Well, this day is half over (more for some of you!) and I'm just posting. Sorry about that. We had internet traumas over here the last two days. So, since I'm so late, I'll keep it short and sweet.
If you want to query agents, you have to write a book.
If you want an agent, you have to query them.
If you want to be on submission, you have to have an agent.
If you want an editor, you have to get your book ready for your agent to submit.
If you want a book on a shelf, you have to get an editor to buy it.
Is any of this information new? Of course not. You all know it. But here's the thing: if your goal or dream is to be published, and you have yet to take any one of these steps (that are within your power)... well... the writing is on the wall. Or my blog, as the case may be.
So here's the advice part:
Go. Do it! Now!! (...and keep doing it until you make it to the next step.) If we all keep "doing" until we make it to that last step, someday all of our books WILL be on shelves. Hurray!
Showing posts with label queries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label queries. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
The last one!
Here are the rest of your questions from my querying/getting an agent Q&A:
Susan Fields said...
My question: I've heard that queries should be extremely short and to the point, yet often when I read a magazine article on queries that worked, they're pretty lengthy. What's a good word count for a query?
Different agents will tell you different things on word count. Some agents I queried had exact word count requirements of 200 words or something like that (yikes!). I think the best way to make sure your query isn't too long is to keep your "pitch" to two paragraphs, and if the whole letter can all fit on one printed page (formatted correctly -- no 8 point font and 1/4 inch borders), then you are good to go.
Can I ask another question? If not, just disregard. :) Say you get that call from an agent offering representation. Do you then email the other agents who are considering partials and fulls and tell them you have an offer and give them a deadline?
YES! You do exactly that. And usually you give them one week.
Kristine said... Great contest Sara--I'm getting in under the wire here. Here's my questions--I've done some work-for-hire and had a few things published. Is that impressing an agent? Or should I downplay it in my query?Thanks again for the opportunity.
Hmmm... I think it depends on what it was and how widely circulated your work was. I think it's good to show them you have some experience, but I wouldn't make it sound like a big deal (unless it was!). If it was a small local magazine or something, I'd mention it in your bio section, but just briefly. If it was a national magazine or publication, and particularly if it relates to the subject/genre you are querying, then you should make a bigger deal out of it. Does that make sense? I'm not the expert on this, so definitely do some more research on it before taking my word for it.
Rachel Searles said... Thanks for offering this contest! My question: how many people did you have critique your query before you sent it out?
The first time? Um... none? Yeah, I was a total greenie. I had no clue what I was doing other than having read Stephenie Meyer's website about how she bought Guide to Literary Agents, picked her top 15 or something like that, and sent off her queries. Bam! Instant millionaire. So I figured, I could do the same thing. As I've detailed in my "path to getting an agent" series last year, though I did get interest that first round, it didn't work out. Then I got smart and started getting help. I had about 5-6 people critique my queries after that every time. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Definitely don't make the mistakes I did!
I hope this series has been helpful and interesting! Thank you again for your questions. Happy Monday everyone!
Susan Fields said...
My question: I've heard that queries should be extremely short and to the point, yet often when I read a magazine article on queries that worked, they're pretty lengthy. What's a good word count for a query?
Different agents will tell you different things on word count. Some agents I queried had exact word count requirements of 200 words or something like that (yikes!). I think the best way to make sure your query isn't too long is to keep your "pitch" to two paragraphs, and if the whole letter can all fit on one printed page (formatted correctly -- no 8 point font and 1/4 inch borders), then you are good to go.
Can I ask another question? If not, just disregard. :) Say you get that call from an agent offering representation. Do you then email the other agents who are considering partials and fulls and tell them you have an offer and give them a deadline?
YES! You do exactly that. And usually you give them one week.
Kristine said... Great contest Sara--I'm getting in under the wire here. Here's my questions--I've done some work-for-hire and had a few things published. Is that impressing an agent? Or should I downplay it in my query?Thanks again for the opportunity.
Hmmm... I think it depends on what it was and how widely circulated your work was. I think it's good to show them you have some experience, but I wouldn't make it sound like a big deal (unless it was!). If it was a small local magazine or something, I'd mention it in your bio section, but just briefly. If it was a national magazine or publication, and particularly if it relates to the subject/genre you are querying, then you should make a bigger deal out of it. Does that make sense? I'm not the expert on this, so definitely do some more research on it before taking my word for it.
Rachel Searles said... Thanks for offering this contest! My question: how many people did you have critique your query before you sent it out?
The first time? Um... none? Yeah, I was a total greenie. I had no clue what I was doing other than having read Stephenie Meyer's website about how she bought Guide to Literary Agents, picked her top 15 or something like that, and sent off her queries. Bam! Instant millionaire. So I figured, I could do the same thing. As I've detailed in my "path to getting an agent" series last year, though I did get interest that first round, it didn't work out. Then I got smart and started getting help. I had about 5-6 people critique my queries after that every time. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Definitely don't make the mistakes I did!
I hope this series has been helpful and interesting! Thank you again for your questions. Happy Monday everyone!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
We're almost there...
I have just one set of questions left (after today's). Thank you so much everyone who participated, and I hope you've found this series of Q&A helpful.
Danyelle said... Thanks for your generosity. :)Question: If you have more than one offer of representation, how do you handle telling the other agents that you didn't pick?
After you have carefully made an informed decision on which agent is best for you, the best way to let the other agents know is to send them a professional and kind email letting them know of your decision. Unless you feel like you had a closer relationship throughout the process that would necessitate a phone call. But usually, an email is sufficient.
Theresa Milstein said... Since we often send queries with pages, how do we know when it's the query or the pages or other?
I'm assuming you're asking when should you send pages and when should you just send the query? This is where your research becomes very important. Find the most up to date information on the agent you are querying (through agentquery.com, their websites, etc.). They will tell you what they want. However, if an agent says "query only," I'd usually send the first page with it (pasted in the email) so they could see a small sample of my writing and include a sentence that said, "I am also including a one-page excerpt from ____." (Or something like that.) I had a couple of author friends recommend I do that, and I found it was generally a good thing.
Brooke said... Great contest and thank you for your generosity!My question is what happens if you have more than one project ready to query?
In my opinion and from what I know, I say you pick the one that you think is the best, and you only query that one. (As long as they are the same genre or "age group"--aka, both YA, or both non-ficton, etc. so the same agent could represent both of them.) Once you have an agent interested, then you can tell them about your other project. However, I've had someone else tell me recently that she disagrees and thinks you should let them know in the query that you have another one ready. Everything I ever read or have heard is NOT to do that, but she is a knowledgeable person and says she's had success with it. So you may want to research that one a little bit more.
We're half way through the week, and so far mine has been awesome. I can only hope the trend continues! How about you? Is January 2011 treating you well?
Danyelle said... Thanks for your generosity. :)Question: If you have more than one offer of representation, how do you handle telling the other agents that you didn't pick?
After you have carefully made an informed decision on which agent is best for you, the best way to let the other agents know is to send them a professional and kind email letting them know of your decision. Unless you feel like you had a closer relationship throughout the process that would necessitate a phone call. But usually, an email is sufficient.
Theresa Milstein said... Since we often send queries with pages, how do we know when it's the query or the pages or other?
I'm assuming you're asking when should you send pages and when should you just send the query? This is where your research becomes very important. Find the most up to date information on the agent you are querying (through agentquery.com, their websites, etc.). They will tell you what they want. However, if an agent says "query only," I'd usually send the first page with it (pasted in the email) so they could see a small sample of my writing and include a sentence that said, "I am also including a one-page excerpt from ____." (Or something like that.) I had a couple of author friends recommend I do that, and I found it was generally a good thing.
Brooke said... Great contest and thank you for your generosity!My question is what happens if you have more than one project ready to query?
In my opinion and from what I know, I say you pick the one that you think is the best, and you only query that one. (As long as they are the same genre or "age group"--aka, both YA, or both non-ficton, etc. so the same agent could represent both of them.) Once you have an agent interested, then you can tell them about your other project. However, I've had someone else tell me recently that she disagrees and thinks you should let them know in the query that you have another one ready. Everything I ever read or have heard is NOT to do that, but she is a knowledgeable person and says she's had success with it. So you may want to research that one a little bit more.
We're half way through the week, and so far mine has been awesome. I can only hope the trend continues! How about you? Is January 2011 treating you well?
Monday, January 10, 2011
More answers, and a darling new niece!
Time for more answers to your questions!
Kathryn said...
Wondering how your husband reacted when you signed with an agent! What was your family's reaction? :) My husband was SO excited. He knew how badly I wanted this and how hard I had worked to get to that point. He'd seen me at the breaking point, when I was so beaten down with rejection that I didn't know if I could handle even one more. He also saw me when I was so excited about the most recent requests or feedback or revision. When it finally happened, I was almost in shock with disbelief that I'd finally achieved my goal. He on the other hand was jumping up and down, yelling in excitement, lifting me off of my feet and swinging me in circles. My family was also very excited, but not so much that they lifted me off of my feet. ;)
Emy Shin said...
