A writing pal of mine suggested I submit the novels to a newish publisher. I asked the agent if she wanted to approach them, but she said I could do it. They’re based in the UK so I’m not sure if she’s hinting that she doesn’t want my business or if she’s just not comfortable dealing with an overseas publisher. At any rate, I sent in a query with the first three chapters and a synopsis and we’ll see what they say in a week or two.

The good news is that if they like the story, I instantly have two additional novels to pitch to them. The bad news is that if they like the story, I’ll be working on both historical fiction and science fiction novels at the same time. I’m not sure I have the spare hours required to do justice to both at once. Not to mention the time I’ll need to write new material for both.

Watch this space for updates. I shall post immediately if I get an offer. And my erstwhile agent has said she’ll be happy to look at any contract they offer, so that’s a good deal.

So what exactly should be in your query letter?

In Angie Hodapp’s Query Letter Boot Camp, we talked about the three (or four) parts of a query letter:

• (Polite) Greeting: This is where you tell the agent or editor about any connections the two of you have. The object is to get them to read the letter more carefully, so if you met at a conference and they said your story sounded interesting, mention that. If another author in their stable recommended you contact them, that’s another connection. At the very least, you might mention that you read their Wish List and your book fits exactly what they’re looking for — but only if it really does.
• Project Summary: This is where you give the manuscript’s title, genre, word count, and comps (comparable titles). If you have any accolades for this project, mention those also. A note about comps: you need to have two or three ready to go at all times without having to stop and fumble for something. These should not be the current best-sellers, but books that actually would be sitting next to yours on the bookstore shelf. They’re not books that are similar to yours in plot, or whose writing is similar to yours, but books that are similar in subject matter and genre. Make sure they’re current, also. Otherwise, it looks as if you’re not reading in your genre, which is a big no-no (if you don’t read the competition, how are you going to outshine them?).
• Pitch: This should be two to three paragraphs max, and should read like the back cover blurb. You don’t give away the ending or any surprise plot twists, but you do give the bones of the story and hook the agent or editor into asking to see the whole manuscript. You should be giving the protagonist, their goals, why they want them (motivation), what’s keeping them from achieving those goals (antagonist or antagonistic force), what they’re trying (and failing at) to achieve the goals, and what happens if they do fail (stakes).
• Bio and Credits: The final paragraph should give a little bit about you and your writing credentials. If you have none as a new writer, just give a very short bio like “I live in New Jersey with my wife and seven cats.” If your day job impacts your manuscript (say you write cozy mysteries about a cake decorator and your day job is a baker or decorator), then mention that. Otherwise, don’t mention your other career. If you do have credentials, mention where you’ve been published or what awards you’ve won recently (let’s not go back to your school accolades unless you’re a teenager). Sign off with a polite “Thank you for your consideration” or “I look forward to hearing from you.”

And that’s it. Of course, your query letter should be every bit as polished as your manuscript. Go over it with a fine-toothed comb and make sure it’s as tight as you can get it and that it shines out from the slush pile of letters every agent and editor gets daily. That means not only no typos, but no wasted words. You should be able to condense your book into a two- to three-paragraph pitch that excels at selling the story. And, of course, you follow polite business letter etiquette and spell the agent’s (or editor’s) name correctly, have researched to make sure they do want what you’re writing, and have already finished and edited your manuscript (at least one edit, preferably more). If you have a polished manuscript and a polished query letter to go with it, you should get some requests to see that manuscript.

Here’s some more great information from the Women Writing the West Conference and the Query Letter Boot Camp.

According to Angie Hodapp, there are six signal words you need to think about when creating your pitch. That’s the part of your query letter that details the plot of your book, rather like the back cover blurb.

