Making a List of Agents

Tip of the Day: Publisher's Weekly is gathering information for an upcoming story on African-American publishing. If you have information for them, check out their request.

I'm researching agents. Yay me. Actually, this isn't a difficult task, just time consuming. Inspired by my crit partner Lisa Tiffin, I set out to list 30 agents for my first round of queries. So how did I come up with this list?

1. Agents who have said nice things about my writing. Or just something. :) I save my submission logs from previous novels. If an agent requested a full or complimented my pages, I'm querying them again.

But wait. It's not that simple. Some of those agents are very busy with clients now and are no longer taking queries. Others have changed agencies. So I looked up each agent. If he/she is no longer taking queries, he/she may have a fellow agent at the same agency who is looking for my genre. So I googled each agent and each agency. That formed the basis of my list.

2. Agents of happy friends. Of course. For example, at MiGWriters, we recently ran a series of interviews with the agents of MiGWriters. Naturally, I'll be querying the agents in our blog interviews who are accepting queries.

3. Agents I researched through Literary Rambles's Agent Spotlight. Casey McCormick gathers all the online information she can find about agents accepting queries so you can decide if they're a good fit for your writing. I still looked up each agency's website, though. Even agents here who sounded great sometimes had fellow agents more open to speculative YA.

4. Verla Kay's Blueboards. Check out the Agent Response Time boards and then research the agency's website.

It's safe to say that I didn't choose any agent without seeing their agency website. That's how to find the best agent to query, get the guidelines, and find the email addresses. I added email addresses and submission guidelines to my Excel spreadsheet for submissions for this novel. Save those spreadsheets for the future!

I wasn't very impressed by Agent Query or Query Tracker. I found missing agents and outdated information. Your mileage may vary, but I say, always check the agency website. I'm not a very good Twitter stalker, either. Mostly, I find out about agents through other writers as I outlined above. But we'll see what happens when I expand my list past 30.

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages

.

Query Clinic Submission #3 (or Good Things Come in Threes!)

Tip of the Day, Librarian Edition: Please don't get mad at the library if every copy of their children's biographies on Harriet Tubman are checked out when you know 50 kids at the local elementary school all have to do the same assignment of reading a biography about Harriet Tubman.

Thank you so much Julie for sending in your query for a critique! I hope this feedback is helpful to you and to our readers. I know the past two weeks of query crits have been helpful to me!

Here is Julie's query:

Dear Agent Name,

Aillie has the spirit of a wolf, even if her failing heart is weakening her human body. It’s no wonder her presence causes a stir when her father decides to take her home to live with his wolf clan in Scotland. They don’t tolerate women, and certainly not human ones.

When she tries to find solace and solitude in the hills above MacTire Loch all she ends up finding is a cocky member of the neighboring clan. Colin is all alpha and the future laird. He’s also her father’s worst nightmare. Or so he thinks.

Aillie's true enemies won’t be found in the rivaling wolf clan though. The ones who’ll stop at nothing to see her dead are much closer to home. Aillie and Colin will have to put aside their clashing alpha personalities to fight against history, myths and bitter old wolves if she’ll have any chance at life.

THE VOICE is a 47,000 word Paranormal YA.

This is a simultaneous query submission. Thank you for considering my manuscript for further review.

Sincerely,

Julie [REDACTED]
My [contact] info here

What is great about this query:

1. I get a nice set of the setting. Scotland! Cool!

2. There are multiple conflicts -- Aillie's failing heart, the disrespect from her clan, the tension with the rival clan, the people/wolves/creatures Aillie must battle to survive -- which keeps the tension high and makes me think the novel itself keeps moving at a good pace.

3. The writing is really good! I like the voice and the way the paragraphs flow together with great transitions, so it makes me think the writing of the novel is high quality as well.

What I would suggest:

1. Combine the first two paragraphs into a shorter intro one (while keeping the great voice!), and then elaborate on what the "real" danger is that Aillie and Colin must band together to fight. While the first two paras are the emotional arc of the story, the latter para is the important external quest and that is important.

Tangental YA Librarian ramble :) -- There are a lot of paranormal YAs featuring wolves out there now (besides TWILIGHT (Meyer) and SHIVER (Stiefvater), there's recent releases like the DARK GUARDIAN series (Hawthorne), RAISED BY WOLVES series (Barnes), NIGHTSHADE series (Cremer), SISTERS RED (Pearce), 13 TO LIFE series (Delaney), CLAIRE DE LUNE series (Johnson), etc. ). It doesn't mean this book doesn't have merit or its own twist! Just that the query will have to hit on its unique points (like Scotland!) and showcase them in order to get an agent's/editor's/bookseller's/librarian's attention so they don't think it's something they already have enough of on their list. In other words, those who are querying wolf (of vampire/zombie/dystopian/faerie) books now have to work a little harder to get attention.

2. The title THE VOICE now makes me think of that TV show "The Voice;" might want to consider a more unique title/something with pow or a Scottish feel to drive home that this is a MUST READ book. :)

3. Before the sentence about this query being a multiple submission, add something personal about yourself, even if it's not a publishing credit: that you like baking/biking/painting/running/etc., to give yourself some personality.

Overall, I think this query is a great start! Any feedback from our readers?

Thanks again to everyone for making our query clinic week a success!

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Query Clinic--MG fantasy adventure

Tip of the Day: most of you probably know this, but I'm the last one to figure out that agentquery.com lets you subscribe by email or RSS feeds to the Agent Updates. I always forget to look in that section, but it's very helpful!

Our next query comes to us from Nicole Z.

Dear Agent:

When a dying witch gives Princess Cassandra a mystical treasure map, the adventurous ten-year-old sets out to find it. Never mind an evil sorcerer also wants the map. And never mind that he killed the witch to try to get it. Okay, his coming after Cassandra is a little worrying...