These are great advice! A question, hmm... Did you have a process for querying? Did you query all agents at once, or send five queries, wait a week, then send five more, etc.?
Definitely don't query all the agents on your list at once. But I do believe in doing it in chunks. I'd say five - ten at a time. I usually sent out a chunk every monday morning, and see what kind of responses I got. One thing I did do though, was whenever I got a particularly heartbreaking rejection, I'd send out a new query right away (or maybe a couple) to give myself new hope. It was one way I coped with disappointment--focus on the possibility of the future instead of the failings of the past.
Nicole Zoltack said...
Queries always need to be tweaked so I would love to win!My question: How do you know when your query is ready? Oh boy, this is a tricky one. Especially since I was often tweaking my query between every round of queries I sent out! But what I would usually do is have a few new people read it whenever I thought it was ready (on top of my CPs), and based on how they reacted I would decide. Another thing I did sometimes (when I was feeling really brave), was to call up a friend and read them my query as if it was the back of a book at a store to ask them if they thought it sounded good. I'm sorry I'm not much help on this one. Basically, get it to where you think it accomplishes your goal (concisely and intriguingly surmises your book), and then have the courage to send it out.
Wondering how your husband reacted when you signed with an agent! What was your family's reaction? :) My husband was SO excited. He knew how badly I wanted this and how hard I had worked to get to that point. He'd seen me at the breaking point, when I was so beaten down with rejection that I didn't know if I could handle even one more. He also saw me when I was so excited about the most recent requests or feedback or revision. When it finally happened, I was almost in shock with disbelief that I'd finally achieved my goal. He on the other hand was jumping up and down, yelling in excitement, lifting me off of my feet and swinging me in circles. My family was also very excited, but not so much that they lifted me off of my feet. ;)
Emy Shin said...
These are great advice! A question, hmm... Did you have a process for querying? Did you query all agents at once, or send five queries, wait a week, then send five more, etc.?
Definitely don't query all the agents on your list at once. But I do believe in doing it in chunks. I'd say five - ten at a time. I usually sent out a chunk every monday morning, and see what kind of responses I got. One thing I did do though, was whenever I got a particularly heartbreaking rejection, I'd send out a new query right away (or maybe a couple) to give myself new hope. It was one way I coped with disappointment--focus on the possibility of the future instead of the failings of the past.
Nicole Zoltack said...
Queries always need to be tweaked so I would love to win!My question: How do you know when your query is ready? Oh boy, this is a tricky one. Especially since I was often tweaking my query between every round of queries I sent out! But what I would usually do is have a few new people read it whenever I thought it was ready (on top of my CPs), and based on how they reacted I would decide. Another thing I did sometimes (when I was feeling really brave), was to call up a friend and read them my query as if it was the back of a book at a store to ask them if they thought it sounded good. I'm sorry I'm not much help on this one. Basically, get it to where you think it accomplishes your goal (concisely and intriguingly surmises your book), and then have the courage to send it out.
And now for your viewing pleasure, I'd like to introduce my beautiful new niece Zoey!!
Isn't she darling? I'm so in love.
And thank you for all of your wishes on SonB's birthday party. It went awesome! He loved all of it (including his cake), so hurray for success!
Did you all have a good weekend?
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
The Return... of the answers to your questions!
Okay, well let's get back to it, shall we? Since I took a two week break, I didn't finish answering all of your great questions regarding querying and finding an agent. Here are a couple more:
Jennie Bailey asked:
How do you whittle your book down to one small paragraph without leaving anything important out? Do you give away your ending? Or keep it secret? I'll be querying by Spring, but I have so much trouble with narrowing it down and getting to the good stuff (yes, I've tried a few times just for practice)!
Technically, you can whittle it down to two paragraphs, maybe even three if they're on the short side. But I understand what you mean. It is really hard to take a huge, 70,000 word novel (give or take ten or twenty thousand words) into a query. That is one reason I say start your query before you write the book if possible. That is when you have your core idea but not all of the details swimming around in your head yet. You will most likely edit and change it once you write the book, but at least you will have a good starting place. If you've already written the book you have to ask yourself two questions: who is my main character (the query should only focus on their story, no supporting cast allowed if at all possible), and what is my hook? The hook is what is going to grab an agent's attention. This is not the place to try and show them how intricate your plot is, or the number of twists you've thrown in. You don't want to confuse them by naming too many characters in those two short paragraphs. It is also not the place to reveal your ending. Save that for a synopsis. Take some of your favorite books and read the jacket copy or back of the book blurb. Which ones sound the best to you? That's basically what you are trying to accomplish with your query. Keep it simple, intriguing--stick to your basic plot and hook, and you've got a query.
Alexia asked:
Question: When you get THE CALL, if your brain goes completely blank from mega freaking out excitement, what is the one question you should not forget to ask? Sorry, that's probably totally unfair. No pressure :)
Ha ha, well, I'm going to cheat on this answer so I don't feel any pressure at all. This is why you PRINT OFF YOUR LIST. Your brain will freak out, and you will go blank, and you will have that lovely sheet of paper right there, with all of your questions printed on it, and a pen or pencil in your other hand to write down their answers (or at least jot down notes). Problem solved. But if for some truly horrible, awful, (really, really bad) reason you can't find your paper, I'd say the most important question is to ask them what their thoughts and goals are for your book. That's kind of squishing the "tell me what edits you envision for my book, or is it ready to submit right now?" question together with the, "do you already have an idea of who you are going to submit my book to, and how soon do you hope we'll be ready to go on submission?" questions into one. Honestly, just make sure and be prepared and have your paper ready. They will set up an appointment with you, so it won't take you by surprise or anything.
Well, that's it for now. More to come soon!
Jennie Bailey asked:
How do you whittle your book down to one small paragraph without leaving anything important out? Do you give away your ending? Or keep it secret? I'll be querying by Spring, but I have so much trouble with narrowing it down and getting to the good stuff (yes, I've tried a few times just for practice)!
Technically, you can whittle it down to two paragraphs, maybe even three if they're on the short side. But I understand what you mean. It is really hard to take a huge, 70,000 word novel (give or take ten or twenty thousand words) into a query. That is one reason I say start your query before you write the book if possible. That is when you have your core idea but not all of the details swimming around in your head yet. You will most likely edit and change it once you write the book, but at least you will have a good starting place. If you've already written the book you have to ask yourself two questions: who is my main character (the query should only focus on their story, no supporting cast allowed if at all possible), and what is my hook? The hook is what is going to grab an agent's attention. This is not the place to try and show them how intricate your plot is, or the number of twists you've thrown in. You don't want to confuse them by naming too many characters in those two short paragraphs. It is also not the place to reveal your ending. Save that for a synopsis. Take some of your favorite books and read the jacket copy or back of the book blurb. Which ones sound the best to you? That's basically what you are trying to accomplish with your query. Keep it simple, intriguing--stick to your basic plot and hook, and you've got a query.
Alexia asked:
Question: When you get THE CALL, if your brain goes completely blank from mega freaking out excitement, what is the one question you should not forget to ask? Sorry, that's probably totally unfair. No pressure :)
Ha ha, well, I'm going to cheat on this answer so I don't feel any pressure at all. This is why you PRINT OFF YOUR LIST. Your brain will freak out, and you will go blank, and you will have that lovely sheet of paper right there, with all of your questions printed on it, and a pen or pencil in your other hand to write down their answers (or at least jot down notes). Problem solved. But if for some truly horrible, awful, (really, really bad) reason you can't find your paper, I'd say the most important question is to ask them what their thoughts and goals are for your book. That's kind of squishing the "tell me what edits you envision for my book, or is it ready to submit right now?" question together with the, "do you already have an idea of who you are going to submit my book to, and how soon do you hope we'll be ready to go on submission?" questions into one. Honestly, just make sure and be prepared and have your paper ready. They will set up an appointment with you, so it won't take you by surprise or anything.
Well, that's it for now. More to come soon!
Monday, December 20, 2010
One last question
Happy Monday everyone!
I hope you are all having a wonderful December, and Holiday season. I love this time of year so much. Sometimes it can end up being stressful if we spread ourselves too thin, and I'm trying to avoid that. I am going to answer one more question on querying (from my contest/post last Monday), and then I'm going to take a break for the rest of the Christmas/New Year holidays. I want to spend the next couple of weeks focusing on my family, and making this a really fun break for my son who is now out of school until January. I will miss you all, and may break down and pop in a few times. We'll see. ;)
So, here's Jennie Bailey's question:
How do you whittle your book down to one small paragraph without leaving anything important out? Do you give away your ending? Or keep it secret?