• When: this signals the inciting incident; a disaster or interruption of the norm or change in circumstances. “When a young Kansas farmgirl is transported to a magical land by a tornado …”
• But: this signals a conflict, complication, or obstacle. “But she cannot return home unless the Wizard sends her.”
• Now: this signals the protagonist’s new and very bad situation, or their plans to overcome it. “Now, Dorothy must journey to see the great Wizard of Oz.”
• Must: this tells us the protagonist has no choice — they must see this through to the end, no matter what. “Dorothy must convince the Wizard to send her home.”
• Or (else): this signals the stakes, as in “Now X, or else Y.” “Dorothy must defeat the Wicked Witch or else she will be trapped in Oz forever.”
• Before: this signals the stakes plus a ticking clock, as in “Now X must happen before Y happens.” “Dorothy must defeat the Wicked Witch before the Wizard will agree to send her home.”

And in these equations, X stands for something challenging, painful, or seemingly impossible for your protagonist to accomplish, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. Y stands for either death or a loss worse than death.

There are also 5 W’s:

• What does your character want (the goal)?
• Why does your character want it (the motivation)?
• Why can’t they have it (the conflict — villain or antagonistic force)?
• What must they do to get it (the plan or try/fail cycles)?
• What happens if your character fails (the stakes)?

The point of your pitch is to hook the agent or editor into wanting to read your book. Keep it short and sweet, but make sure you cover the basics.

This is from our Query Letter Boot Camp by Angie Hodapp.

Here are 8 Tips for writing a query letter:

1. Shorter query letters tend to get better responses than long ones. This means “Just the facts, ma’am!” Keep it short & simple and you’ll get better results. You need a (very short) greeting, a 1-2 paragraph “hook” about the book (think back cover blurb), and a (very short) bio if you have writing experience. That’s it.
2. Literary agents rarely read the entire letter. They’re going to skim through, looking mostly at the book blurb, so polish that middle section until it shines. This means you don’t need to worry as much about the bio, especially if you’re a new writer. Just write a short sentence like “I live in South Carolina in a little house full of books and photographs” and sign off.
3. Mentioning “comp titles” in your query letter will encourage the agents to read more closely. If you know where your book fits in the marketplace and can name similar titles, an agent will take you more seriously. Don’t put down only best-sellers however — that shows you haven’t truly read anything similar and are just naming popular books.
4. A really good title can catch an agent’s attention. This isn’t an area you should worry yourself into a migraine over, but if you have a catchy title, it can help.
5. A terrific “hook” or concept won’t save a poorly-written query letter. This means you need to spend as much time polishing your letter as you do polishing the blurb, the synopsis, and the manuscript itself.
6. If you need to defend your word count, you’re already behind. Agents and editors look at word count as a way to determine whether or not you’re a professional writer who can keep to the genre standards. If you’re way over or way under the typical word count for your genre, there’s something wrong somewhere. Fix that before you send out any query letters.
7. A well-written pitch is “the gift that keeps on giving.” If you can polish that pitch until it’s perfect, not only can you utilize that in your query letters, but your agent can use it with editors. The editors use it with the marketing department, The marketing department can use it to craft the back cover blurb. And so on…
8. Mediocre query letters are rarely supported by stellar manuscripts. If you’re having sincere trouble creating a good pitch and query letter, you might not have a polished manuscript that’s ready to sell. You should be able to distill your story down to 1-2 paragraphs without any trouble. If you can’t, you need to take a good, hard look at that plot and see where you went wrong. Maybe the plot’s just not strong enough alone, or maybe you’ve got too much going on. It might be a good idea to pay for a manuscript assessment if you can’t figure out how to fix things on your own.

We’ll look more at your query letter in the next post. Until then, stay safe and keep writing!

So my query letter got chosen out of the slush pile for Jericho Writers Slushpile Evaluation session next week – w00t!

I’ll be learning whether my query letter is effective and if not, how to fix whatever’s wrong. Here are some tips on making an effective query letter.