Even so, Cassandra and Vance, her commoner friend, hope the treasure will persuade the kingdom's greedy healers to fix his lame leg. Vance insists on tagging along until a monstrous hailstorm seriously injures him. The princess must face the mythological creatures of the Enchanted Jungle -- a cranky old centaur; a vicious, two-horned yale; a hungry bear-dog; among others -- and search the Rainbow Mountains without her friend. It's up to Cassandra, her trusty horse, and a baby griffin she meets along the way to find the treasure before the sorcerer kills her and before her friend dies of his wounds.

THE PRINCESS'S TREASURE HUNT is a 30,000-word MG fantasy adventure standalone novel with series potential.

I am the author of a fantasy romance trilogy, Kingdom of Arnhem - Woman of Honor (2009), Knight of Glory (2010), and Champion of Valor (2011) published with Desert Breeze Publishing. Fifteen of my short works have appeared in various anthologies, including Mertales by Wyvern Publications, and many collections by Pill Hill Press.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

…

What I liked about the query:

• I think the query is short and concise. It's very easy to find all the necessary information. 
• The first sentence is great and pulls me in immediately. I also love a good treasure map story, so I'm definitely intrigued! Especially since it involves a princess fighting against evil.
• As the query goes along, I think the suspense builds, which gives me a good indication how the book is likely to go. We start out knowing that an evil sorcerer wants the map so bad that he's willing to kill for it and then the intensity builds from there with many challenges along the way.

What I thought could use improvement and general thoughts:

There were a few parts that confused me and I thought might be unnecessary in the query itself. And other parts I thought needed more info. I've marked my reactions in red.

When a dying witch gives Princess Cassandra a mystical treasure map, the adventurous ten-year-old sets out to find it. (I wonder if there might be a word or two you could add to this to explain how she came in contact with the dying witch to help set the scene a bit better and maybe explain even in this first sentence why she’s compelled to search for the treasure. Also, maybe stating the dying instructions of the witch might help. Does she tell Cassandra to be careful? Does she reveal anything about what the treasure is? More specific info might help set up the rest of the query.) Never mind an evil sorcerer also wants the map. And never mind that he killed the witch to try to get it. Okay, his coming after Cassandra is a little worrying... (I think the last three sentences sort of lose their impact, since two of them start with “never mind.” I get what you are trying to do, but I think it would be much more impactful to combine the first two sentences into something as simple as “Unfortunately, an evil sorcerer also wants the map and killed the witch to try to get it.” And then lead into a bit more descriptive sentence on the journey to come. It’s implied by the description that the evil sorcerer would naturally come after Cassandra, so it loses a bit of impact by telling the reader that.)

Even so, Cassandra and Vance, her commoner friend, hope the treasure will persuade the kingdom's greedy healers to fix his lame leg. (Love that she has a commoner friend help on her journey, but I feel like I need a bit more info to make this journey believable. First can you tell us the name of the kingdom, so we know a bit more info about Cassandra? Also, if she's a Princess, wouldn’t she have access to lots of money? Why couldn’t she pay off the greedy healers that way to fix her friend's lame leg? Why is she willing to embark on such a dangerous journey instead? Or do they personally not know about the evil sorcerer yet? This really needs to be made more clear. I also had to read this sentence five times to understand how a treasure map could help fix a lame leg. After I got it, it was obvious, but something about the way the sentence is written made it hard to follow at first.) Vance insists on tagging along until a monstrous hailstorm seriously injures him. (As a side note: does the sorcerer cause the hailstorm? If so, I'd include that bit of info, because it adds even more intensity that he's trying to make her journey harder, so he can get the treasure himself. If not, this sentence could still be played up a bit more to increase the suspense, especially since we find out later his wounds are life-threatening—"seriously" injured doesn’t imply life-threatening to me.) The princess must face the mythological creatures of the Enchanted Jungle -- a cranky old centaur; a vicious, two-horned yale; a hungry bear-dog; among others -- and search the Rainbow Mountains without her friend. (Wow, sounds exciting and I'm not even a fantasy reader!) It's up to Cassandra, her trusty horse, and a baby griffin she meets along the way to find the treasure before the sorcerer kills her and before her friend dies of his wounds. (I'm in!)

Summary:

Overall this is good and I definitely want to read it based on the story alone, since it sounds so exciting. But I think knowing a bit more specifics would help entice the agents even more. I'd also like a bit more info on Cassandra herself, so we have a reason to care for her. It's very telling that she's willing to risk her life for her friend, but without knowing a bit more about them as friends or people it's hard to find it believable. Also, how on earth could she be away from the kingdom at 10 years old with no one trying to find her? She's a princess. Does she use a disguise of some kind? Not sure if that's necessary to state in the query, but a little info thrown in here and there might help.

Thanks for submitting Nicole. Best of luck to you!

 So what do you all think?

--Emily, Miss Querylicious

Query Clinic Week: The Espressologist Query Letter

Tip of the Day: I'm hanging out in Springfield, IL, at the Illinois Reading Council Conference for the next few days as a feature speaker. Are you there too? Here's my schedule. Find me and say hi!


I'm going to share my query letter for The Espressologist since it was my most successful one. A little background here: I started querying in early February of 2007, had lots of requests for partials and fulls, and had two offers of agent representation in April. I signed with an agent and in May had an auction with four large publishers, resulting in a two book deal.


Here it is:

Dear Ms. ______:

The Espressologist is In

 Fridays 6-10 p.m.

 Come in for a little latte and love. 

That’s the sign outside of a local Chicago Wired Joe's every Friday night when jerky boss Derek Peters finds out about 17-year old barista (and high school senior) Jane Turner’s unique talent to match couples based on their favorite coffee drink (which she calls Espressology). He decides to capitalize on it—turning Jane into the holiday promotion for the month of December. She’s never been wrong, sales are through the roof, and the line of people each Espressology night wraps the block. But can it be too much of a good thing? During an interview with a national talk show at the height of Jane’s fame, she is faced with a dilemma: lose her love or lose her credibility? Or possibly lose it all, including her best friend.

Light and a lot of fun, my young adult novel, “The Espressologist is In” is complete at 42,000 words.