Often the best way to do this is to write your query BEFORE you write your book. If you try to write it then, the idea is still at its core elements (usually), and you won't have all the details that come later confusing and befuddling you. You'll end up revising it, I can almost guarantee it, but you'll have a great start. If you've already written your book, the best thing to do is to focus on only one character--your main character, none of the supporting cast should appear unless absolutely necessary. Then decide what is his/her main conflict--aka, what is your hook? That is what your write your query on, and that's IT. You don't reveal the ending in a query, that is for a synopsis. Your query should really be no longer than two paragraphs for the book and one paragraph for your bio (if you have one). The query isn't intended to show all your complex plotting, and twists and turns, etc. Go find some of your favorite books, and read the jacket copy. Notice how different they are, and try and figure out which ones grab your attention the most. Or, you could go to the bookstore and try this. Find a bunch of different books you haven't read yet and try reading their jacket copy. Which ones grab your attention the most and make you want to buy it? What is the difference? That's basically what you're trying to accomplish. A short, concise, intriguing two paragraph letter that will grab an agent's attention. Also, the query should show the M.C.'s voice, so sometimes it works to write it in first person when you're drafting it, then switch it to third when you revise it.
I hope that helps! I could keep going and going, but I better get going on entertaining my kids! (Who are currently being entertained by the Disney Channel while I write this.) I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I will "see you" in 2011!
I hope you are all having a wonderful December, and Holiday season. I love this time of year so much. Sometimes it can end up being stressful if we spread ourselves too thin, and I'm trying to avoid that. I am going to answer one more question on querying (from my contest/post last Monday), and then I'm going to take a break for the rest of the Christmas/New Year holidays. I want to spend the next couple of weeks focusing on my family, and making this a really fun break for my son who is now out of school until January. I will miss you all, and may break down and pop in a few times. We'll see. ;)
So, here's Jennie Bailey's question:
How do you whittle your book down to one small paragraph without leaving anything important out? Do you give away your ending? Or keep it secret?
Often the best way to do this is to write your query BEFORE you write your book. If you try to write it then, the idea is still at its core elements (usually), and you won't have all the details that come later confusing and befuddling you. You'll end up revising it, I can almost guarantee it, but you'll have a great start. If you've already written your book, the best thing to do is to focus on only one character--your main character, none of the supporting cast should appear unless absolutely necessary. Then decide what is his/her main conflict--aka, what is your hook? That is what your write your query on, and that's IT. You don't reveal the ending in a query, that is for a synopsis. Your query should really be no longer than two paragraphs for the book and one paragraph for your bio (if you have one). The query isn't intended to show all your complex plotting, and twists and turns, etc. Go find some of your favorite books, and read the jacket copy. Notice how different they are, and try and figure out which ones grab your attention the most. Or, you could go to the bookstore and try this. Find a bunch of different books you haven't read yet and try reading their jacket copy. Which ones grab your attention the most and make you want to buy it? What is the difference? That's basically what you're trying to accomplish. A short, concise, intriguing two paragraph letter that will grab an agent's attention. Also, the query should show the M.C.'s voice, so sometimes it works to write it in first person when you're drafting it, then switch it to third when you revise it.
I hope that helps! I could keep going and going, but I better get going on entertaining my kids! (Who are currently being entertained by the Disney Channel while I write this.) I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I will "see you" in 2011!
Friday, December 17, 2010
And the Winners are...
Drumroll please...
The random number generator has spoken and the TWO winners who will get their queries critiqued are:
PENSEES!
and
DANYELLE!
Woohoo!! *tosses confetti* Congratulations to you both. Please email me your queries at sarablarson21 (at) gmail (dot) com and I will get that done for you.
You guys had some really great questions, so I will be taking a few at a time in the next couple of posts to answer them. Thanks again for entering everyone!
D.L. Hammons asked: Here's my question. How much do you go into possible revisions the agent my want before signing on the dotted line? What if they don't want to go into detail? I hope I'm reading this question right, but it sounds like you're asking how much should you do for an agent if they want revisions before signing you, right? Since I'm not sure, I will try to answer it both ways. First, if an agent asks for a revision before signing you (which I had happen and did--even though it didn't work out, my manuscript was much stronger for it), I think 9.7/10 times you do it. That is a huge opportunity, and at the very least you can try what they suggest and see what you think. They know what they're doing, and often end up being right when they ask for changes. Not 100% of the time, but close. ;) If you are on a phone call with an offering agent, and they won't go into detail about what revisions they want (which I doubt would happen, but it's possible!), I'd ask them detailed questions to try and get an answer. I wouldn't want to sign with an agent who isn't up front about their feelings and thoughts on my book. If they are vague in answering, saying something like "We can discuss that more later," I would respond with, "Can you give me some specific examples now of what you want changed?" I doubt any agent would dodge the question again.
Pensees asked: Should you mention that you sent a query a year (or more ago) when re-querying after making substantial edits? Or just forget about ever querying that project to that agent again? Hmm, this is tricky ground for sure. Technically, you aren't supposed to requery the same project again to the same agent. If you have a new project, I'd go with that and keep the other project for after you sign with an agent. However, I have had people tell me different answers to this. I'm pretty sure I remember some authors admitting to changing the titles and requerying projects on their blogs. If the project is substantially changed (including the title), and the agent gave you a form rejection I've had a few people say that is probably okay to requery, and not worry about mentioning the past. However, if the agent had requested a partial or full that is another story. Again, if you have a different project ready to query, go with the new project. It's probably better anyway, honestly. That's just how it goes, we tend to get better with practice. However, if the revised mss is your only shot, you could try querying those agents again and let them know you had the opportunity to have "so and so" (hopefully someone reputable in the industry) give you feedback and you did a complete revision or rewrite based on their critique and wonder if the agent would be interested in seeing your revised manuscript. (And of course you would do that in a way that is eloquent and not a run-on sentence.) The worst that can happen is they say no or don't respond. Just be very careful and wise in making a decision like that. Research the agent, see what other people's experiences have been. I know it's been done on occassion, and even more rarely has been successful, but yeah, not very often.
Wow, I'm really nervous to answer some of these questions! I hope this is helpful, but I would definitely recommend researching these things out for yourself, too. Don't take my opinions as the end all--I have a lot of experience with querying, but yours will be different and unique. Ultimately, you need to research the agents you are querying in multiple ways--on their agency blogs/websites, on forums like AbsoluteWrite, etc. and find out what their personal likes/dislikes and policies. Good luck and more to come next week!
The random number generator has spoken and the TWO winners who will get their queries critiqued are:
PENSEES!
and
DANYELLE!
Woohoo!! *tosses confetti* Congratulations to you both. Please email me your queries at sarablarson21 (at) gmail (dot) com and I will get that done for you.
You guys had some really great questions, so I will be taking a few at a time in the next couple of posts to answer them. Thanks again for entering everyone!
D.L. Hammons asked: Here's my question. How much do you go into possible revisions the agent my want before signing on the dotted line? What if they don't want to go into detail? I hope I'm reading this question right, but it sounds like you're asking how much should you do for an agent if they want revisions before signing you, right? Since I'm not sure, I will try to answer it both ways. First, if an agent asks for a revision before signing you (which I had happen and did--even though it didn't work out, my manuscript was much stronger for it), I think 9.7/10 times you do it. That is a huge opportunity, and at the very least you can try what they suggest and see what you think. They know what they're doing, and often end up being right when they ask for changes. Not 100% of the time, but close. ;) If you are on a phone call with an offering agent, and they won't go into detail about what revisions they want (which I doubt would happen, but it's possible!), I'd ask them detailed questions to try and get an answer. I wouldn't want to sign with an agent who isn't up front about their feelings and thoughts on my book. If they are vague in answering, saying something like "We can discuss that more later," I would respond with, "Can you give me some specific examples now of what you want changed?" I doubt any agent would dodge the question again.
Pensees asked: Should you mention that you sent a query a year (or more ago) when re-querying after making substantial edits? Or just forget about ever querying that project to that agent again? Hmm, this is tricky ground for sure. Technically, you aren't supposed to requery the same project again to the same agent. If you have a new project, I'd go with that and keep the other project for after you sign with an agent. However, I have had people tell me different answers to this. I'm pretty sure I remember some authors admitting to changing the titles and requerying projects on their blogs. If the project is substantially changed (including the title), and the agent gave you a form rejection I've had a few people say that is probably okay to requery, and not worry about mentioning the past. However, if the agent had requested a partial or full that is another story. Again, if you have a different project ready to query, go with the new project. It's probably better anyway, honestly. That's just how it goes, we tend to get better with practice. However, if the revised mss is your only shot, you could try querying those agents again and let them know you had the opportunity to have "so and so" (hopefully someone reputable in the industry) give you feedback and you did a complete revision or rewrite based on their critique and wonder if the agent would be interested in seeing your revised manuscript. (And of course you would do that in a way that is eloquent and not a run-on sentence.) The worst that can happen is they say no or don't respond. Just be very careful and wise in making a decision like that. Research the agent, see what other people's experiences have been. I know it's been done on occassion, and even more rarely has been successful, but yeah, not very often.
