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By: Kathy Temean,
on 3/24/2014
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You can see from the above illustration by Evi Gstottner that she loves fairytales and folktales. She graduated in 1992 from Byam Shaw School of Art in London and in 2009 she completed her MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Anglia Ruskin University (Cambridge School of Art). Evi was featured on Illustrator Saturday. Here is the link: http://www.kathytemean.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/illustrator-saturday-evi-gstottner/
The goal of query letter is to elicit an invitation from an agent (or editor) to send in sample chapters or the whole manuscript.
A query letter is a ONE PAGE letter with three concise paragraphs: the hook, the mini-synopsis, and your writer’s biography.
Don’t stray, if you want to be taken seriously as a professional writer. Keep it simple. Stick to three paragraphs.
Paragraph One is called The Hook: A hook is a concise, one-sentence tagline for your book. It’s meant to hook your reader’s interest, and reel them in.
The first paragraph is your chance (perhaps your only chance) to grab the agent, since many agents will be immediately biased—for good or for bad—within a sentence or two.
If a writer queries via a referral, he will always begin with, “I am writing to you because your client, John Smith, recommended that I do so.” Thus an agent, whether he likes it or not, must take the first sentence seriously, if for no other reason than he risks offending an existing client check or editor. Please do not say this unless it is true. Agents will check and you don’t want to be embarrassed or have someone think you are not trustworthy.
If you haven’t been referred, you could still grab the agents attention with something personal., such as: ”I am writing to you because you represented TITLE by AUTHOR, and I feel my book is similar.”
What will this show?
1. That this is not a random query letter.
2. That you’re approaching him/her for a specific reason
3. That you’ve put a great deal of time and energy into researching the market
4. That you know who the agent represents, and the types of books they have sold.
5. It will put a positive association into the agents mind, as it will make him or her think of a book they sold.
6. It offers a comparison, allowing the agent to immediately grasp the type of book you’re writing and thus help they agent decide if they want to represent another like it.
7. It shows that you know the market, that you have an objective grasp of what your own book is about and where it fits within that market.
8. It indicates that you’ve put care into your writing.
Referencing one of his/her titles will help accomplish this. But don’t bluff. Noah says, ”If you don’t truly do the research, it will show. I’ve received many letters which referenced a book I sold, but when I read the rest of the query, I realized that their book was not at all similar; it was just a gimmick to get me to pay attention. When an agent realizes this, he will just be annoyed. So when referencing a book, make sure it is truly appropriate. But if you’ve done the research and query a truly appropriate agent and reference a truly appropriate title, then you are already off to a shining head start.”
Agent Query suggests using the when formula: “When such and such event happens, your main character—a descriptive adjective, age, professional occupation—must confront further conflict and triumph in his or her own special way. Sure, it’s a formula, but it’s a formula that works.”
Example: Bridges of Madison County
When Robert Kincaid drives through the heat and dust of an Iowa summer and turns into Francesca Johnson’s farm lane looking for directions, the world-class photographer and the Iowa farm wife are joined in an experience that will haunt them forever.
Note: Many writers use the “when” formula, so use it as a starting point. Write your basic hook and then spice it up with the “When. Noah says to keep your opening paragraph to one sentence, so if you add a when to the personal approach, make sure it is short.
Example: Non-”formulatic” fiction hook:
The Da Vinci Code A murder in the silent after-hour halls of the Louvre museum reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ.
Paragraph Two—Mini-synopsis: This is where boil down your entire novel into one paragraph and expand your hook. Put in the hard work of practicing and revising, until you get that paragraph to sing the same tune as your whole book. Read the back flap of books you like to get a feel for how to create a juicy paragraph.
Paragraph Three—Writer’s bio: Keep it short and related to writing. If your book revolves around a hospital and you are a nurse, then say that. If you have a published book, been published in some magazines, etc,, or won a writing contest or award, then let the agent know. if you’ve never been published, never won any awards, hold no writing degrees, and have no credentials to write your book, then don’t say it. This just gives you more space for Paragraph Two.