In addition to my love for writing fiction (specifically YA), I am also a freelance writer and writing instructor at DePaul University in Chicago, IL.  I received my Master of Arts in Writing from DePaul and I’ve written for Writer’s Digest magazine as well a number of Web sites (including AbsoluteWrite.com, Writing-World.com, pregnancyandbaby.com, sheknows.com, CoolChyck.com, and a weekly ‘Net Love column for the former Relationship101.com for over a year).

I came across your name in my search for an agent with experience in the young adult market and I feel that you would do a great job representing my novel. Would you be interested in seeing a full manuscript?

Sincerely,

Kristina Springer

--

Kristina, Miss Author in Action

Query Clinic is Open! (or Help Us Help You & Help Us)

Tip of the Day: You still have time to email your queries for our Query Clinic next week! Send them to author2author.blog AT gmail DOT com, and stay tuned this week and next to comment on other queries.

So I was going to post the query that landed me my last agent in 2009. It's for an MG manuscript that we subbed to editors and got good responses from -- including a revision request -- but alas, we did not receive any offers.

That said, I still love this book and think it is even stronger after the revision I did on spec, so in case I ever try to sub it on my own or epub it, I'd like to share a new version* of this query for feedback. Between all the MG readers at my library who ask for more books like IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES and CUPCAKE DIARIES, I think I would have an audience.


*The reason I say "a new version" is because OMG, the original one that I queried agents with is waaaaay too wordy! So here's a pared down version of the pitch for BAKE, SET, MATCH. Thanks in advance for any input/advice!

Twelve-year-old Dana Hawthorne's best friend moved away, but she's not letting it derail her summer. She's working at her parents' bakery, making friends with new girl Beth, and playing on the junior tennis team. Sure, some things aren't perfect, like the fact that Beth's dad is really sick, and that one of the twins she beat onto the tennis team is out to get her. But overall Dana can handle it because she can handle anything.

Until things get worse. The twins spread rumors that pit Beth and Dana against each other and can destroy the bakery's already slow business. Dana has to save the bakery before her family loses their house, but without Beth at her side, she's not sure she can come up with a good plan let alone execute it. Then Beth's dad gets sicker and Dana needs to decide what is important: being right, or being there for her friends and family.

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Query Clinic Continues

Tip of the Day: don't forget to email us your query letters for our Query Clinic so we can post them to talk about. Even if it's just the "jacket cover" description and not a full query that will work. We basically want to show lots of examples of the "meat" of the query to help people in writing descriptions for their own book. 

Not sure if I've posted this specific query on this blog before or not. But it's still one of my favorite books, even though I haven't send this particular query out for more than 3 years.

I would like to invite you to read my 63,000-word contemporary young adult novel DON’T ASK ALLY and consider representing me.

Who said advice is better to give than receive? When 16-year old Ally Harrison inadvertently gives relationship advice to one-half of The Couple of the Century in a Robertsville, Indiana theme park, her face appearing all over the national tabloids as the “new Dr. Phil” is the least of her problems. After her misinterpreted advice causes the reconciliation of rock star Jet Michaels and Nicole Porter, Ally’s Jr./Sr. High School classmates build her a homecoming float and her best friend starts an underground relationship counseling empire from the school bathroom.

However, when Nicole Porter goes missing, Ally learns quickly that sometimes it’s better to keep your mouth shut and your advice to yourself. But can Ally keep her mouth shut long enough to figure out where Jet Michael’s girlfriend really is? And can she keep her mouth far enough away from the moist lips of her prime suspect: Luke Porter, the brother of the missing girl?

My previous writing credits include newspaper and newsletter articles, media releases, press kits, and advertisements for universities and non-profit organizations. I have a B.S. in Journalism, a M.S. in Public Relations, and currently work in a library as a teen program planner. 

I would be happy to send sample chapters or the entire manuscript upon request. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

...

Normally the first paragraph is customized to that specific agent based on what they are looking for. This query did receive a number of partial and full requests, mainly because of timing, since I was querying when teen chick lit was much hotter and easier to sell. I even did three revision requests for agents, but nothing panned out for a number of reasons. I ultimately stopped querying to focus my efforts on my other books, but would love to go back to this book and do a few more revisions based on some later comments to clean up the book further. Plus, this was my second book and it's amazing to see how much my writing has improved since that time and I think with more edits it could be a much stronger book and might do well as an Indie-pubbed ebook, because of it's combination of romance and mystery.

Before that happens I'd love a new title for it that fits more with the romance element of the novel. So any title suggestions are welcome in the comments section as well! And feel free to give me any suggestions. Even if I decide to epub the book a good description is still key.

--Emily, Miss Querylicious

Introducing Me (Megg) and My 2011 Writing Recap

Tip of the Day: Don't be afraid of independent authors. There's some really great self-published books out there!

Hi! *waves* My name is Megg. I'm a former freelance parenting journalist turned ninja! Oh, well, in my imagination at least. If you want a basic bio about me, click here. Or you can strap on your seat belt and take a trip with me in my handy-dandy time machine.

I know we're supposed to recap our 2011 writing goals. I'm going to break the rules a bit (watch out, I tend to do that) and take you back to 2010. In the midst of a declining freelance parenting career due to poor economic conditions, I submitted novel queries to agents. Perhaps a bit obsessively. I knew there was a reason my freelance career was on the skids - it was because it was finally my time to shine as a novelist. <insert angelic music here>

I had completed two novels, ANATHEMA and SLEEPERS, and was absolutely sure I would easily be able to get an agent, get a book deal, and live the rest of my life in blissful happiness. Um, yeah, didn't quite happen that way. There were the agents who never responded (ugh), then there were the form letter rejections (ugh), and the sweet personal notes telling me my book looked awesome, but that it wasn't for them and never give up rejections (double ugh). There were quite a few who requested my full. I KNEW one of them would take me on. I had no doubt in my mind whatsoever.