Wow, I'm really nervous to answer some of these questions! I hope this is helpful, but I would definitely recommend researching these things out for yourself, too. Don't take my opinions as the end all--I have a lot of experience with querying, but yours will be different and unique. Ultimately, you need to research the agents you are querying in multiple ways--on their agency blogs/websites, on forums like AbsoluteWrite, etc. and find out what their personal likes/dislikes and policies. Good luck and more to come next week!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Thinking postive for 2011
So, all you out there in the query trenches (or hoping to enter them soon), let's step back from all the fears and worries that accompany hitting send on those emails (or putting the stamp on the letters). Let's assume that 2011 is going to be YOUR year! The year you get an agent! The year all your dreams come true! How many more exclamation points can I use?!
Ahem. Anyway, so yes, let's think positive, shall we? Good. Now, what do you do when that call comes--the one where an agent tells you why they love your book enough to offer to represent you? Do you immediately scream, "Yes! Yes! Please, please send me the contract right now, I will Fed-Ex it back to you tonight!!" (See, don't ever doubt my ability to throw in more exclamation points.) By the way, the answer is NO. Big N. O. As tempting as it is to just accept the first offer you get, you need to take some time and truly make sure this agent is a good fit for you. You should have some questions prepared to ask them, and you should be prepared to give the other agents who are considering your partials or fulls a week to see if they also want to offer or not. To many of you this will be familiar territory, but to some, you might be hyperventilating right now, thinking I've lost it.
I promise I haven't. So this week, I'm going to do two posts relating to this subject: one on Wednesday about what to look for in a prospective agent, and on Friday I am going to be announcing the winners to my contest and answering some of your questions. Wait--"what contest?" you might be asking. This one:
As my Christmas present to you, I am going to offer to critique two follower's query letters. Because let's face it, you're not going to get to that agent call, if your query doesn't generate some requests, right? I'm not claiming to be an expert, but after a couple of years in those trenches I got pretty good at queries. I'm making it really easy to enter this time. Just comment on this post with one question you'd like me to answer about queries or picking an agent or something else about the query process, and you are entered! The random number generator will pick two lucky (well, hopefully my critique will be good enough to make you think you're lucky) winners to email me their queries on Friday morning. You have until Thursday night at 10:00 pm MST to enter. I know it's not as cool as a gift card, or a Kindle or something, but hopefully it will be helpful.
Happy Monday and good luck!
Ahem. Anyway, so yes, let's think positive, shall we? Good. Now, what do you do when that call comes--the one where an agent tells you why they love your book enough to offer to represent you? Do you immediately scream, "Yes! Yes! Please, please send me the contract right now, I will Fed-Ex it back to you tonight!!" (See, don't ever doubt my ability to throw in more exclamation points.) By the way, the answer is NO. Big N. O. As tempting as it is to just accept the first offer you get, you need to take some time and truly make sure this agent is a good fit for you. You should have some questions prepared to ask them, and you should be prepared to give the other agents who are considering your partials or fulls a week to see if they also want to offer or not. To many of you this will be familiar territory, but to some, you might be hyperventilating right now, thinking I've lost it.
I promise I haven't. So this week, I'm going to do two posts relating to this subject: one on Wednesday about what to look for in a prospective agent, and on Friday I am going to be announcing the winners to my contest and answering some of your questions. Wait--"what contest?" you might be asking. This one:
As my Christmas present to you, I am going to offer to critique two follower's query letters. Because let's face it, you're not going to get to that agent call, if your query doesn't generate some requests, right? I'm not claiming to be an expert, but after a couple of years in those trenches I got pretty good at queries. I'm making it really easy to enter this time. Just comment on this post with one question you'd like me to answer about queries or picking an agent or something else about the query process, and you are entered! The random number generator will pick two lucky (well, hopefully my critique will be good enough to make you think you're lucky) winners to email me their queries on Friday morning. You have until Thursday night at 10:00 pm MST to enter. I know it's not as cool as a gift card, or a Kindle or something, but hopefully it will be helpful.
Happy Monday and good luck!
Monday, August 23, 2010
And the winner is...
First, I have to say how interesting it was to do the contest the way I did. I used four different readers to judge and rate the pitches, and then combined the scores to decide an overall winner. I found it fascinating to see how differently each judge rated the various entries. However, only one person could win, and the one that got the highest overall score when combining all four judges scores was:
JAMIE!! Here's his pitch: Waking up in a coffin hungry for blood is only the beginning for sixteen-year-old Everly Blue. Things are about to get a lot worse.
So, obviously vampires are far from "over" - at least, according to my four readers! (Who varied in age by almost thirty years by the way.) Jamie please email me your query at sarablarson21 (at) gmail (dot) com and I will get working on your critique. Congratulations!
What did I learn from this? That different readers have different tastes, opinions, and reactions to the exact same pitch (or query, or book, or anything!) and that you need to write what you love, do it well, and find the person who loves it as well. Because someone will.
Coming up on Wednesday is my recap of the awesome Writing for Charity evening extravaganza I went to over the weekend, which included Shannon Hale (who is pregnant with twins, in case you didn't know, and on bedrest) nearly getting dumped off the stage (from her wheelchair) by James Dashner, Brandon Mull joining with his old comedy troupe to do some skits that included enacting a Jack and Jill death scene in Edgar Allan Poe style, and even more. You don't want to miss it. Until then, Happy Monday!
JAMIE!! Here's his pitch: Waking up in a coffin hungry for blood is only the beginning for sixteen-year-old Everly Blue. Things are about to get a lot worse.
So, obviously vampires are far from "over" - at least, according to my four readers! (Who varied in age by almost thirty years by the way.) Jamie please email me your query at sarablarson21 (at) gmail (dot) com and I will get working on your critique. Congratulations!
What did I learn from this? That different readers have different tastes, opinions, and reactions to the exact same pitch (or query, or book, or anything!) and that you need to write what you love, do it well, and find the person who loves it as well. Because someone will.
Coming up on Wednesday is my recap of the awesome Writing for Charity evening extravaganza I went to over the weekend, which included Shannon Hale (who is pregnant with twins, in case you didn't know, and on bedrest) nearly getting dumped off the stage (from her wheelchair) by James Dashner, Brandon Mull joining with his old comedy troupe to do some skits that included enacting a Jack and Jill death scene in Edgar Allan Poe style, and even more. You don't want to miss it. Until then, Happy Monday!
Friday, August 20, 2010
QUERY CONTEST - ENDS TODAY!!
Happy Friday everyone! This is just your quick reminder that the query contest closes today at 12:00 MST - (2:00 pm EST, 11:00 AM PST). If you want a chance to win a query critique, click here and give me your best twitter pitch!
So, I'm curious... what book (or books) is/are coming out in 2010 that you are just dying to own? I can think of quite a few that I can't wait to have on my book shelf. Or, more realistically, in the huge pile next to my bed. I loved PARANORMALCY and can't wait to buy it (August 31st!). Kiersten's book is a wonderfully fresh, funny, romantic and unique take on the YA paranormal genre. I highly recommend it. And of course, MOCKINGJAY. Oh boy, I can't wait to see how this trilogy is going to end. Happy? Sad? Peeta? Gale? (Come on, go for Peeta! ahem...) Or maybe she'll kill them all. (Yikes, I hope not.)
There are so many amazing books coming out, but since those are both being released in August, they're on my mind right now.
Further on in the year is NIGHTSHADE (also loved it! I'm totally team Ren though. Not sure that's what she intended...), and one of my personal favorites MATCHED (duh, if you've been reading this blog long enough, you know how much I love Ally's book--all of her books really, but this one in particular). I know these are technically next year, but I also can't wait for DARKEST MERCY (the final Wicked Lovely book), and THE IRON QUEEN. CRESCENDO and FIRELIGHT and ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS and... Okay, I better stop. This list could go on and on and on.
So tell me, what books are you just dying to get your hands on?
Happy weekend everyone, and best of luck to all of the query contest entrants! I'm glad I'm not judging it, you guys have some great pitches.
So, I'm curious... what book (or books) is/are coming out in 2010 that you are just dying to own? I can think of quite a few that I can't wait to have on my book shelf. Or, more realistically, in the huge pile next to my bed. I loved PARANORMALCY and can't wait to buy it (August 31st!). Kiersten's book is a wonderfully fresh, funny, romantic and unique take on the YA paranormal genre. I highly recommend it. And of course, MOCKINGJAY. Oh boy, I can't wait to see how this trilogy is going to end. Happy? Sad? Peeta? Gale? (Come on, go for Peeta! ahem...) Or maybe she'll kill them all. (Yikes, I hope not.)
There are so many amazing books coming out, but since those are both being released in August, they're on my mind right now.
Further on in the year is NIGHTSHADE (also loved it! I'm totally team Ren though. Not sure that's what she intended...), and one of my personal favorites MATCHED (duh, if you've been reading this blog long enough, you know how much I love Ally's book--all of her books really, but this one in particular). I know these are technically next year, but I also can't wait for DARKEST MERCY (the final Wicked Lovely book), and THE IRON QUEEN. CRESCENDO and FIRELIGHT and ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS and... Okay, I better stop. This list could go on and on and on.