The Closing: Thank the agent for their time and consideration. Let the agent know you have the full manuscript available upon request. Note: Never query an agent unless you have written, revised, and finished your full manuscript.
Tomorrow: Query Tips – Examples and Links.
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
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By: Kathy Temean,
on 1/14/2013
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The goal of query letter is to elicit an invitation from an agent (or editor) to send in sample chapters or the whole manuscript.
A query letter is a ONE PAGE letter with three concise paragraphs: the hook, the mini-synopsis, and your writer’s biography. Don’t stray, if you want to be taken seriously as a professional writer. Keep it simple. Stick to three paragraphs.
Paragraph One—The Hook: A hook is a concise, one-sentence tagline for your book. It’s meant to hook your reader’s interest, and reel them in.
Example: Bridges of Madison County
When Robert Kincaid drives through the heat and dust of an Iowa summer and turns into Francesca Johnson’s farm lane looking for directions, the world-class photographer and the Iowa farm wife are joined in an experience that will haunt them forever.
Agent Query suggests using the when formula: “When such and such event happens, your main character—a descriptive adjective, age, professional occupation—must confront further conflict and triumph in his or her own special way. Sure, it’s a formula, but it’s a formula that works.”
Note: Many writers use the “when” formula, so use it as a starting point. Write your basic hook and then spice it up.
Example: Non-”formulatic” fiction hook:
The Da Vinci Code
A murder in the silent after-hour halls of the Louvre museum reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ.
Paragraph Two—Mini-synopsis: This is where boil down your entire novel into one paragraph and expand your hook. Put in the hard work of practicing and revising, until you get that paragraph to sing the same tune as your whole book. Read the back flap of books you like to get a feel for how to create a juicy paragraph.
Paragraph Three—Writer’s bio: Keep it short and related to writing. If your book revolves around a hospital and you are a nurse, then say that. If you have a published book, been published in some magazines, etc,, or won a writing contest or award, then let the agent know. if you’ve never been published, never won any awards, hold no writing degrees, and have no credentials to write your book, then don’t say it. This just gives you more space for Paragraph Two.
The Closing: Thank the agent for their time and consideration. Let the agent know you have the full manuscript available upon request. Note: Never query an agent unless you have written, revised, and finished your full manuscript.
TIPS:
1. Always address your query to a specific person.
2. Make sure you mention the title of your book.
3. Mention the word count and genre of your book.
Note: Novels should be 80,000 to 100,000 words. Young adult novels can be significantly less: 40,000-60,000 words. Insert word count and genre at the end of your first “hook” paragraph.
If your novel is 200,000 words – Cut before you query. No one wants an overweight manuscript. AgentQuery reports unless your manuscript is a historical family saga or an epic science fiction battle, agents hit DELETE on proposed first-time novel over 110,000-120,000 words.
4. Share the reason why you are querying this particular agent. Let the agent know that you have researched them and have a reason for choosing them for representation.
5. Have someone you know check for typos and grammar mistakes. It is very easy when e-mailing a query letter to click the send button before throughly checking your text. Writers seem to be in the mode to triple check everything when they snail mail their queries, but since we send so many personal e-mails without closely checking every word, that “Send” button can be easily clicked. The mistake snail mailing query writers make is forgetting to include their contact information – something you don’t need to include with an e-mail. I know that sounds crazy, but I have seen it when writers have sent me submissions for editors and agents.
Need to see an ACTUAL query letter before you’ll know how to write one? Here is the query letter Author (at the time agent) Nathan Bransford:
Dear Ms. Drayton,
As a young literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd. I have long admired Inkwell, as well as your strong track record. To paraphrase Douglas Adams, if you searched for a book that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike THE BOOK THIEF (which I absolutely loved), you might just have JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW, a middle-grade-and-up science fiction novel that I just completed. Still fun! But no one dies – Mr. Death would be lonely.
