The Query Wars: The Truth, The Truly Bizarre and All That Lies in Between

I have a secret to handling rejections on queries, partials and fulls. It’s not Ben and Jerry’s. Nope. I  share my rejection letters with my trusted critique partner, the fabulous Kat Bender. She’s part of my tribunal in determining what to take away from each rejection letter. I thought you might enjoy a glimpse at excerpts from the rejection letters I’ve received lately.

Let’s start with my YA paranormal mystery, Reckonings…

…Agent X has had a chance to review GHOST WHISPERER. Regrettably, he is taking on very few new clients at the moment and does not feel sufficiently excited about the manuscript to take it on…

Sincerely,

Intern Q

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…I don’t think I’m an ideal fit for RECKONINGS. I had trouble buying the tension between Kat and Evan, largely because I had trouble buying Evan. I’m a tough audience for British characters written by American authors anyway, but Evan felt less developed to me than the other characters.  I did like the voice…and the story at the heart of this book is compelling, but ultimately I didn’t feel that spark of connection that I need to feel to represent a project successfully…

Sincerely,

Agent Z

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…While I love the idea and am a fan of gothic mysteries, I’m afraid I’m not connecting enough with Kat on an emotional level to remain invested in the story. I’m sorry I can’t have better news, but I think in the end this is simply a matter of personal opinion and not a comment on your writing itself…

Best,

Agent A

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Now onto The Six Train to Wisconsin rejections…

…Thanks for sending along the pages of your manuscript, THE SIX TRAIN TO WISCONSIN. Truth be told, though, I’m afraid these pages just didn’t draw me in as much as I had hoped…

Best,

Agent Q

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…I find the story very interesting, and unique. I am having trouble wrapping my head around the story though  as I can’t answer this question:

 How is the husband able to get into his wife’s head to know when her suicidal tendencies are going to flare? I understand that she is a suicidal telepath, but how is her husband able to also sense this in his mind?

 

I found it hard to continue to read on not being able to answer this question and therefore must pass.

 Best,

Agent N’s Assistant

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…Though the husband is a valiant figure, we feel the piece has some problems: the language is melodramatic; the organization, a bit scattered; the content, somewhat redundant…

Respectfully,

Agent L

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Now onto the fun part–separating subjectivity from actual issues in the manuscripts that require further revision.

Have you received any rejections lately? Did they help you improve your manuscript or just leave you shaking your fist at the world?

Rejection–It’s not you, it’s not me

Veal stew and polenta. A dish common in the Vicenza area of Italy. Delish to me. Maybe disgusting to you.

This is where I’m at in the querying process. I’ve heard every reason under the sun to be rejected. And they all differ. Which makes it really hard to find anything useful in it.

Let’s see here’s a smattering:

• I don’t like your voice
• I don’t like your writing
• Your writing is not quite there
• Your voice is too breezy
• The beginning is too slow
• The beginning needs to slow down
• This is not a good fit for me
• I’m not enthusiastic enough
• I didn’t love it, but there’s nothing wrong with it

The list goes on. Variations of not for me. After a certain point, you either crumble (I did in Italy) or you distance yourself from it and pretend it doesn’t hurt (my new modus operandi). I view this like any job search. You send out hundreds of resumes and eventually you get a few interviews and a job.

It’s not personal. It’s business. This I repeat 10-20 times a day to myself.

I track each query in a spreadsheet. And every 10-20 queries, I look for a pattern in the rejections. Unfortunately this is not happening. Which may mean the story is good and I just haven’t found its soulmate. Or the story stinks and it should be burned.

Obviously, I think it’s the former. So I keep querying. I keep trying. I’ve worked out the kinks in the query. I think it’s the best query I can write.

I spent 4 months revising. I know this is the best book I can write (right now). So I’ll keep trying. For each rejection, I send another query out.

Publication is  a great goal, but if that’s the only goal, I would be a monumental failure.