So tell me, what books are you just dying to get your hands on?
Happy weekend everyone, and best of luck to all of the query contest entrants! I'm glad I'm not judging it, you guys have some great pitches.
Friday, August 13, 2010
My Path to Getting an Agent Pt. 6
Okay, let's see if I can do this!
During the month of November and December, I get quite a few requests for fulls and partials of IMPACT. (Both were in the double digits) I am feeling very hopeful this time, but am nervous to get my hopes up after so many rejections in the past. Ultimately, I get rejected by ALL of them. The majority of the responses were so full of praise, that again they read like acceptance emails, until you got to the part where that word "enough" showed up again. Didn't love it enough. Didn't feel passionate enough. At this point I really, REALLY hate the word enough. I'm considering never using it out loud or in a book again. Ever. Okay, just kidding, but you get my point.
So, what do I do? I write another book. I loved the idea I'd used for my "adult book," but didn't want to try adult fiction again, so I thought about how I could turn it into something YA. At first it was going to be more of a quiet, emotionally driven book. But then this whole other side to the plot begins to build, characters and histories and future events begin crowding into my mind and I think it sounds like a lot more fun to write. Hence, SIGHT UNSEEN is born. I write it in about 3 weeks or so (it was over Christmas break, so I had a lot of writing time), and then spend about a month revising and polishing it. I start querying it in mid--late February.
I get a lot of interest again, with many requests for fulls and partials. When, suddenly, out of the blue, I get an email from an agent about IMPACT. She'd just read my query that I sent a few months ago and wondered if it was still available to read? If so, she'd like to read the full. I am totally surprised, but think, "sure, why not? I'll send it to her," and figure I'll get the rejection sometime in the next month or two. Then I didn't think too much about it again, as I am concentrating on SIGHT UNSEEN at this point.
Imagine my surprise when I get an email just two weeks later, telling me she'd read the whole thing over the weekend and wanted to set up a time later that week to talk on the phone. I seriously just sit there staring at my email (I checked it on my iTouch) trying to figure out if this was real. Instead of screaming or crying or anything like I thought I would do, after all the years of heartache and faith and hard work and dedication, I just feel... almost numb with shock. An agent had read the whole book and wanted to talk to me. On the phone. My next thought is, "I should call Trav and tell him that I think an agent might be offering to represent me." It is so surreal. Once I tell him, and he starts whooping and yelling, I finally snap out of my shock and start jumping up and down and freaking out. Then I have to wait for four days to talk to her. I begin to doubt myself, and wonder, "What if she just wants to tell me why she isn't offering? Or wants to revise it first before she offers?"
By the morning of the call, I am so nervous, I am sick to my stomach as I sit on my bed, holding the phone, a pen and a notebook on my lap (with a printed paper of the questions I wanted to ask next to me). Thank heavens she is so incredibly nice, and asks me really lovely questions like, "Have you lived in Utah your whole life?" and "Do you work or just stay home with your kids?" I know the answers to these questions pretty well, so I don't mess up. Phwew!! (Seriously, it made a big difference, and helped put me at ease before we started talking about my book.) Then, when she does start talking about my book, it is AMAZING. Her exuberance, her passion for my writing and my story, she actually GETS IT! We end up talking for almost an hour. When she asks if I have any other books I am working on, and I tell her how many I have finished, she is actually thrilled.
I can't accept her offer on the spot, because I have so many fulls out still. I immediately write the other agents, letting them know I've received an offer, and get quite a few emails back very quickly, telling me they will hurry and read SIGHT UNSEEN and let me know if they'd also like to offer. This sounds like a dream situation, but honestly, it is a very stressful week. Finally, the next Friday, I ultimately decide that Hannah's passion and love for my books, my writing, and her hopes to help me build a career, make her the right fit for me. I accept Hannah's offer, and two and a half years after I started querying, I finally, FINALLY have an agent. (And an awesome one at that!)
So that is my story! Wow, huh?
Now, on to the fun stuff! Your reward for continuing to read (and hopefully gleaning some sort of hope or wisdom from my long, arduous path to getting an agent) is that I am going to do a contest. But not just any contest...
What do you need to be as shiny and polished as possible to get your foot in the door on your path to getting an agent? Yep, you got it. A QUERY. So here's my contest: All you have to do is leave a comment with your "twitter pitch" (aka 140 characters or less); basically a one or two line pitch of your book. Then, I will take all of the pitches and have a panel of readers vote on which ones they like the best. The pitch with the highest number of votes will win a query critique from yours truly.
Sound good? I hope so! Thanks for reading and let the pitching begin!
(This contest is open until Friday, August 20 at 12:00 P.M. MST. Judging will occur over the weekend, and the winner will be announced on Monday, August 23!)
During the month of November and December, I get quite a few requests for fulls and partials of IMPACT. (Both were in the double digits) I am feeling very hopeful this time, but am nervous to get my hopes up after so many rejections in the past. Ultimately, I get rejected by ALL of them. The majority of the responses were so full of praise, that again they read like acceptance emails, until you got to the part where that word "enough" showed up again. Didn't love it enough. Didn't feel passionate enough. At this point I really, REALLY hate the word enough. I'm considering never using it out loud or in a book again. Ever. Okay, just kidding, but you get my point.
So, what do I do? I write another book. I loved the idea I'd used for my "adult book," but didn't want to try adult fiction again, so I thought about how I could turn it into something YA. At first it was going to be more of a quiet, emotionally driven book. But then this whole other side to the plot begins to build, characters and histories and future events begin crowding into my mind and I think it sounds like a lot more fun to write. Hence, SIGHT UNSEEN is born. I write it in about 3 weeks or so (it was over Christmas break, so I had a lot of writing time), and then spend about a month revising and polishing it. I start querying it in mid--late February.
I get a lot of interest again, with many requests for fulls and partials. When, suddenly, out of the blue, I get an email from an agent about IMPACT. She'd just read my query that I sent a few months ago and wondered if it was still available to read? If so, she'd like to read the full. I am totally surprised, but think, "sure, why not? I'll send it to her," and figure I'll get the rejection sometime in the next month or two. Then I didn't think too much about it again, as I am concentrating on SIGHT UNSEEN at this point.
Imagine my surprise when I get an email just two weeks later, telling me she'd read the whole thing over the weekend and wanted to set up a time later that week to talk on the phone. I seriously just sit there staring at my email (I checked it on my iTouch) trying to figure out if this was real. Instead of screaming or crying or anything like I thought I would do, after all the years of heartache and faith and hard work and dedication, I just feel... almost numb with shock. An agent had read the whole book and wanted to talk to me. On the phone. My next thought is, "I should call Trav and tell him that I think an agent might be offering to represent me." It is so surreal. Once I tell him, and he starts whooping and yelling, I finally snap out of my shock and start jumping up and down and freaking out. Then I have to wait for four days to talk to her. I begin to doubt myself, and wonder, "What if she just wants to tell me why she isn't offering? Or wants to revise it first before she offers?"
By the morning of the call, I am so nervous, I am sick to my stomach as I sit on my bed, holding the phone, a pen and a notebook on my lap (with a printed paper of the questions I wanted to ask next to me). Thank heavens she is so incredibly nice, and asks me really lovely questions like, "Have you lived in Utah your whole life?" and "Do you work or just stay home with your kids?" I know the answers to these questions pretty well, so I don't mess up. Phwew!! (Seriously, it made a big difference, and helped put me at ease before we started talking about my book.) Then, when she does start talking about my book, it is AMAZING. Her exuberance, her passion for my writing and my story, she actually GETS IT! We end up talking for almost an hour. When she asks if I have any other books I am working on, and I tell her how many I have finished, she is actually thrilled.
I can't accept her offer on the spot, because I have so many fulls out still. I immediately write the other agents, letting them know I've received an offer, and get quite a few emails back very quickly, telling me they will hurry and read SIGHT UNSEEN and let me know if they'd also like to offer. This sounds like a dream situation, but honestly, it is a very stressful week. Finally, the next Friday, I ultimately decide that Hannah's passion and love for my books, my writing, and her hopes to help me build a career, make her the right fit for me. I accept Hannah's offer, and two and a half years after I started querying, I finally, FINALLY have an agent. (And an awesome one at that!)
So that is my story! Wow, huh?
Now, on to the fun stuff! Your reward for continuing to read (and hopefully gleaning some sort of hope or wisdom from my long, arduous path to getting an agent) is that I am going to do a contest. But not just any contest...
What do you need to be as shiny and polished as possible to get your foot in the door on your path to getting an agent? Yep, you got it. A QUERY. So here's my contest: All you have to do is leave a comment with your "twitter pitch" (aka 140 characters or less); basically a one or two line pitch of your book. Then, I will take all of the pitches and have a panel of readers vote on which ones they like the best. The pitch with the highest number of votes will win a query critique from yours truly.
Sound good? I hope so! Thanks for reading and let the pitching begin!