Jacob Wonderbar has been the bane of every substitute teacher at Magellan Middle School ever since his dad moved away from home. He never would have survived without his best friend Dexter, even if he is a little timid, and his cute-but-tough friend Sarah Daisy, who is chronically overscheduled. But when the trio meets a mysterious man in silver one night they trade a corn dog for his sassy spaceship and blast off into the great unknown. That is, until they break the universe in a giant space kapow and a nefarious space buccaneer named Mick Cracken maroons Jacob and Dexter on a tiny planet that smells like burp breath. The friends have to work together to make it back to their little street where the houses look the same, even as Earth seems farther and farther away.
JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW is 50,000 words and stands alone, but I have ideas for a series, including titles such as JACOB WONDERBAR FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSE and JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE VACATIONING ALIENS FROM ANOTHER PLANET. I’m the author of an eponymous agenting and writing blog.
I’d be thrilled if you would consider WONDERBAR for representation, and a few other agents are considering simultaneously. Thanks very much, and hope to talk to you soon.
Nathan Bransford
Here are a few other places to look:
Nathan Bransford dissects a really good query letter and extoll its virtues.
Click Here to Visit Galleycat. They have 23 Agent Query Letters That Actually Worked.
Nonfiction writers don’t need to have a completed fiction manuscript. They only need a proposal before seeking representation from an agent. Here’s are books and places to help with writing a proposal:
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
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| "Gelee Blanche" - Camille Pissarro |
Believe it or not, there are many writers out there, real writers, who don’t particularly like writing very much.
It’s true! Some find the process tedious, even torturous, and find it difficult to stay focused for the length of time it takes to finish.
Like many writers out there, I’m someone who finds writing really difficult. I ultimately derive great pleasure from the writing process and feel incredibly fortunate to have the time to devote to it, but that doesn’t mean I find every moment riveting.
What burns in the heart of writers varies from person to person, so you’ll have to find what works for you. But here are some ideas that might help keep you in the writer’s chair.
-
Cultivate Your Fear of Failure. Despite what Yoda might have you believe, fear does not always
lead to anger, hate, and suffering. Fear is one of the best motivators you have. Invest in the idea of your novel. Develop the idea that you’re letting yourself down if you don’t finish it. Put pressure on yourself. Be afraid the regret you’ll feel the rest of your life if you don’t accomplish your dream. Fear is a feeling that can keep you going.
-
Set Deadlines With Teeth. Deadlines don’t actually work that well for me personally (they tend to just stress me out), but I know people who swear by them. The trick is setting a deadline with teeth. If you secretly know that the deadline you’re setting for yourself is a soft one, it’s not going to have its hair-raising, stress-inducing maximum effect. So either you have to learn to be scared of yourself and your own punishments or you may need a partner in crime who can help you keep to them.
-
Daydream a Little. It’s okay to imagine what would happen if your book blew up and you were on the cover of fifty magazines (do those still exist?) and you were the toast of the literati and a gazillionaire. Don’t let those dreams become expectations to the point that not getting those things gets you down, but give yourself the freedom to imagine those best case scenarios.
-
Befriend Writers Who Have Finished a Novel. Before I knew real writers, the idea of writing a novel seemed so impossibly vast it seemed almost magical. But then you get to know the people behind the books, and there’s not as much of a secret to it: They are people who sat in place for as long as it took to write a novel. Get to know them. Lean on them. They may give you a blank, pitying, horrified stare when you start fretting you’re never going to finish, but that blank stare will get you back to the keyboard in no time.
-
Write Something You Love. It may be tempting to try and chase the flavor of the moment or what the industry says is selling or the novel you think you should write, but that doesn’t work. You need to love your novel unconditionally if you’re going to finish.
What about you? What motivates you?
 |
| "Der Naturforscher" - Carl Spitzweg |
One of the best parts of being a writer is the strange things you're forced to research. I was delving into some very bizarre flora and fauna over the weekend and learned way more than I ever thought I would about the climate of a very particular time period. (But I can't reveal which time because it would be a spoiler).
What's the strangest thing you've researched in the course of your writing?
This should be good.
It's How I Write week here on the blog as we gear up for the release of JACOB WONDERBAR on May 12th. Monday: How I Write. Tuesday: How I Edit. Today: My Query Letter and How I Found an Agent. Thursday: Why I Chose a Traditional Publisher. Friday: This Week in BooksPlease stick around! Before I get to my query letter, let me answer two oft-asked questions: Yes, I needed an agent even though I was an agent at the time, and yes, I had to send out query letters the old-fashioned way.