Guess I should learn the difference between knowing something for a fact and hoping for something so deeply. One agent offered to take me on if I'd switch genres. That was a deal-breaker for me. One had me submit all my work to her. In the end she just decided to reject me and I'll never know why. Another held on to my work for nearly a year, kept promising to get back to me and never did. By the end of 2010, I was convinced my books would never, ever be read by anyone outside my critique group.

My BWF (best writing friend) Karly Kirkpatrick told me about epublishing. I scoffed. Self-publishing was for people who gave up, right? Not one to automatically dismiss any idea, I researched it. Karly & I talked, and talked, and talked about it. It wasn't until I saw the quality work being put out by so many self-published authors (Konrath, Amanda Hocking, Sarra Cannon) that I decided to jump in the epub pool.

There were no sharks - just eager readers. I'll swim with them any day.

Now we're in 2011 - I epublished ANATHEMA in February. OUBLIETTE in June. SLEEPERS in July. SEVERED in November. THE INITIATE in December. Over 25,000 copies of my books have been downloaded. I have countless new Facebook and Twitter friends. I have met so many new & amazing readers in the last year. I've also sold foreign rights to my books. I don't regret one moment of 2011.

If you follow my A2A posts, you'll learn more about how I accomplished so much. Believe me, I have a TON to say about it too. I'd really love to know what you guys want to hear. Leave some comments below or email me - meggjensen (at) gmail.com - and tell me what you want to learn about epublishing.

I'm so excited to be on A2A and thank you so much to the ladies for inviting me!!!! :D

-- Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

Patience sometimes is your friend

Tip of the Day: strawberry smoothies make for a great summer writing break treat!

Previously on the blog, I’ve tackled the question of determining when your manuscript is ready to be queried to agents.

Even though I have several more gray hairs since that post, I’m not entirely sure I have any better answers. But because I’m to this stage in my writing career again, I’ve been thinking about this a lot.

Right now, in a tough market, I think more than ever you have to make sure your project is as best as it can possibly be before sending it to agents and editors. Over on the Teen Lit Authors Yahoo Group there’s been a discussion going on about how many published authors are being advised to write full manuscripts for editors, instead of selling on partial. The thought is unless you have an established relationship with an editor or are a big-named author, then it’s much harder to sell right now and editors are requesting full, cleaner manuscripts.

As a debut author, you don’t have to worry about the full/partial debate, since it’s highly unlikely you’d sell on a partial (unless you have a lot of writing creds). But if published authors are struggling more than normal, then debut authors have even more of a mountain to travel over to publication.

With that being said, before you submit to agents, it’s probably best to take a double look, then a triple check just to make sure you have no unanswered questions. Also, keep an eye out for anything (even something small) that feels a little off, either with a character, the setting, plot, etc. And you also need to make sure that the plotting and character growth makes perfect sense. Because if you have a nagging feeling about one small part of your manuscript, then editors and agents are probably going to be even more confused.

Because in this tough market, it doesn’t hurt to give yourself all the legs-up you can get :)

--Emily, Miss Querylicious

Image from: http://www.gadgetcage.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/editing2600.jpg

Do Unpubbed Authors Need a Bio?

Tip of the Day: Not a fan of Times New Roman? This Georgia font is nice on the eyes and has TNR-like serifs. And look, you can tell the difference between 1 and l. (Compare Times New Roman: 1 and l. That drives me nuts!)

OK, I'm a writer, but there are certain things I don't like to write. Like the last paragraph of query letters. You know, that paragraph designed to convince agents and editors that I'm the most appropriate person to be writing about cursed and haunted teenagers. But as it turns out, I've needed a writing biography paragraph for more than just query letters:

-- For applying for a scholarship for the Chautauqua conference;

-- For a letter asking for information from a work-for-hire publisher;

-- For applying for an open slot in an experienced critique group;

-- For applying for a SCBWI Work-in-Progress grant;

-- For posting on the Web so you all know why you might want to read my blog.

That's just my personal experience, but I'm sure you could think of more situations--like when an editor or published author auctions off a critique, for example. Do you really want to reinvent your bio paragraph every time you need one?

I have two bio paragraphs, one informal and in third person for social networking, and another, more formal one written in first person for queries:

Kate Fall started writing fiction in seventh grade, when her teacher read her funny story to the class and everyone laughed at the right parts. She got serious about writing MG and YA five years ago. In 2007, she attended the Highlights Chautauqua conference and in 2008, she was a panelist for the Young Adult Fiction Cybils Award (www.cybils.com). She is a member of SCBWI and RACWI (Rochester Area Children’s Writers and Illustrators). On Mondays, she blogs as a regular contributor to the group blog www.author2author.blogspot.com.

I am a member of SCBWI and my publishing credits include trade magazine and newspaper feature articles. In 2007, I attended the Highlights Chautauqua conference and in 2008, I was a panelist for the Young Adult Fiction Cybils Award (www.cybils.com). On Mondays, I blog as a regular contributor to the group blog Author2Author (www.author2author.blogspot.com).

I don't do this because I'm super organized. I do this because I like to cut and paste. I keep these handy on my c drive. Any time I need a bio, I just cut and paste. It takes a little stress out of application processes. And as an unpublished author, I've been surprised how much I've used these.

Not everyone will agree that my credits will grab an editor or agent's attention, but I think they prove, at least, that I've been paying attention to the modern market and the last YA book I read wasn't FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC in 1987. (Of course I read FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC in 1987. I'm just saying I've read a lot since then.)

So if you don't have a stock bio handy, I say go for it. It will give you an extra boost of confidence when you write letters and applications. We all need that!

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages

In Vegas, As In Life, All Bets Are Off (or I Take Two Steps Forward, I Take Two Steps Back*)

*With apologies to Paula Abdul

Tip of the Day: Put it all on black! (I'm in Vegas, baby!)

So, even when things are going along swimmingly when you're subbing for pubbing, some things you have no control over can slow you down. For example, when your agent decides to leave the agenting business. This is what happened to me last week.

I wish my agent the best in her new/return to her previous career! She is a great woman and I know she's doing what's best for herself, though I will miss her.