(This contest is open until Friday, August 20 at 12:00 P.M. MST. Judging will occur over the weekend, and the winner will be announced on Monday, August 23!)
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
My Path to Getting an Agent Pt. 2
I just had a brilliant thought that I unfortunately didn't come up with on Monday when I posted Pt. 1... I should have asked you what YOU thought would happen next in the comments! That would have been fun. Oh well.
So, wanna know what happens next? For those of you who excel at math, you have probably figured out that I did not become the next Stephenie Meyer who got an agent on the first round of queries. (You would have figured that out by realizing I signed with my agent in March of this year 2010 - and Pt. 1 happened in Summer-Fall of 2007. Yikes.)
Here's what happened next: I waited. And waited. And waited. And started getting a few form rejections in the mail. A few more. Some more waiting. And then....! An email from someone I don't know! Celebrations! Oh, wait. Who is this person?
I queried an agent, and got an email back from a person (who's name doesn't show up on the agency website or the Writer's Market listing - which was the only source I was using at the time) asking for a partial. I figure out what agency she's from by the name of it in her email address. Okay, great, now I sort of know who she is. Maybe an assistant or something? I'm so excited! I got a partial request! I write her back to ask if she'd like it emailed as an attachment or sent in the mail (since she didn't say, it was really a very short email). And nothing. No response. Nada. Ever. Again. That was weird.
Also, no response from Jodi. But that could be a good thing, right? It's not a no... yet. After 8 weeks, I begin to lose hope and figure I'd better get ready for my next round of queries. But, wait! Another email comes, from someone I don't know again. Except this time, she says she's Jodi Reamer's assistant, that Jodi liked my sample pages and wants a 100 PAGE PARTIAL!! Celebrating and screaming and squealing ensues. This. Is. It!! I am so landing my number #1 agent baby!
I send her the partial and eagerly wait for a response in the next week or so. Because that's how fast she will respond when an agent is interested, right? Especially when they request it right around the Holidays so they have lots of free time to read it! (Hopefully you are laughing out loud right now at my naiveté. If not, you have much learning to do young padawan.) The other thing about this partial, is that she asked for it to be exclusive. Which I immediately granted. So I wait, and wait, without sending any other queries out. December passes silently. Christmas comes and goes. New Year's. Valentine's Day.
Then... I get it. The long awaited email from her assistant. I open it with baited breath. I read an opening line thanking me for letting them have the chance to read the partial, and telling me how much they enjoyed it, and praising my writing and my characters and etc. Until suddenly they're telling me that unfortunately Jodi doesn't want to offer representation because she felt like there wasn't enough of a reason for Gareth and Ava to be falling in love - that she needs more than a vague sense of destiny. I'm stunned. What in the world just happened? She rejected me? All my dreams come shattering down around me. No one is going to think that Erin's younger daughter is named Ava because of my book after all. I'm not the next Stephenie Meyer. Jodi doesn't like it. I'm broken.
This lasts for a short period of time. Then I decide there has to be at least a few other agents out there, and I'd better start doing some more research. I (with the help of two friends) start researching this industry some more, and find websites like agentquery.com (holy crap! There's, like, a ton of agents out there!), and agent blogs and websites and all sorts of information. (I know, I'm lame that it took me almost 3/4 of a year into this journey to figure that all out.)
I dust myself off, wipe my eyes, swallow hard past that lump in my throat, and decide I'd better keep moving forward. I believe in HIDDEN, my friends/family/readers do (they claim they like it better than Twilight and swear they aren't just saying that. But they are my friends, so I'm not really sure I can trust 'em. However, it does give me the boost of confidence needed to make me want to find the person who WILL believe in Ava and Gareth as much as I do.) I also find out that a woman in my neighborhood (ironically named Stephanni Myers) used to be an acquisitions editor and is a published author. She graciously takes the time to help me take the feedback I got from Jodi, reads my whole manuscript and then tears it apart. In a good, GOOD way. It doesn't feel good at first - in fact, when I see all those red marks completely obliterating the page, I think "why did she even read this if she hated it so much?" She didn't hate it though, quite the opposite actually. Stephanni taught me a major lesson that is vitally important at any stage in this business and I am eternally indebted to her, not only for that but for all of her help and support along the way. What was that lesson? Stay tuned to find out! Or maybe let's play that game I thought up: what do you think the lesson was that I learned? Or can you make a guess at what happens next?
Until next time!
(P.S. if there are tense problems or rambling issues in this post, I am not held responsible. I am somewhat distracted by some health issues Son B is having and a test we have to go to today. Wish us luck or pray for us, whichever you feel comfortable doing.)
So, wanna know what happens next? For those of you who excel at math, you have probably figured out that I did not become the next Stephenie Meyer who got an agent on the first round of queries. (You would have figured that out by realizing I signed with my agent in March of this year 2010 - and Pt. 1 happened in Summer-Fall of 2007. Yikes.)
Here's what happened next: I waited. And waited. And waited. And started getting a few form rejections in the mail. A few more. Some more waiting. And then....! An email from someone I don't know! Celebrations! Oh, wait. Who is this person?
I queried an agent, and got an email back from a person (who's name doesn't show up on the agency website or the Writer's Market listing - which was the only source I was using at the time) asking for a partial. I figure out what agency she's from by the name of it in her email address. Okay, great, now I sort of know who she is. Maybe an assistant or something? I'm so excited! I got a partial request! I write her back to ask if she'd like it emailed as an attachment or sent in the mail (since she didn't say, it was really a very short email). And nothing. No response. Nada. Ever. Again. That was weird.
Also, no response from Jodi. But that could be a good thing, right? It's not a no... yet. After 8 weeks, I begin to lose hope and figure I'd better get ready for my next round of queries. But, wait! Another email comes, from someone I don't know again. Except this time, she says she's Jodi Reamer's assistant, that Jodi liked my sample pages and wants a 100 PAGE PARTIAL!! Celebrating and screaming and squealing ensues. This. Is. It!! I am so landing my number #1 agent baby!
I send her the partial and eagerly wait for a response in the next week or so. Because that's how fast she will respond when an agent is interested, right? Especially when they request it right around the Holidays so they have lots of free time to read it! (Hopefully you are laughing out loud right now at my naiveté. If not, you have much learning to do young padawan.) The other thing about this partial, is that she asked for it to be exclusive. Which I immediately granted. So I wait, and wait, without sending any other queries out. December passes silently. Christmas comes and goes. New Year's. Valentine's Day.
Then... I get it. The long awaited email from her assistant. I open it with baited breath. I read an opening line thanking me for letting them have the chance to read the partial, and telling me how much they enjoyed it, and praising my writing and my characters and etc. Until suddenly they're telling me that unfortunately Jodi doesn't want to offer representation because she felt like there wasn't enough of a reason for Gareth and Ava to be falling in love - that she needs more than a vague sense of destiny. I'm stunned. What in the world just happened? She rejected me? All my dreams come shattering down around me. No one is going to think that Erin's younger daughter is named Ava because of my book after all. I'm not the next Stephenie Meyer. Jodi doesn't like it. I'm broken.
This lasts for a short period of time. Then I decide there has to be at least a few other agents out there, and I'd better start doing some more research. I (with the help of two friends) start researching this industry some more, and find websites like agentquery.com (holy crap! There's, like, a ton of agents out there!), and agent blogs and websites and all sorts of information. (I know, I'm lame that it took me almost 3/4 of a year into this journey to figure that all out.)
I dust myself off, wipe my eyes, swallow hard past that lump in my throat, and decide I'd better keep moving forward. I believe in HIDDEN, my friends/family/readers do (they claim they like it better than Twilight and swear they aren't just saying that. But they are my friends, so I'm not really sure I can trust 'em. However, it does give me the boost of confidence needed to make me want to find the person who WILL believe in Ava and Gareth as much as I do.) I also find out that a woman in my neighborhood (ironically named Stephanni Myers) used to be an acquisitions editor and is a published author. She graciously takes the time to help me take the feedback I got from Jodi, reads my whole manuscript and then tears it apart. In a good, GOOD way. It doesn't feel good at first - in fact, when I see all those red marks completely obliterating the page, I think "why did she even read this if she hated it so much?" She didn't hate it though, quite the opposite actually. Stephanni taught me a major lesson that is vitally important at any stage in this business and I am eternally indebted to her, not only for that but for all of her help and support along the way. What was that lesson? Stay tuned to find out! Or maybe let's play that game I thought up: what do you think the lesson was that I learned? Or can you make a guess at what happens next?
Until next time!
(P.S. if there are tense problems or rambling issues in this post, I am not held responsible. I am somewhat distracted by some health issues Son B is having and a test we have to go to today. Wish us luck or pray for us, whichever you feel comfortable doing.)
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Query Hint #3
Ready for another one?
Query Hint #3: Write the first draft of your query before you write your book. Or, if you're already half-way through, write it NOW. Don't wait.