I sent queries out to seven or eight agents, some of whom I knew personally, some of whom (like Catherine Drayton, my now-agent), I knew only by reputation. I chose to query Catherine because she represents one of my favorite books, THE BOOK THIEF, and I had heard great things about her.
So I sent out my query, got a few rejections, Catherine and a few other agents asked to see partials/fulls, and when Catherine called to offer representation a few weeks later I knew we were a match. She really got the book, I liked the changes she suggested for the manuscript, and I really got the sense that she has a ton of integrity, which was one of the most important qualities I was looking for in an agent.
And, yup. When I was writing my query I used
the mad lib formula, personalized the query, and kept it under 300 words. I practice what I preach, people. (For a complete guide to writing a query letter, see
this post)
Now for the query. Here goes...
Dear Ms. Drayton,
As a young literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd. I have long admired Inkwell, as well as your strong track record. To paraphrase Douglas Adams, if you searched for a book that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike THE BOOK THIEF (which I absolutely loved), you might just have JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW, a middle-grade-and-up science fiction novel that I just completed. Still fun! But no one dies - Mr. Death would be lonely.
Jacob Wonderbar has been the bane of every substitute teacher at Magellan Middle School ever since his dad moved away from home. He never would have survived without his best friend Dexter, even if he is a little timid, and his cute-but-tough friend Sarah Daisy, who is chronically overscheduled. But when the trio meets a mysterious man in silver one night they trade a corn dog for his sassy spaceship and blast off into the great unknown. That is, until they break the universe in a giant space kapow and a nefarious space buccaneer named Mick Cracken maroons Jacob and Dexter on a tiny planet that smells like burp breath. The friends have to work together to make it back to their little street where the houses look the same, even as Earth seems farther and farther away.
JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW is 50,000 words and stands alone, but I have ideas for a series, including titles such as JACOB WONDERBAR FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSE and JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE VACATIONING ALIENS FROM ANOTHER PLANET. I'm the author of an eponymous agenting and writing blog.
I'd be thrilled i
And... the... finalists... are...
Yeah, still working on that. But!! I shall have them ready for you early next week. I think. There are a lot of them. Soon! Meanwhile, there was a Week in Books....
Before we get to the books, remember when I went to Peru on a volunteer vacation and it changed my life? Well! You have this opportunity too! Please visit Volunteer Journals at Travelocity, and all you have to do is enter a video for a chance to win a volunteer vacation. People, voluntourism is the greatest thing ever. Enter! Enter! Enter!!
And books:
Another domino in the path toward e-book-adoption has fallen. In their recent earnings report, Amazon reported the Kindle e-books now outsell paperbacks on Amazon. The e-books, they are selling like mad! (disclosure: link is to CNET, I work at CNET.)
Lots of people talking about Stanely Fish's book about how to write a sentence, and writer Adam Haslett took on Stanley Fish's book, and placed it in context with that tome extolling the terse sentence, Strunk & White. (via The Book Bench) Meanwhile, Slate took a look at Stanley Fish's Top 5 Sentences of all Time. Which are rather top.
And speaking of great sentences, there was a great feature this week over at the Quentessentially Questionable Query Experiment, where my friend Matt Rush interviewed my other friend Bryan Russell about his rather impressive query for his novel THE DREAM OF CROWS. Much insightfulness resulted.
In writing advice news, my former colleague agent Sarah LaPolla breaks down different pitch session attendee types, Eric from Pimp My Novel reminds us of a very important fact of life: this is a business, my dear friend the Rejectionist talks about Inappropriate Agent Behaviors and a Five Step Program for Exiting, my former client Jennifer Hubbard talks about the necessity of taking a break (she's right), and and agent Rachelle Gardner talks about the importance of having a core group of fans.
Oh, and Nabokov was right about the butterflies.