1. Find the right agent. All agents have a wish-list, either on the website or on social media somewhere. It’s not hard to find. Before you send out that query letter, make certain what you’ve written is what that agent is looking for.
2. Spell the agent’s name correctly. You may call them by their first name or Mr/Mrs Whatever — but be sure it’s spelled properly. Take the time to do a bit of research and double-check yourself.
3. If you have an edge, say so. If you met them at a conference or were recommended by one of their authors, by all means brag a bit. Certainly if they requested your pages, mention that right at the first. If you’re just querying blindly, say something neutral like “I have an adult science fiction novel that I thought you might be interested in…”
4. Research the agent. Find out something you can mention in your letter, like they’re looking for something edgy and dark, or they prefer happily-ever-afters. It’ll say something on their website that you can use to show them you’ve looked them up carefully.
5. Your pitch should be one to two paragraphs max. If you can’t condense your story down that short, you need to rethink your plot. Pretend you’re describing a movie to a friend who’s on their way out and just give the bones of the thing. Never mind the subplots, plot twists, backstory, and anything else not essential to understanding the basic plot.
6. If you have writing credentials, mention them. If you’ve sold stories under another pen name, say where. If you’ve got a degree or any professional experience, say so. If you have anything that helps sell your story, mention that too (if your book is about teeth and you’re a dentist, for example). If you have nothing, just give them a very short, general bio like “I live in Maine and have seventeen cats.”
7. Don’t bother the agent. If they say they have a 3 week turnaround, don’t expect to hear back before then. After that time passes, you may send a polite email asking if they received your letter, but if that goes unanswered as well, assume they are not interested. Sometimes the agency is just not very polite and thinks ignoring you is as good as sending you a rejection.

You should work as hard on your query letter as you do on your pitch and your synopsis. Each of these three should be polished until they shine from beneath the slush pile!

One of the tough things authors have to do is to write a query letter for an agent or editor.

Your query letter, according to Jane Friedman, should contain five things (in no particular order):

• Personalization – the part of the letter where you customize for each individual agent or editor. Be sure you spell their name correctly!
• What You’re Selling – the genre and subgenre, title and word count
• The Hook – this is the meat of your query. One to two hundred words is enough for most fiction queries
• Bio – this is optional. If you don’t really have anything of note to report, just skip this part and go straight to the …
• Closing and Thank You – always thank the agent or editor for taking the time to look over your manuscript

Here are some “Red Flags” for your hook:

• Is it longer than 200 words? That’s too much wordage – cut it back.
• Does it reveal the ending of your book? Save that for your synopsis.
• Does it mention more than two or three characters? Just mention your protagonist, antagonist and maybe a sidekick or romantic interest.
• Does it go into the minor plot points? If it has nothing to do with the main plot line, skip it.

 

So at the Tony Hillman Conference, they had a session where you could put your name into the hat for a reading of your first page in front of two best-selling authors and an agent.

I got lucky (gulp!) and my number was drawn, so I read my page, voice shaking with fear.

And they all loved it! I was so stoked, especially when I approached the agent after the session, and she said to send her the first 50 pages.

Just got an email from that agent this week, too. She wants to see the entire manuscript once she gets back from her holidays!

Wish me luck, guys!

In honor of my upcoming task, HERE’S a link to the Writer’s Digest guide to writing the perfect query letter.

The manuscript is back from the copy editor already!

I think that’s a good thing. She said it was a good story, and this is a PhD in English, so I’m going to believe her and start working on those query letters!

A few niggles – some instances where I spelled a minor character’s name one way in one chapter, and slightly different in a later chapter, some words I hyphenated one time and didn’t hyphenate later – that sort of thing. And, of course, the inevitable missed comma errors (I tend to add too many) and misspellings that the Spell-Check doesn’t catch because they’re real words (just not the word I intended to spell).

Overall, I’m satisfied that “my baby” is ready to send out into the dangerous world of Publishing. I never had kids, so I don’t really know, but it feels less like sending a child off and more like entering a science project in a huge science fair and hoping for a prize. I did my best work – and I know that will improve as I keep practicing the craft! – and now it’s time to let the judges see what I created.

Keep your fingers crossed!