This does leave me, however, agentless and back out there in query land. Good thing Miss Querylicious has been giving me some tips these past few weeks! But I haven't had to go through this research/query process for a while and it is a time-consuming yet exciting process. So I'm shopping a brand new novel to agents and am hoping to get someone's attention.

Meanwhile, I am still subbing for pubbing! The manuscript my agent shopped has been revised and repolished, so I'm sending it out to editors on my own. This is also a lot of research and time. Phew! Go agents who do this every day for their careers!

This experience of querying both agents and editors has been eye-opening to me; it's made me really look at what's selling, what's grabbing the attention of publishing pros, and what it entails to really focus on who wants what types of novels. I also feel that this time around in my agent search, I know what questions to ask before signing, what specialities the agents should have before I even query, and what different authors are saying about who they work with. Fortunately, with so much info online, it's fairly easy to get a lot of this info!

But it doesn't mean that the agent who sounds "perfect" for me will want me!
:-o
So I must continue to query widely.

I also believe that everything will work out the way it is supposed to work out, and in the mean time, I'll continue writing, writing, writing!

And if anyone wants to recommend their fabulous agent, feel free to leave me a comment! :)

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Moving on...sometimes it's a necessity

Tip of the Day: if moving on from a book is hard for you, try to visualize the end result. It might make it easier.

Two weeks ago I briefly mentioned that sometimes it’s okay to “give up” querying a book. Not as in give up on a book completely, but put a book down for now, move onto something else, and then maybe in the future come back to that book.

If you are serious about your writing, you owe it to your book to have it be the best it can possibly be when trying to query agents, and if during the querying process you learn it’s not the best it can be, I think you need to stop, make it better, and then get back to querying. But how can you determine when to stop?

Because there are several times during the writing and querying process when all of us want to give up and if everyone did that no published books would exist.

Here’s what I think.

• If you just want to stop because you get a one or two rejection stings. Keep going. If it’s a hundred rejection stings, chances are you need to reevaluate your book.
• Stop when you don’t know who to query anymore. Hold off, think about your book more, and then get back to searching for agents or editors.
• When you get a rejection that resonance with you, you agree with it, and you realize you need more time to think about the book before being able to fix it.
• When another project is pulling you more strongly. Now this happens a lot, so you have to be far enough along to make the judgment call on what is best to spend your time on. Querying agents isn’t that really labor intensive, so you should be able to do both. But if not giving up on your old book is keeping you from making your new book as best it can, then maybe it’s time to move on. Get the new book done, and then go back to the old book.
  

I don’t like saying give up on a book, because I don’t think you should ever give up on a book. Especially if you believe in it. But I think you have to be smart about the time you have available. Just like in your day job, you have to pick and choose what things to do first. And if you are seriously wanting to be a writer, you need to treat it like a career or business.

This is very subjective. We’ve all heard the stories of those that didn’t give up. Even our own Tina landed her agent with lucky number 87 for her book. But I do think there’s a point when you can determine when to at least set your book down. At least for a month, a year, or maybe even a few years.

Because your next book might be The One that launches your career, and if you don’t get that book done then you’ll never know.

--Emily, Miss Querylicious

When to stop querying a project

Tip of the Day: Capri Suns aren't just for kids!

So we've gone through all the aspects of querying, except for when to give up. Our mother's all raised us to "never give up," but when it comes to writing I think you have to be smart about this. Most of us have limited time to pursue this dream, because we are also working full-time jobs, raising families, and have other dreams we are chasing.

So just because one book doesn't sell, doesn't mean you have to give up on writing. Or that this book won't eventually sell when the market changes and "puppet-loving girls from Louisiana" become the new "vampires" just when you happen to be shelving your book about a small-town girl from Bonita, LA that makes children's puppets out of Capri Sun juice bags to raise money to pursue her dream as a professional ventriloquist (which we all know is clearly where the YA market is moving).

Don't be afraid to move on if one book isn't working. Take it as a sign to focus your attention on that other book that's screaming "write me."

By no means, does this mean you have to shelve the book completely, but maybe step away from it for a few months, go back to it later, and see if you can pick up on why people were having issues with it.

Next week, I'll try to talk more specifically about how to figure out when is the right time to move on.

--Emily, Miss Querylicious

Bring on the Requests!!

Tip of the Day: don't forget to celebrate all your accomplishments during your writing journey. It will make those rejections sting less!

It's been fun talking about queries for the past few weeks, and now I'm going to move onto talking about what to do after you get a request or the dreaded rejection. But let's start with the positive!

So you've slaved over your query, got it perfect, sent it out to agents, and now you have a request. What do you do then?

No. 1: Celebrate. This is a big accomplishment. Agent Jennifer Jackson lists statistics of what she requests. This past week out of 163 queries she requested 0. In the last three weeks out of 439 queries, she's requested 2 partials or full manuscripts. For those not good at math, that's less than 0.4%. As in less than 1%. As in OMG it is REALLY HARD to get a request.

Now this is only one agent, but my point is that if you get a request, you have sparked interest with someone with your book's concept, your writing, and your credentials. Don't forget this. Sometimes the rejections seem to overshadow the fact getting requests means you are doing something right. Because of this, I think it's important to celebrate. Even if it's something small like smiling, treating yourself to chocolate, or something else you do to reward yourself for all your hard work.

No 2: Don't Panic. After seeing stats like that it is hard not to panic. Not only before you send the query, but also after you get the request. You think, "wow, he/she likes the book concept, but what happens if he/she doesn't like my writing?" Well, that can happen, but don't let thoughts of that get in your way.

No. 3: Re-read your work. It never hurts to re-read your work. Now by this stage, you should have already revised it to death, incorporated feedback from critique partners, and done all you can to make the manuscript sparkle. But for some reason, I think sometimes the added "pressure" associated with a request gets you to see that final one or two mistakes you missed.

At the same time, don't keep revising it and revising it to stall sending the manuscript in. Be timely about it. You don't want the excitement the agent had while reading your query to be lost in the time it takes you to respond to his/her request.