This week in the Forums, getting ready for the Super Bowl, talking about HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, sharing your first paragraph, and
30 Comments on This Week in Books 1/28/11, last added: 1/31/2011
Light news this week! It's This Week in Books on a diet. We're keeping our New Year's Resolutions after all.
Let's see what have we here. The good people at NPR are launching a new short fiction contest, but SPEAKING OF CONTESTS, I know those NPR people are great and all that with their insightful commentary and amazing radio programs, but WE ARE HAVING A CONTEST NEXT WEEK RIGHT HERE! Prizes and riches beyond compare (not really) hang in the balance!! Fun beyond compare (really)!! An ARC of a certain space adventure involving universe breaking will be given away! There will be more prizes than that!
This blog. Monday. Be there. Er. Here.
(Don't worry, there are more links.)
In e-book news, writing for my employer CNET, David Katzmaier talked about how he borrowed a Kindle and was completely sold that e-readers are an improvement over paper. Only there was one problem with the Kindle: it's not easy to borrow e-books from libraries (as it is with the Sony Reader). So he's not buying a Kindle.
Writing in the Guardian, Laura Miller notices an interesting fact of 21st Century life absent from much of contemporary literature: this little thing called the Internet. (via Stephen Parrish)
Could one of the perennial debates in writing circles be settled at long last? Slate's Farhad Manjoo launched an impassioned broadside against the wasteful, malicious scourge of the writing world: two spaces after a period. I used to be a two-space sinner, but I have repented and seen the light, hallelujah.
The great Janet Reid tackles a very important topic necessary of distinction: the difference between a query and a pitch. Know it.
Now, I didn't read the Babysitter's Club books as I was busy at the time playing baseball and watching Star Wars (not at the same time, though that would be awesome). Where were we? Oh. Babysitter's Club. I'm told that this is a hilarious post if you were a fan. (via my friend Holly Burns)
This week in the Forums, how to deal with writer's butt, organizing your submissions, have you read THE CITY AND THE CITY? I want to talk!, how to handle subchapters, and what makes you good at what you do?
Comment! of! the! Week! there were tons of great Twitter tips in yesterday's post about how to use Twitter and I'd hate to single out just one, so I'm going with a collective comment of the week for that thread. Thanks everyone!
And finally, via Sommer Leigh in the Forums, Ira Glass and the radio program This American Life is one of the great treasure
The query process is understandably terrifying. In fact, I'm pretty sure they use it as a torture device in some countries. And that's even before you jump online and find out that every agent has a slightly different idea of what makes a good query and every discussion forum has a different formula and next thing you know you'll find yourself checking yourself into an asylum as a precautionary measure.
Lost in all of this is perhaps the most important element of the query: YOU.
You! The writer! The personage! The prodigiously talented talent!
A few months back, Jessica Faust at BookEnds
had some terrific advice: don't try and write a query that will appeal to
everyone, write the best query you can that will appeal to
many.
Not only is this terrific advice, it doesn't just apply to queries - in fact I would carry this forward to the actual writing as well. It doesn't work to write the book that you think you should write or that you think is what the market wants or that everyone in the world will like. Don't try to write for
everyone, write for
many. And that "many" can be just as many people as you want.
And it doesn't just apply to queries and manuscripts, it applies to how you conduct yourself and think of yourself as a writer. Sometimes I think people get so nervous about doing the wrong thing they button themselves up and hide away their real self. And sure, put on some nice clothes and put your best foot forward, but don't lose yourself in the process. If someone doesn't want to work with the real you, trust me, you don't want to work with them either.
Queries, manuscripts, correspondence: the absolute best thing you can do is to just be yourself.
Is there life after a query that strikes out with agents? My awesome client Jim Duncan, whose debut novel DEADWORLD will be published by Kensington next April, shares his experience. Make sure to catch the exciting contest on Jim's blog at the end of the post.
By: Jim Duncan
As you might guess from the title, I am not what one would call a good query writer. Mediocre at best. My wife (romance author Tracy Madison) whole-heartedly agrees with this assessment.
There are a couple of reasons for this. First, I will admit to not being a very good editor. It's very difficult for me to assess my own writing, and thus, I don't like doing it. Second, when it comes to certain aspects of the publishing process, I have little patience. When my book was done, I wanted to send out queries that moment.
