fact, among my clients there were over a dozen books missing from various imprints of Macmillan including the very recently released Short Squeeze [B&N.com, Powell's] by Chris Knopf.

On Saturday evening, John Sargent, CEO of Macmillan, released a statement confirming that he had offered Amazon the agency model pricing for e-books in an attempt to look ahead to how publishers would "insure that intellectual property can be widely available digitally at a price that is both fair to the consumer and allows those who create it and publish it to be fairly compensated."

De-listing Macmillan's titles was Amazon's definition of fighting back. Among other things, Amazon also remotely yanked preview chapters of Macmillan titles from Kindles. And it wasn't just e-books they took out of the sandbox. It was print and audio formats too.

Sunday brought Amazon's response on the Kindle forum, which generated a number of comments in the company's defense as they were forced to fold on their position.

Here's some other links to articles to read:

Jay Lake's thoughts after his weekend-long series of posts on the topic.
This very long post by Tobias Buckell which explains a whole lot
A solid overview of the issues from Scott Westerfeld
John Scalzi's morning-after post

I have a lot of different thoughts here -- as a reader/consumer... as an agent... And, as of this posting -- my client's titles are still not listed as available. This certainly isn't helping me see Amazon as a fair player in this scenario. Agents have been struggling with publishers too, advocating for the authors to be fairly compensated. This is still on-going, and, yes, with Macmillan too.

Do I want readers to be able to afford books? Obviously, yes. As a reader, I want to obtain books, and as an agent, I wany my author

# of queries read this week: 208
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 1
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: thriller


I have no idea how I managed to read almost twice as many queries this week as I did last week. Still have another 200 and change to go....

In the most recent query wars post, a commenter asked whether feedback from a random test audience for their unpublished novel was useful in a query. Based on my reading of their comment, they don't mean professional referrals (see this entry for thoughts on those) or even their own friends and family. Just test readers from their target audience.

I may have written about this in the distant past but since I saw several queries this week that included exactly this sort of thing, maybe it deserves another look.

Getting feedback can be very helpful, whether from a critique group or other test readers. I've heard many writers explain how they are too far inside the story and too close to it to see things and that having another perspective gives them insight. The place to discuss this, though, is not in a query letter. Really, an endorsement works best if it's from someone that the person about to read the story knows (if not personally, then at the very least by reputation). The potential reader also has to have some kind of confidence in that person's opinion.

To be plain: The opinions of random test readers are incredibly unlikely to be relevant. I don't know them. So how much weight could their opinion -- good or bad -- possibly have for me?

Or, let me put it this way: If you were in your local bookstore and a complete stranger walked up to you and recommended a book, what would your reaction be? What would you feel or think, about either them or the book? What effect would it have on your decision to spend your hard-earned cash and rare-spare-time on that book?

# of queries read this week: 108
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 1
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: fantasy


Most confusing query this week -- the one that claims my webpage says I do not normally accept science fiction or fantasy...

So, a couple people took guesses on the # of queries I'd have on Monday morning after re-opening to queries on 1/15. And a couple people wanted to know the actual answer. My own guess was 196. Monday morning after email was sorted out, it was 169. Which represents Friday, Saturday, Sunday and ridiculously early Monday.

Thank you, mizkit - your guess made me laugh.

Yes, I did get one at exactly 12:00 AM on 1/15.

At this point, representing a week's worth of queries, the count now stands at 292. Which means, yes, based on the number above, I'm already lagging a bit.

Answering other questions posed....

....if you neglected to send a synopsis with your query (even if you said in the query that there was a synopsis), I still read the query and the pages and decided on that basis.

....on that issue of other questions about a synopsis and when it's requested, look for a post coming on the synopsis (the dreaded synopsis) in the near future.

....to those that asked about their pre-hiatus query. First, check your spam filters. I think everyone that has asked so far was sent a reply. Second, I have read - and responded to - all queries received prior to the hiatus. Which started on December 11 and ran up to January 15.

Meant to post this earlier in the week, but it's been really busy. Didn't want to miss pointing these out, though--

There's Post a Story for Haiti at Crossed Genres. Clients of mine participating include: Jay Lake with Not Much of a War; Martha Wells' Houses of the Dead; and step-client Sarah Monette with The Half-Sister. if you enjoy the free stories and want to show your appreciation, please donate to a charity involved in the Haiti relief efforts. I recommend Doctors Without Borders.

Cherie Priest has a really informative post on What Authors Do and Don't Control. Comments on this post also interesting.

Jay Lake's The Larval Stages of the common American speculative fiction writer is tongue-in-cheek. And entertaining.

Not to be missed is Laura Anne Gilman's Lady or the Tiger post on her notes taken during a seminar on the Google Settlement that took place earlier this week.