No. 4: Send it off and then, here's the kicker, try to relax and not think about it for awhile. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. There's no sense wasting time worrying about getting feedback or checking your email five-million times to see if they have responded yet. While you will still probably do this, it's also important to move onto writing the next book, sending out more queries, and other things to help your career move forward. Sometimes responses come within hours, but most often it takes days or months to hear back. Be patient and keep working on something else.

Next week, we'll discuss those dreaded rejections.

--Emily, Miss Querylicious

Query Letters

Tip of the Day: want to win some cool prizes? Chances are your library has summer reading programs going on all summer, and adults can win fun stuff just for reading!

As promised, here is a sample query letter for one of my books:


Dear Mr. or Ms. Agent,

Because of your interest in teen fiction, I thought you might enjoy my contemporary YA novel DON’T ASK ALLY. Don’t Ask Ally is complete at 60,000 words, and should appeal to teen girls that love adventure and romance novels, such as those by Ally Carter or Meg Cabot.

When 16-year old Ally Harrison inadvertently gives relationship advice to one-half of The Couple of the Century in a Robertsville, Indiana theme park, her face appearing all over the national tabloids as the “new Dr. Phil” is the least of her problems. After her misinterpreted advice causes the reconciliation of rock star Jet Michaels and Nicole Porter, Ally’s Jr./Sr. High School classmates build her a homecoming float and her best friend starts an underground relationship counseling empire from the school bathroom.

However, when Nicole Porter goes missing, Ally learns quickly that sometimes it’s better to keep your mouth shut and your advice to yourself. But can Ally keep her mouth shut long enough to figure out where Jet Michael’s girlfriend really is? And can she keep her mouth far enough away from the moist lips of her prime suspect: Luke Porter, the brother of the missing girl?

My previous writing credits include newspaper and newsletter articles, media releases, press kits, and advertisements for universities and non-profit organizations. I have a B.S. in Journalism, a M.S. in Public Relation’s, and currently work as a young adult program planner in a library and teach creative writing classes.

I would be happy to send sample chapters or the entire manuscript upon request. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Emily Marshall
CONTACT INFO


Now, it's probably not the greatest query in the world, but it did help land agent requests. It has several things that do the trick: it's too the point; gives all relevant info--such as word count, genre, title, etc; reads similar to the back cover copy without giving away the entire story; gets across the tone of the novel itself; and tells briefly my writing credentials.

Also, depending on the agent, I always try to customize it letting them know why I'm querying them specifically.

--Emily, Miss Querylicious

THIS + THIS = I have no idea

Tip of the Day: Next week is our A2A School Days Giveaways! Five books about school, five chances to win them!

I got a hot tip from a friend who attended the recent Los Angeles SCBWI conference: a well-known agent suggested adding a tag line to your query letter comparing your novel to something else, giving it that high-concept hook. Like “This novel is CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY meets LORD OF THE FLIES.” I had heard this from an editor at a big house at my last local SCBWI conference. I guess this is the latest litmus test of “is your novel commercial enough and high-concept enough to sell easily?”

I can sort of see the appeal. For example, I recently read The Luxe by Anna Godbersen, and I could describe that accurately as DYNASTY meets SWEET VALLEY HIGH meets Jane Austen. Who wouldn’t want to read that hybrid?

But when it comes to describing my own books like that, well, I start having lots of insecurities.

Would I be ruled out for picking the wrong book? I understand agents and editors saying not to compare your work to Twilight or Harry Potter. I suspect they get a lot of queries like: “This is just like TWILIGHT, except with horses instead of vampires. And it takes place in 1874 Colorado. And it’s not so heavy on the romance.”

The classics are off-limits too. I loved Anne of Green Gables but I wouldn’t want to read something that resembles Anne of Green Gables. But besides that, what if I pick the wrong thing? What if I compare my novel to High School Musical? Will I be the seventh query that day comparing my novel to High School Musical? Will the agent reading my query think “If I see one more query letter comparing a novel to High School Musical, I’m going to shred it with a cleaver”? But what’s the point of comparing my novel to something obscure and unpopular?

Will this expose me as not being widely read? What if I compare my novel to High School Musical but it’s really more like the well loved novel High School Danceoff. Only I didn’t read High School Danceoff. And the agent or editor who reads my query “This is HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL meets THE SHINING” thinks “Duh, that’s High School Danceoff. What makes this different than High School Danceoff?”

Because that’s what I’m challenged to do—find the exact right novel for comparison. And I haven’t read everything there is to read yet! Talk about aiming for a writer’s insecurities.

What if I really, really can’t think of anything witty? I have one novel in progress that I think of as an older, scarier Time Warp Trio. But I can’t think of anything for the novel I’m working on now. It’s sort of Disney Channel-ish, but isn’t that just saying it’s a commercial tween novel?

So I think I’ll have to skip the comparisons on this novel. But in the meantime, I’m having fun playing pretend agent and judging pretend queries. “FRIDAY THE 13TH meets LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE?” I’ll pass. "THE FLY meets GOSSIP GIRLS"? Ooooh, I'd see pages.

-- Kate, Miss Apprentice Writer

Question: Send it or Leave it?

Tip of the Day: Just because you could take your mild mannered four-year-old out on errands doesn't mean that, when he turns five, he won't turn into a perpetual energy machine capable of mass destruction who should stay penned in the backyard instead of waiting for Mom at her hair appointment.

In January, I sent 2 short stories to the annual Highlights Fiction Contest. The theme was "the future." Highlights received over 1,100 submissions. I was not one of the three winners (but Congrats to them ... talk about a lot of competition!)

Anyway, I received my stories back in the mail recently. One of them, well, I never felt like I nailed the ending, you know? It was a cute idea, but I'm not sure I found the right way to execute it. The other story ... well, I really like it. It's probably too old for Highlights, but I was happy with it anyway, so I went ahead and sent it. And now I have it back.

So what do I do with it?