Back in the old days of 2007, when I completed my novel for the first time, I had queries going out the next day. I made about half a dozen attempts, picked the one I liked the best and sent it out. I had done my research, making sure the agents wanted my genre, whether they took email or snail mail, getting their name correct, etc. I followed agent blogs like Nathan's, Miss Snark, Kristin Nelson, and others (there are a lot of good blogs for writers out there), to glean as much knowledge as I could about the process and how to make that query stand out. I failed. I received one of Nathan's polite form rejections.
What feedback I received (off of a roughly 90% rejection rate) did not like the multiple first person p.o.v.'s I used. Was I deterred? Of course not! I decided to rewrite the book in third person, because I felt very strongly about this story. Whether it was written well enough was another matter.
So, I wrote a new query, several versions in fact, and though I was not happy with any of them, I picked what I thought was the best of the lot and sent it out. There's that whole patience thing again. The results were marginally better, but still no real interest.
Knowing I can't write queries for shit, I figured that might be my biggest problem, so I wrote yet another and tried again a few months later. I sent it out to a couple of publishers who are open to submissions, and like all good writers should do, I began to work on my next book (can't stress this enough: keep writing!)
In the meantime, I had become a regular responder on Nathan's blog. I'd sent a couple of emails to him, suggestions for topics and such. Then, one fine day, I came up with a contest suggestion that became my 15 seconds of blog fame. Those of you who were around a year and a half ago may remember the Agent for a Day contest. At the time it generated the most hits ever on Nathan's blog (about 70k, and 15k comments). Through my willingness to participate and make suggestions, good or otherwise, I had cemented my name in Nathan's mind. We didn't become BFF's. It was some fortunate networking that happened out of interest as opposed to direct effort.
Then, I got the call. Kensington Publishing offered me a three book deal for my novel, Deadworld. Super excited? You bet. What struck me though, was the fact that they were buying my story as an urban fantasy. This entire time, I had been submitting it as a suspense/thriller. Head smack! What would have happened had I realized what genre my story was best suited for? Another good point learned well after the fact. Understand the market for your story!
With offer in hand, I really wanted to find an agent. I had no desire to do this on my own. I picked about a dozen agents that I had queried before and asked them if they would be interested in a second look because of the offer I had on the table. In hindsight, I didn't give them enough time, which was five days. I probably lost some potential agents with that. In the end, it came down to two.
Nathan, whom I'd already
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| Proper technique |
Once you have followed the gentle suggestions in the
How to Write a Novel post and done gone and written yourself a novel, (or if you've written a
nonfiction book proposal), it is then time to see what the world thinks of it. The first step in this process if you are seeking traditional publication is to find an agent.
Please check out
this post about how to find a literary agent, since a query letter is not the only way of going about it. But chances are you will at some point have to sit down and write one of these beastly missives. Here's how you do it.
What to Know Before You StartA query letter is part business letter, part creative writing exercise, part introduction, part death defying leap through a flaming hoop. (Don't worry, you won't catch fire and die during the query process though it may feel precisely like that at times). In essence: it is a letter describing your project.
The first thing to know about writing query letters is that there are as many opinions out on the Internet about query letters as there are, well, opinions on the Internet. You will find lots of dos and don'ts and peeves and strategies and formulas. The important thing to remember about this is that everyone is wrong except for me. (Just kidding. The important thing to remember is that you will need to choose the ideas that work best for you).
As the immortal Douglas Adams said, don't panic! Write the best letter you can, be yourself, don't overthink it
too much, don't sweat it if you realize the second after you sent it that you made a typo or
accidentally called me Vicky. If an agent is going to get mad or reject you over something trivial like that they're probably not the type of person you'd want to work with anyway.
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
(For Further Reading):
Get the Big Stuff RightCan You Query If You Are An Unpublished Novelist and Your Novel Isn't Finished?The Common Sense and Decency Rule Why It's So Important to Learn to Summarize Your Work Research and PersonalizationThe second thing to do before you write the query is to research. This is because you need to do your darndest to:
1)
Figure out which agents would be the right fit for your work - Three basic things to figure out: a) does the agent represent your genre, b) do they represent something too similar to your project, c) do they seem like they would be a good fit for you. The answers should be a) yes, b) no, c) yes.