So my goal is short term. To write everyday. To finish each story and revise it to the best of my abilities. And then to send it out into queryland.

What reasons have you been given for a rejection?

Everything’s Kaizen

I just got the forms to participate in the MWA mentorship program! Of course, I shunted aside the other ten things I was working on to get this in ASAP. I think this is such an awesome opportunity. I read about it last spring and waited for months for it to be September when they send out the email.

I am thrilled to have an opportunity to be mentored by an author. I’m not sure how the process works with MWA, but I will get a critique of my synopsis and first 50 pages of the manuscript. That alone is worth it’s weight in gold.

I remember when I started my consulting career, we all had mentors. It was a great experience, having someone show you the ropes and give you advice. Of course, I still made my shares of mistakes, but it was good to have a mentor.

Anyway, onto working on my submission. Should have it sent in by Friday. Then I seriously need to finalize the Brenda Novak auctions from June. The hold up in my submissions was drafting the query letter. Those things are freaking hard. I just got mine in shape for the YA novel. Now I’m fine tuning one for the paranormal romance novel. And every time I think it is ready to go, I sit on it a few days and inevitably make more changes.

Everything is kaizen I suppose–but it takes so much time to have continual, gradual improvement. I prefer leaps and bounds in a single minute.

Then again maybe if I went slower unpacking the stand up clothes rack wouldn’t have toppled over on me today.

C.J. Redwine Knows How to Write A Query Letter

Here’s my second to last installment from Killer Nashville and in my mind the most important. Why? Because I stunk at writing query letters until this conference. And C.J. Redwine’s workshop was a big part of turning that around.

This is just a brief summary from the 1 hour panel at the conference. I highly recommend taking C.J. Redwine’s  Query Workshop. It will be the best $50 you spent if you are serious about becoming an agented and published author because it includes multiple critiques of your query letter by an amazing query writer–that is priceless.

Ms. Redwine is an electrifying public speaker, who immediately captures the audience’s attention and keeps them engaged, making an hour fly by.

She opened with an honest explanation of how she got into teaching this workshop–her first two years of querying sucked. She struggled with putting 90K words into 1 page–it all sounded state and boring. Draft after draft of her query was sent out and rejected.

Unfortunately revising only made it worse. She didn’t know what to do. (Sounds terribly familiar doesn’t it?)

She submitted her query to the Janet Reid Query Shark blog and it got ripped apart for being stale/boring and synopsis like. Ms. Redwine threw out everything and read the back of a book cover. She made her query sound that way. She resubmitted to Query Shark and 4 hours later Janet Reid requested the manuscript. This was the turning point for her and soon after she queried more agents and got her agent.

After everything she went through, she understands how frustrating the query writing process is and how hard that elusive breakthrough can be. She has a comprehensive online workshop run once a month which teaches what a query letter is, the dos and don’ts and how to write an effective query letter.

Golden Rule: Books sell on concept and hook, not on deluge of information.The query has to make the agent worry and wonder just like the back of a book cover.She is a master at helping you sift through all the extraneous information to get to the heart of your concept.

A query is not about showcasing your writing ability. Being a great manuscript writer, does not mean you can write a killer query. They are two different writing skillsets.

Query Dos:

• Addressing agent correctly
• When emailing queries always sent to one agent at a time–Never cc
• Only send what agent wants to see based on their guidelines (shows you can follow directions and meet expectations)
• Write a  hook that makes you want to read book
• Include 1 paragraph of stats (writing creds if any, memberships in national writing organizations)
• Use the proper business format
• With e-queries send it to yourself to make sure formatting is okay after pasting into email from Word doc.
• You want the query to stand out–but not because you use scented paper or include a gift. Focus on your hook
• Remain professional at all times. Thank agent or stay silent when get a rejection email. Keep in mind you will be googled so check that your web presence is professional
• Generally 8-10 queries at a time in manageable. Keep track of it all in  a spreadsheet. Don’t re-query same agent
• Query 1 book at a time

Query Don’t:

• Never ever reference rejection letters in query
• Don’t pitch an incomplete manuscript
• Do not say you are the next J.K. Rowling or better than what on the market now
• Don’t say your book is life changing/important
• Don’t dare the agent to take you on
• Avoid rhetorical questions
• Avoid cliches

In terms of a web presence, a blog is free to have, but you must maintain it. Having a presence on Facebook and/or Twitter is useful. A website is great, if you can afford it, but content has to be updated.