I know, there's no point in having something written to stay hidden away. It's done, I like it, I should take a chance and send it out. BUT there's not exactly a huge market for short stories for this age group. And even if Highlights bought 100 stories from the contest, which would be remarkable, that still leaves 1000 stories floating around. If everyone feels like I do, there are potentially 500 stories about the future being mailed out as I type this.

I guess could sit on the story awhile and see if I still like it in a few months. I don't know, any other ideas of what I could do with my story?

-- Kate, Miss Apprentice Writer

Querying it up Colorado-style

Tip of the Day: Snow is incredibly beautiful, even in April, as long as you don’t have to drive in it and it hasn’t turned into slush, sludge, or any other questionable looking liquid/solid form.

This blog is coming to you live from the great state of Colorado.

Do you feel the low atmospheric pressure due to the high altitude? And the cold, mountain air?

No? Are you sure? Because I sure feel it.

Colorado is known for many things aside from high altitude, such as awesome skiing, the Rockies, and being the home to some pretty kick-butt literary agents. I’m sure many more agents than my current home state of Michigan is known for. So being out here I can’t help but pretend how fun a covert operations to said agents' offices would be to find a way to plant my manuscript secretly on their desks to get them to read it.

Not that I would actually ever do anything like that.

Or at least not do it after I joked about it on this blog.

Because that’s just not how this business is done. No matter how much more exciting a covert operations involving…say, binoculars, bubble gum, shoe strings, a Swiss Army knife-screwdriver, and any other gadget I could fit in my purse…would be then the normal way of getting an agent through the slush pile with a query letter.

So since I'm on vacation and having fun, I thought it would be extra fun to do a list of five things you should also not do to get an agent’s attention, in addition to secretly trying to break and enter into their office:

1.) Don’t send your query in a bolded, 58-type script font.

2.) Don’t send your query for your sports-related story in a dirty athletic shoe.

3.) Don’t send your query for a pie cookbook with the frozen-chocolate pie from page 14 in with the package. Especially in summer. (Flashback: did anyone else see that episode last season on Beauty and the Geek when Joshua actually wanted to put a pie by itself—no wrapping or anything—in a gift basket?…okay, sorry way off topic…back to our regularly scheduled programming…)

4.) Don't send your query for a fantasy written entirely in the made-up language of your world.

5.) Don't call up an agent and tell them you are doing them a favor letting them represent you since you have a book that’s worth one-trillion-million dollars, despite the fact it isn’t finished yet, you don’t have any publishing credentials, and you have to ask them what the word “literary” in literary agent means. While we are at it, this probably isn’t a good thing to state in a query letter, either.

Not that anyone has attempted the above (well at least all of them, but No. 5). I’m not an agent or anything, so I’m just guessing these are big no-nos, and since this is Author2Author, I thought I’d give a heads up to avoid these in case anyone was considering these ideas.

Okay, now I’m off to go back to skiing in my pretty new ski outfit…

No, this isn’t me. Or my outfit. April Fools!!!!!!!

I totally had you fooled for a second there, didn’t I? ;-)

--Emily, Miss Awaiting an Agent

It just takes ONE

Tip of the Day: www.querytracker.net and www.agentquery.com are two valuable resources when researching agents.

This has been a great week with some fabulous advice and samples of query letters that have worked. I'm also going to share the query letter that landed my agent. I've been thinking about what tips or advice I could give, and I don't know that I have anything to add to the other great advice.

But I do want to reiterate the fact that so much of this business is luck - right place, right time. You absolutely need to have a polished query letter and a fabulous manuscript, but most of the time, that isn't even enough. I've seen writer friends get so discouraged as they query and get rejected, query and send partials, and yes, query and send fulls. After a few rejections, it's easy to think - that's it, my novel sucks, I'm done.

Now, if you are getting form rejection after form rejection and the only people who have read your manuscript are your mother and your Great Aunt Pearl, you may need to take those rejections to heart. But if you have run the manuscript through your critique group and done everything you can to make it sparkle, it may just be that you haven't found THE ONE yet.

I was rejected like a million times before I got my agent. Okay, maybe not a million, but a lot. When she sent an e-mail letting me know how much she loved it and that she would be "the most enthusiastic of advocates", I literally stood up and backed away from my computer as I clutched my chest, like I expected to have a heart attack right then and there.

I think agents, and editors too, are faced with a daunting task each day, and there are probably a hundred reasons at any given moment why they turn down a manuscript, and it's not always going to be because it's bad writing. I know it's hard, but you can't take rejections personally. Sure, if you get five, and all of them are saying the same thing, then some revisions are probably in order. But I really think most of the time, it just comes down to taste, and you have to keep going until you find one who clicks with your writing.

So here is my query:

Dear Fabulous Agent:

Fifteen-year-old Ava is heartbroken over the death of her boyfriend, Jackson. But it isn’t long after his funeral when she discovers while he may be dead, he definitely isn’t gone.

At first she’s thrilled to know his spirit has stayed to be with her. He lets her know he’s with her by playing particular songs on the CD player, appearing in the mirror occasionally, sending her brief mind messages, and visiting her in her wildly intense dreams.

And then, one day, when her parents whisk her away to the beach, she meets Lyric, who reminds her what it’s like to laugh and flirt and talk with a real, live boy. She begins to realize that having a ghost for a boyfriend is neither easy nor fulfilling.

How can she ask the love of her life to leave when he seems unable to leave her behind and when she is harboring some guilt over the accident that killed him? Will he leave peacefully, or is Ava destined to be haunted by Jackson forever?

I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME, is a 13,400-word story of life, death and love told in easy-to-follow, yet engaging verse. I think Sonya Sones has proved that teens will read poetry and ask for more.

I am the author of BABY CAN'T SLEEP, which Publisher Weekly calls "...a charming tale about luring baby off to dreamland." Because the picture book market is tough right now, I decided to write something different. And I have to say, I loved writing this book. Now I want a good agent to help me sell it.

I would be happy to send you all or part of the manuscript. Thank you for your consideration, I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,

Lisa Schroeder
SCBWI Member


To all of you on the agent hunt, may the luck o' the query be with you!