2)
Figure out the agent's submission procedure
At the request of some folks on Twitter, I'm posting the handout from last weekend's NESCBWI panel discussion, "Everything You've Always Wanted to Know About Agents...But Were Afraid to Ask." I participated in the panel, along with my agent Jennifer Laughran of ABLA, author Jo Knowles and her agent Barry Goldblatt, and author/illustrator Carlyn Beccia and her agent Tracey Adams. We talked about many elements of the agent-author relationship Saturday afternoon and promised more on how to query an agent in the handout. Some of it will seem obvious, but believe it or not, agents see query letters that don't follow guidelines all the time.
Tips for Querying Agents
1. Do your homework. Make sure you know what kind of work the agent generally represents. Spell the name correctly. Make sure your manuscript is ready to submit. Then follow the submission guidelines exactly.
Why is this important? Because you’re asking someone to represent you as a professional in a career where you will frequently need to follow directions and do things a certain way. Prove that you can do it up front. Don’t give an agent a reason to say no.
2. When you write your query letter:
a. Address the agent by his or her name, i.e. Dear Mr. Goldblatt
b. Write a very brief first paragraph explaining why you are writing (to see if the agent is interested in representing your project) and why you chose that agent in particular. Did you read that the agent was looking for paranormal romance? Does he or she represent an author you love?
c. It’s fine to say you’ve met one of the agent’s clients or admire their books, but don’t make it sound like you were referred to an agent unless an author specifically referred you and offered to contact the agent to say so. Agents will check on this, and you’ll look unprofessional if you’ve stretched the truth.
d. In your next paragraph or two, give a brief summary of your book. This summary should read more like jacket copy than a book report. It’s meant give a quick overview to entice the agent to request your manuscript and does not need to include every little plot element. It does need to be clear, concise, and well written. If your book is funny, it helps if your query is funny, too.
e. In your last paragraph, give a brief closing. You might say to whom your book would appeal or how you think it fits into the market. Thank the agent and offer to send your manuscript along at his or her request.
3. Give it time. Agents are incredibly busy and may take weeks or months to respond to your query. Status query only after three months or whatever the agent’s guidelines suggest.
Keep in mind, there's a lot of advice out there on querying, and this is just one take on the process. There are no magic query potions. If you're interested in learning more about what to do and especially what
not to do, you'll want to check out
this post from Scholastic editor Cheryl Klein.
Do you want free feedback on your query letter from a literary agent? Then send your query
letter (for fiction manuscripts) to Query Shark blog. Not all queries will be critiqued, but even if yours isn’t, you can learn from the many critiques already posted on the blog. If your letter is critiqued,it will appear on the blog–and you can also send in a revised query letter based on her feedback. To send a query to Query Shark, email it janet AT fineprintlit DOT com. You MUST put “Query Shark” in the subject line. (Read the right-hand sidebar for more details.) (The agent is Janet Reid at FinePrint Literary, which I found through searching for her email.)
This is an incredibly generous offer, I think–and a fantastic way to learn about how to write a good query letter–even if you all you do is read her blog!
If you’re querying literary agents, you might also want to check out “10 Query Letter Tips” by Writer’s Digest.
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Interesting and informative post. Each point you mentioned is noteworthy. thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading your post.
Sridhar,
Thanks for leaving a comment. I hope you are able to use it to write a query letter that gets many responses.
Kathy
Thank you, Kathy for the posts this week. I am sure many writers are finding it very useful. We’re linking to them via the South Jersey Writers’ Group twitter, FB and G+. Thanks for the great information.
I’ve bookmarked this article. Thanks for the great help!
Mieke,
Great! I love to hear that the information is useful. And thanks for sharing it.
Kathy
Debi,
My pleasure! Hope you stop back.
Kathy
Great blog. Off to my class wiki it goes!
Love how specific and useful this is, Kathy! Thanks so much.