The query is composed of 3 parts:

1. Salutation–Get agent gender correct.
2. Hook–concept of book–NOT A SYNOPSIS. Introduce main character, give glimpse of their personality, introduce antagonist, and tell what the stakes are and key conflict is.
3. Stats–Title. genre, word count (approximate) in one sentence. List any publishing credentials. Membership in national writer’s associations. Reason why query agent.

During the second hour of her panel she went on the critique several audience query letters. It was a great experience to hear what was and wasn’t working. I think everyone in the room benefited from it. I know I certainly did.

I hope this summary helped, though it is a poor substitute for the actual workshop. It’s one thing to read about it, another to be there participating and her on-line workshop is far more in depth than the condensed version at the conference.

Lessons from the Agent Author Day at Backspace

Today was the Agent Author Seminar of the Backspace conference. I’m pretty burnt out so I’ll just share the highlights…

QUERY TIPS

• Less is more–shorter queries are better
• Query style should match project style
• If make comparisons to other books, deliver on it!
• Having a referral from a published author is really useful
• Finding an agent is like dating–you need the right fit.
• Titles are frequently changed by publishers
• Some agents like to know if this is the first book in a series, other not so much–can mention series potential in query
• Don’t use passive voice in queries
• Have a clear distinct voice that is to the point
• dazzle people
• Writing is rejected generally when the writing is not strong enough or the premise isn’t interesting
• Show did your research by mentioning why querying agent
• Never send attachments unless instructed to do so
• Be professional—No LOL in query
• Timing Is everything–right agent, right time, right place
• Getting first agent is harder than falling in love

FIRST 2 Pages TIPS:

• Don’t go panoramic and zoom in like movies. Weather, scenery, looks of protagonist don’t need to be there unless really relevant
• You don’t need to mention all 5 senses in one scene
• Writers don’t finish manuscripts, they abandon them.

PITCH TIPS:

• What is your book about–be clear concise and compelling. 3-5 sentence state what book is about.
• Goal=tell and sell it to audience
• protagonist, basic plot and catalyst
• So what? Who cares? what’s in it for me?
• Who was it about? What happens to him/her? What is at stake?
• Short sentences, punchy. Say each sentence with one breath
• Want people to hear it and get it

Backspace Conference Begins

This morning, a 3 day extravaganza–The Backspace Writer’s Conference and Author Agent Seminar begins. Last November, I went to the 2-day event held by Backspace, and it was one of the best experiences. I accomplished more in the past six months than I ever thought possible because I learned so much, especially about how much I didn’t know that I didn’t know!

It was overwhelming and scary too. What to wear? Who to sit with? Talking to strangers. Don’t get me wrong, the people were super nice, but it was my first conference and it gave me flashbacks of my first day of school. Butterflies and sweaty palms. Luckily, I met a fellow writer in the ladies’ room and we confessed our nerves and hung out together during the presentations. Thank goodness.

I know my voice shook the first time I read my query letter aloud to agents. But I did it. And the agents gave feedback and other writers gave feedback. And I survived.   Today is the Author Agent Seminar with query and first two pages being read aloud.  I’ll let you know how it goes. *fingers crossed*

The cool thing about Backspace is there isn’t a formal pitch session so if you story needs work you haven’t blown an opportunity with an agent. Very rarely do you get a do-over with an agent but at Backspace you do.