Today is the official release day for Short Squeeze: A Mystery by Chris Knopf

Guilt can be a powerful motivator. After lawyer Jackie Swaitkowski ignores a call from pesky client Sergey Pontecello, who is found dead hours later, she becomes obsessed with determining how the recently-widowed man died. Eventually, her investigation turns up a tangled mess of strange financial transactions, dysfunctional family relationships, a fatal hit-and-run, mysterious body parts, and an extortion plot—not to mention that Jackie herself is threatened with disbarment by various big-wigs who prefer to leave the dirt under the carpet. She’s aided by her best friend, engineer-turned-carpenter Sam Acquillo, and her ex-boyfriend Harry Goodlander, but it’s Jackie, persistent to the point of bull-headedness, who sweeps up the dirt and puts the pieces together. This spin-off features the same vividly evoked Hamptons setting and the same crisp prose, brisk plotting, and sharp dialogue as Knopf’s critically acclaimed Sam Acquillo series, but here center stage switches from ex-boxer and construction worker Acquillo to a resolute first-person female protagonist who was widowed in her 20s but likes living alone just fine. More engaging hard-boiled crime fiction from a rising star. --Booklist

Chris Knopf is also the author of the Sam Aquillo mysteries:
The Last Refuge
Two Time
Head Wounds
Hard Stop

# of queries read this week: 146
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 1
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: YA

* I had mixed feelings about closing queries. I'd never done it before. But between my injuries and the holidays, something had to give, so I tried it out. And... I still have mixed feelings about it.

* I have now answered all the queries that came in before the hiatus. I didn't really get a "break" per se since I only completed those at the start of this week, but I must say it's nice to feel caught up on something for a few moments.

* Discovered that someone who goes through the same service provider as our agency must be using it in a spamming sort of way because I have been repeatedly blocked by comcast. So if you are using a comcast email, I can't reply to you. This has been going on for at least a week. I've filled out the form at comcast to remove us from the spam blocking list several times and by the next morning we are right back on there. Other than that, if you didn't get a reply and sent your query before Dec 11th, I didn't get your query.

* During the query hiatus, there were those who, for whatever reason, were not aware of this change of circumstance and sent queries regardless. I had a form response sent to them indicating they could resubmit after queries were open again. This form response included a link to our submission guidelines. Sure enough this morning someone resubmitted. And guess what? They didn't follow the guidelines. I just don't understand.

* So, now accepting queries again. Please follow these submission guidelines and send your query to our info email. I'm taking best guesses as to what number the recently empty query inbox will display on Monday..... (I'm told my own pick is too conservative.)

# of queries read this week: 156
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 0
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: n/a

Note: Still closed to queries and catching up from the sprains (which are better but still not fully healed). The queries referenced above pre-date the query hiatus. Any queries received during this time should be getting a reply indicating authors can resubmit after January 15th.



When I posted my 2009 query stats on Monday, I mentioned that out of the 47 partial- and full-manuscripts I had requested throughout the year, 3 of those had not garnered a submission, or, indeed, even a reply. In each case I sent a follow-up request a few days later just in case my initial request had been tagged as spam. In case anyone is curious, 4 of the 2008 requests remain MIA as well.

A number of people in comments seemed to be somewhat baffled about these non-responders. A few even seemed a little put out (not a reaction I anticipated). Other than the possible spam-trap, four things occurred to me:

(1) Upon receipt of this request, panic ensued and manic revisions commenced. I hereby reiterate (and other agents have said the same) -- don't query before you're actually ready. But, evenso, should this occur, one supposes the author could still get in touch when they are finally confident in the submission again. While it's possible the agent's circumstances may have changed and they will have to pass at that time, in most situations that probably won't be the case.

(2) Said author received a prior request for the material from elsewhere, and granted an exclusive. In this scenario, I recommend still letting those who have subsequently made requests know the situation. Agent Janet says "exclusives STINK" but I can think of reasons an author might grant one. Based on some horror stories I have heard, though, the author should be sure to set a reasonable time limit should they choose this route.

(3) Author netted an agent extremely quickly. Agent response times aren't all the same, and apparently some absorb manuscripts by osmosis off their desks. Wrist injuries aside, I do try to respond to queries within the 4 week window listed in our submission guidelines but I know my schedule for reading isn't always cooperative with other demands (you know, made by those client people). I think I would still respond to a request for submission in this case and let the agent know. I'm not sure why a person wouldn't do that.

(4) Just as writers may not be aware of certain things going on in an agent's life (unless they blog or twitter them and the writer happens to be following same), an agent may not know if something else has happened to cause a delay in responding. Unexpected events cause unanticipated effects. Life happens.

Anyone have any other scenarios to suggest?

Today marks the official release of All About Us #6: The Chic Shall Inherit the Earth

Lissa Mansfield has come a long way since transferring to Spencer Academy two years ago. She's made a great group of friends in Gillian, Carly, Mac, and Shani. She's strengthened and grown her relationship with God. She's even gotten over the Callum McCloud "incident" from her first semester. Now, she's ready to graduate and take on college life!

Or is she? With her parents' relationship still on the rocks and the girls about to separate as they head to different colleges, Lissa is faced with some of her biggest challenges yet in her last term at Spencer. Will Lissa put her faith in God to carry her through these difficult times?

Other books in the series....

Book 1: It's All About Us
Book 2: The Fruit of My Lipstick
Book 3: Be Strong & Curvaceous
Book 4: Who Made You a Princess?
Book 5: Tidings of Great Boys

"Adina does a good job realistically portraying characters who are not only growing up, but doing so with religion as a huge constant in their lives. Rarely, if ever, are the characters preachy, and Lissa and Gillian are fine role models for any religion.” --Romantic Times BookReviews

"I only wish Shelley Adina's All About Us series had been around in my day. I recommend it for any young adult who wants to escape to another world and find that they are not alone in their feelings and experiences." American Idol finalist, Contemporary Christian artist, and author Mandisa