Why would I give you this advice? Because the further you get into your story, the more details there will be in your head, and the harder it's going to be to whittle all those subplots and character arcs and everything else into two paragraphs. When you first think of the idea for your book, trying writing it out as a query. This will not only help you decide what your hook is, what the voice is, what the conflict is, and how to summarize it quickly; it will make your job ten times easier when you come back to the query when you're done and ready to start sending it out. So write it out, and then set it aside.
If you're already writing your book, take an hour or two and write out the query now.
Then, once you are done with your book, go back to that query. You will definitely find yourself revising it. Especially if you ended up having your plot go a different direction than you thought, or if your MC's voice didn't come out quite how you expected. If you already have that early version of your query done though, you will have a great way to gage if you accomplished what you set out to do, and will have less work to do trying to squash your 70,000+ word mss into two paragraphs.
This will also help you to be able to see if you accomplished both hints #1 and #2: does your query pitch what you're claiming to be pitching? and does it show your MCs voice? (And did your manuscript end up doing those same things?)
So, no matter what stage you're at in your manuscript, don't put it off any longer. Go write the query now. And if you have a new idea bouncing around your head, go see how a query pitch for it turns out on paper. Even if you completely change your query in the end, doing that in the beginning can really help you figure out what you hope to accomplish with the next manuscript you are going to write.
Query Hint #3: Write the first draft of your query before you write your book. Or, if you're already half-way through, write it NOW. Don't wait.
Why would I give you this advice? Because the further you get into your story, the more details there will be in your head, and the harder it's going to be to whittle all those subplots and character arcs and everything else into two paragraphs. When you first think of the idea for your book, trying writing it out as a query. This will not only help you decide what your hook is, what the voice is, what the conflict is, and how to summarize it quickly; it will make your job ten times easier when you come back to the query when you're done and ready to start sending it out. So write it out, and then set it aside.
If you're already writing your book, take an hour or two and write out the query now.
Then, once you are done with your book, go back to that query. You will definitely find yourself revising it. Especially if you ended up having your plot go a different direction than you thought, or if your MC's voice didn't come out quite how you expected. If you already have that early version of your query done though, you will have a great way to gage if you accomplished what you set out to do, and will have less work to do trying to squash your 70,000+ word mss into two paragraphs.
This will also help you to be able to see if you accomplished both hints #1 and #2: does your query pitch what you're claiming to be pitching? and does it show your MCs voice? (And did your manuscript end up doing those same things?)
So, no matter what stage you're at in your manuscript, don't put it off any longer. Go write the query now. And if you have a new idea bouncing around your head, go see how a query pitch for it turns out on paper. Even if you completely change your query in the end, doing that in the beginning can really help you figure out what you hope to accomplish with the next manuscript you are going to write.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Back to Query Hints (#2)
So, before I left for Florida, I gave you my first hint on successful queries.
Here's hint #2: make sure your query shows your MCs voice.
Queries are tricky little things, because you have to accomplish so much with so little. One of the most important things that you need to succeed at (and that will get your request rate to probably double), is to show the voice of your main character in the paragraph(s) that describe your book. A query with a great hook and no voice will probably still get some requests, but a query with a great hook and a fabulous show of voice will probably get at least twice as many requests to read more.
You might be thinking "that's great, but how do I show voice in a query?" (Especially if your mss is written in first person when the query has to be in third person?)
I heard a great little tidbit once that you might want to give a try. Write it in first person. Don't SEND it in first person, just write it that way until it shines. Most people find that it's easier to show voice in first person. Ask yourself how would Jane/John (or whatever your character's name is) explain their story? Is Jane snarky and outgoing or is Jane shy and reticent? Is John hilarious and quirky, or is he an angsty MC with an attitude? Every one of those options would tell their story differently, right?
Then, once you have a great paragraph or two, told in your character's voice, you go back through it and change the I's to she/he/the MC's name. You may have to tweak it a little bit once you change it to third person to make it read cleanly, but those changes shouldn't be too hard.
You might be surprised at how much voice that simple exercise will help give your query. Try it and let me know how it goes. Good luck to all of you out there in the query trenches!
Here's hint #2: make sure your query shows your MCs voice.
Queries are tricky little things, because you have to accomplish so much with so little. One of the most important things that you need to succeed at (and that will get your request rate to probably double), is to show the voice of your main character in the paragraph(s) that describe your book. A query with a great hook and no voice will probably still get some requests, but a query with a great hook and a fabulous show of voice will probably get at least twice as many requests to read more.
You might be thinking "that's great, but how do I show voice in a query?" (Especially if your mss is written in first person when the query has to be in third person?)
I heard a great little tidbit once that you might want to give a try. Write it in first person. Don't SEND it in first person, just write it that way until it shines. Most people find that it's easier to show voice in first person. Ask yourself how would Jane/John (or whatever your character's name is) explain their story? Is Jane snarky and outgoing or is Jane shy and reticent? Is John hilarious and quirky, or is he an angsty MC with an attitude? Every one of those options would tell their story differently, right?
Then, once you have a great paragraph or two, told in your character's voice, you go back through it and change the I's to she/he/the MC's name. You may have to tweak it a little bit once you change it to third person to make it read cleanly, but those changes shouldn't be too hard.
You might be surprised at how much voice that simple exercise will help give your query. Try it and let me know how it goes. Good luck to all of you out there in the query trenches!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
GUEST POST: NATALIE WHIPPLE "What I'd Wish I'd known While Querying"
I'm thrilled to have ninjarific Natalie Whipple on my blog today. Not only is she an awesome author repped by the illustrious Nathan Bransford, she's also a talented artist. She may or may not have a horrible fear of public speaking. I almost had to catch her at a writer's conference we were both speaking at. Luckily she didn't faint, so I didn't have to employ my own vast ninja skills to save her. Okay, I have no ninja skills. But I did go to nursing school so I was ready to do any first aid necessary. Anyway, I'm so glad to have her here today. If you aren't already a follower of her blog, you'd better get on the bandwagon pronto! (click here)
What I Wish I’d Known While Querying
Sara asked me to do a guest post on this topic while she was away. So hi there, Sara readers! I hope you’re all doing well. I’m not sure any of this will be helpful, but it has been interesting to look back and think about my time in the query trenches.
*two days later*
Wow, so I’ve been trying to come up with some kind of gem for you all, some tidbit of knowledge that would help you through querying. I gotta admit, I got nothing.
First I was gonna say something like “I wish I’d known I wasn’t ready to query.” But then I realized if I’d known that I never would have tried, and then I never would have learned all the things I did by querying.
I made a lot of silly mistakes, but I also grew as a writer, met my crit partners, and became part of the online writing community.
Those are all things I’d never take back, even if I still cringe when I realize my own agent probably has my very first, very horrible query.
Then I was gonna try “I wish I’d known how long it would take.” Well, read the above answer for that. It took me two years from my first query to land an agent. If I’d really known it would be that much waiting…yeah, I’d have taken up crocheting ninjas instead of writing about them.
Same with “I wish I’d known how hard it would be emotionally,” “I wish I’d known the journey didn’t end at The Call,” “I wish I’d known rejection truly isn’t personal, and that they mean it when they say this business is subjective.”
I guess I’m saying, in a round about way, that ignorance is bliss. It’s okay that you don’t know everything yet, and I guess I don’t regret going into this business green as grass. I mean, you gotta start somewhere, right? As long as you’re willing to learn, things will eventually work out, no matter how much you know when you send off that first horrible query letter.
If I’d really known how it was, I probably would have saved myself the trouble. Or at least sometimes I think that. Sometimes I miss the naive dreamy days, when hope abounded and reality was for other people. I don’t think I want to take that away from anyone by telling them my regrets. Because if I’m being honest, my wish-I’d-knowns pale in comparison to everything I’ve received through honest effort, persistence, and a lot of starry-eyed hope.
Isn't she awesome? Her honesty, humor, and wisdom are only some of the reasons I love Natalie and her blog. Thank you again!!
What I Wish I’d Known While Querying
Sara asked me to do a guest post on this topic while she was away. So hi there, Sara readers! I hope you’re all doing well. I’m not sure any of this will be helpful, but it has been interesting to look back and think about my time in the query trenches.
*two days later*
Wow, so I’ve been trying to come up with some kind of gem for you all, some tidbit of knowledge that would help you through querying. I gotta admit, I got nothing.
First I was gonna say something like “I wish I’d known I wasn’t ready to query.” But then I realized if I’d known that I never would have tried, and then I never would have learned all the things I did by querying.
I made a lot of silly mistakes, but I also grew as a writer, met my crit partners, and became part of the online writing community.
Those are all things I’d never take back, even if I still cringe when I realize my own agent probably has my very first, very horrible query.
Then I was gonna try “I wish I’d known how long it would take.” Well, read the above answer for that. It took me two years from my first query to land an agent. If I’d really known it would be that much waiting…yeah, I’d have taken up crocheting ninjas instead of writing about them.
Same with “I wish I’d known how hard it would be emotionally,” “I wish I’d known the journey didn’t end at The Call,” “I wish I’d known rejection truly isn’t personal, and that they mean it when they say this business is subjective.”