~Lisa, Miss Pinch Me I'm Pubbed

My Querylicious Self

Tip of the Day: If you cross your fingers REALLY hard while you hit send on that e-mail query your chances of an agent requesting a partial or full goes up by 33%. (Note: Findings based on a study conducted by one person. Me.)

This being luck o’ the query week and all has made me think about my own querying process and how much luck was involved. I do think there was a certain amount of luck involved—I mean, trying to hit the right agent at the right time with the right idea is pretty tricky. You can send the same query to one agent who will say it is fab and another who will say it is horrible. Well, they say it much nicer but you know what I mean. And you only have like 30 seconds to catch an agent’s attention and get them to want to read more. Some agents get 300 queries a week so yeah—this can be tough.

Writing that first query is a serious task—especially if you aren’t sure of what you’re doing. Which I totally wasn’t. But I knew that it was vital to figure out how to be querylicious if I was going to get anywhere. So the first thing I did when I was getting ready to write my query was a google search for query writing tips. I found a lot of hits but one specific site that helped me was Robyn Schneider’s article, Defeat The "un's": How to elicit interest in your first novel because she is a) a YA author so writing similar stuff and b) she gave a breakdown of what should go into each paragraph. Things like starting with a hook etc. I won’t summarize the whole article here but it is pretty good so go check it out.

My first query for my book PASS BOOK was lucky I think. It wasn’t perfect (though I thought so at the time) and it was LONG (page and a half). Note: Long isn’t what you should be striving for. But at the time I thought I needed all of that information in the query to get the point across. So I was pretty hardheaded and never shortened the query. Luckily, my agent looked past my long-windedness and offered to represent me anyway. It wasn’t until I read her summary of my book (which was, you know, the appropriate 3-4 sentences) that I realized you COULD get my point across in a shorter version. Go figure.

I have to say I did much better lengthwise on my second query for THE ESPRESSOLOGIST though. I didn’t query very long with Espressologist because my agent offer came for book #1 only a month or so after I started querying book #2. But I think I did a better job on it. And the majority of the agents that I did query requested either a partial or full and I got a second agent offer from this one. I’ll let you be the judge and copy it below.

Dear Ms. Agent:

The Espressologist is In

Fridays 6-10 p.m.

Come in for a little latte and love.

That’s the sign outside of a local Chicago Wired Joe’s every Friday night when jerky boss Derek Peters finds out about 17-year old barista and high school senior Jane Turner’s unique talent to match couples based on their favorite coffee drink (which she calls Espressology). He decides to capitalize on it—turning Jane into the holiday promotion for the month of December. She’s never been wrong, sales are through the roof, and the line of people each Espressology night wraps the block. But can it be too much of a good thing? During an interview with a talk show at the height of Jane’s fame, she is faced with a dilemma, lose her love or lose her credibility? Or possibly lose it all, including her best friend.

Light and a lot of fun, my young adult novel, “The Espressologist” is complete at 42,000 words.

In addition to my love for writing fiction (specifically YA), I am also a freelance writer and writing instructor at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. I received my Master of Arts in Writing from DePaul and I've also written for Writer's Digest magazine as well as a number of Web sites (including AbsoluteWrite.com, Writing-World.com, pregnancyandbaby.com, sheknows.com, CoolChyck.com, and a weekly 'Net Love column for the former Relationship101.com for over a year).

I came across your name in my search for an agent with experience in the young adult market and I feel that you would do a great job representing my novel. Would you be interested in seeing a full manuscript?

Sincerely,

Kristina Springer

***

So what do you think? I start out jumping right into the hook of my book and give a quick summary. Then I give the 411 on it (genre, title, word count) and the blah blah blah about myself, ending with the big question—do you want to read the book?

Ok, maybe querylicious is too strong of a word here and this query is just ok. I’m still not even sure and I could probably rewrite it over and over again but eventually you have to consider it good, stop, and send if you are going to get somewhere with it right?

What do you guys think makes a query querylicious?

Kristina, Miss Soon-to-Pub

Luck + Persistance + Heart = Success! (or Query On My Wayward Son)

Tip of the Day: When your day job suddenly involves more walking than sitting and you can no longer reach everything you need by swiveling in your spinny rolly chair, make sure to update your footwear accordingly.

If my agent hadn't just happened to be diving into more kidlit at the time I queried her, would she still have signed me?

I hope so! :)

But sometimes if you have what an agent/editor is looking for and don't even know it when you query them, then yes, you can totally chalk it up to luck when they jump all over your work.

BUT!

But your work ALSO must deliver in its pages. A kick-ass query is all well and good, but you're done and rejected if you follow it up with a not-so-hot novel. I should know. That was what happened with my novel #2. Ooops.

But I'm older (don't remind me!) and wiser (lay it on thick!) now! Actually I think now my novels are better than my queries -- ha! What do you think? Here's the query that snagged me my agent -- I think it's OK, but between my pages and what Chris was looking for at the time, it was also partial luck.

Dear Agent:

Because of your interest in historical and YA fiction, I thought to query you on my 48,000-word YA novel, SOMETHING STRANGE ON STAFF ROAD.

When 13-year-old Joanie Patcherson’s doctor Dad is fired from his job, the family is forced to move to the grounds of an insane asylum. While exploring the creepy community, Joanie, her brother, and their new neighbors discover Anna, a telekinetic healing girl who’s locked in the hospital. Anna’s doctors and mother are determined to make her “normal” and they prescribe a lobotomy as her cure, but Joanie can't let that happen: she needs Anna to use her healing powers to save Mom and her unborn baby. Joanie must break Anna out of the asylum, but she can't get caught – or else Dad will be fired, Mom's baby could die, and their family will be homeless again. And Anna won’t have a mind to save.

I have a BS in creative writing, an MLS with a focus on YA materials, am an active member of SCBWI, and look forward to a career in writing for kids and teens. My WIPs include a contemporary paranormal YA, and a contemporary realistic MG. Please let me know if you would like to see additional materials, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks!

Deena, Miss Recently Repped