I guess I’m saying, in a round about way, that ignorance is bliss. It’s okay that you don’t know everything yet, and I guess I don’t regret going into this business green as grass. I mean, you gotta start somewhere, right? As long as you’re willing to learn, things will eventually work out, no matter how much you know when you send off that first horrible query letter.
If I’d really known how it was, I probably would have saved myself the trouble. Or at least sometimes I think that. Sometimes I miss the naive dreamy days, when hope abounded and reality was for other people. I don’t think I want to take that away from anyone by telling them my regrets. Because if I’m being honest, my wish-I’d-knowns pale in comparison to everything I’ve received through honest effort, persistence, and a lot of starry-eyed hope.
Isn't she awesome? Her honesty, humor, and wisdom are only some of the reasons I love Natalie and her blog. Thank you again!!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
A great query is worth...
A million words. Well, not really. But at least 70k. (Or however long your manuscript is.)
The query is what will get your foot in the proverbial agent door. Or get it slammed in your face. With no personal offense intended. I wish I could say that my first query was amazing and landed me an agent. That, however, would be a lie. It wasn't the worst query in the world. It got a partial request from my "number one" agent. Unfortunately, my writing wasn't where it needed to be and I got rejected. Four months later. And it was exclusive. Ouch.
So I edited my book, and revised my query. I got some more requests. Then I got more rejections. Rinse and repeat. Over and over. When I got that first partial request, I was sure I'd made it. I was going to be the next Stephenie Meyer with 14 rejections and one yes and a 6-figure deal within months. Ha ha. Ha. When I hit the year mark of sending out my first queries, and I was still querying, my bright eyed hope had worn just a bit thin. To say the least. It ended up taking me over two years to get an agent from when I first started querying. So let me share some tips I've learned along the way.
Since it would take too long for one post to go into all the details about tricks and tips I've learned for querying, I'm going to do it one post at time. I will also tell you more about my journey to getting an agent as we go.
Key component #1: Make sure your query actually sells what you claim to be selling. Does that make sense?
Let me try to explain. If you say your book is a paranormal romance, but half of your pitch paragraph(s) focuses on your MC's hard home life and her desire to escape her town and how she was teased mercilessly as a child... oh oh. Rejection. The MC's love interest should be in the first sentence if it's a romance. Second sentence at the absolute latest. The paranormal element better be disclosed right away. The conflict to their romance is your hook. And that is pretty much the whole enchilada. Your query should ONLY show the part of your plot and the hook of the MAIN genre you're pitching it as--aka, if it's paranormal romance, you pitch the romantic plotline and THAT'S IT.
I was very guilt of trying to do too much with my queries. My plot is just so amazing and complex, I can't whittle it down that much! I have to explain more or they won't get it! I have to show the agent how many stunning subplots are woven into my main theme! But! But! But!
No, you don't. Agent will be thinking, "Huh. I thought this was supposed to be a paranormal romance, but it doesn't seem like the romance is even a main part of the plot. I'm already confused, so... pass."
So that's hint #1. Keep it basic, and stick to your genre in the query. If it's fantasy, you pitch the fantasy. If it's horror, you roll out all the gruesome hookiness you can. (Yes, hookiness is a word. I promise. Okay, not really. But I'm an author, so I can make words up. Right?)
Let the agent discover your subplots and deeper themes gradually as they read your amazing manuscript--after they request it because of your simple, concise, and awesome query.
Since I'm headed off to FLORIDA you may not get the next installment of this until ten days from now. However! I have a couple of awesome guest posts lined up to help inspire and motivate you until I return. I hope you enjoy their posts as much as I did! Until then, have a great 4th of July and I'll be back before you know it. :-)
The query is what will get your foot in the proverbial agent door. Or get it slammed in your face. With no personal offense intended. I wish I could say that my first query was amazing and landed me an agent. That, however, would be a lie. It wasn't the worst query in the world. It got a partial request from my "number one" agent. Unfortunately, my writing wasn't where it needed to be and I got rejected. Four months later. And it was exclusive. Ouch.
So I edited my book, and revised my query. I got some more requests. Then I got more rejections. Rinse and repeat. Over and over. When I got that first partial request, I was sure I'd made it. I was going to be the next Stephenie Meyer with 14 rejections and one yes and a 6-figure deal within months. Ha ha. Ha. When I hit the year mark of sending out my first queries, and I was still querying, my bright eyed hope had worn just a bit thin. To say the least. It ended up taking me over two years to get an agent from when I first started querying. So let me share some tips I've learned along the way.
Since it would take too long for one post to go into all the details about tricks and tips I've learned for querying, I'm going to do it one post at time. I will also tell you more about my journey to getting an agent as we go.
Key component #1: Make sure your query actually sells what you claim to be selling. Does that make sense?
Let me try to explain. If you say your book is a paranormal romance, but half of your pitch paragraph(s) focuses on your MC's hard home life and her desire to escape her town and how she was teased mercilessly as a child... oh oh. Rejection. The MC's love interest should be in the first sentence if it's a romance. Second sentence at the absolute latest. The paranormal element better be disclosed right away. The conflict to their romance is your hook. And that is pretty much the whole enchilada. Your query should ONLY show the part of your plot and the hook of the MAIN genre you're pitching it as--aka, if it's paranormal romance, you pitch the romantic plotline and THAT'S IT.
I was very guilt of trying to do too much with my queries. My plot is just so amazing and complex, I can't whittle it down that much! I have to explain more or they won't get it! I have to show the agent how many stunning subplots are woven into my main theme! But! But! But!
No, you don't. Agent will be thinking, "Huh. I thought this was supposed to be a paranormal romance, but it doesn't seem like the romance is even a main part of the plot. I'm already confused, so... pass."
So that's hint #1. Keep it basic, and stick to your genre in the query. If it's fantasy, you pitch the fantasy. If it's horror, you roll out all the gruesome hookiness you can. (Yes, hookiness is a word. I promise. Okay, not really. But I'm an author, so I can make words up. Right?)
Let the agent discover your subplots and deeper themes gradually as they read your amazing manuscript--after they request it because of your simple, concise, and awesome query.
Since I'm headed off to FLORIDA you may not get the next installment of this until ten days from now. However! I have a couple of awesome guest posts lined up to help inspire and motivate you until I return. I hope you enjoy their posts as much as I did! Until then, have a great 4th of July and I'll be back before you know it. :-)
Monday, June 28, 2010
The five letter word
The QUERY.
Just reading that word is enough to give some people hives. Or to go into a catatonic state of shock and fear. That little one page letter that is the difference between getting an agent or getting rejected. True, the query itself won't actually get you an agent; but in order to get the coveted request to read your manuscript (which will then--hopefully--get you the agent), you have to nail your query.
If you aren't quite sure what a query is, there are TONS of great blogs and websites that explain it and I'd be happy to recommend some if you'd like. For now, the quick explanation is that you have one to two paragraphs to introduce your story in a way that is intriguing, unique, and shows your MC's voice, one paragraph to introduce yourself, and that's about it. Simple, right?
Yeah. Except that, as I mentioned, everything rides on those two little paragraphs. Think of it as a back of the book or cover flap summary. What makes you decide to buy a book in the store? It's the same idea for your query. When you read the jacket flap of a book at the store and put it back on the shelf, have you ever stopped to think about what it was that made you put it back? Queries are the same way.
The only difference is that agents are reading hundreds of them every week. Imagine if you read that many jacket flaps of books all the time; would it make you more discerning in what you decide to pick up and read? So tell me, what makes you pick up or put down a book - and how could you apply that to your queries?
In my next post (before I leave, woot woot!) I will discuss a few tricks and tips I've learned that helped me polish my queries and eventually helped me get an agent.
Just reading that word is enough to give some people hives. Or to go into a catatonic state of shock and fear. That little one page letter that is the difference between getting an agent or getting rejected. True, the query itself won't actually get you an agent; but in order to get the coveted request to read your manuscript (which will then--hopefully--get you the agent), you have to nail your query.
If you aren't quite sure what a query is, there are TONS of great blogs and websites that explain it and I'd be happy to recommend some if you'd like. For now, the quick explanation is that you have one to two paragraphs to introduce your story in a way that is intriguing, unique, and shows your MC's voice, one paragraph to introduce yourself, and that's about it. Simple, right?
Yeah. Except that, as I mentioned, everything rides on those two little paragraphs. Think of it as a back of the book or cover flap summary. What makes you decide to buy a book in the store? It's the same idea for your query. When you read the jacket flap of a book at the store and put it back on the shelf, have you ever stopped to think about what it was that made you put it back? Queries are the same way.
The only difference is that agents are reading hundreds of them every week. Imagine if you read that many jacket flaps of books all the time; would it make you more discerning in what you decide to pick up and read? So tell me, what makes you pick up or put down a book - and how could you apply that to your queries?
In my next post (before I leave, woot woot!) I will discuss a few tricks and tips I've learned that helped me polish my queries and eventually helped me get an agent.
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