In my blog reading the last few days I’ve noticed a number of agents talking about people sending them query letters that are in their “do not represent” genre list, or writers sending multiple query letters after they’ve received a rejection. A few days ago, Jessica Faust at BookEnds agency posted a message entitled Please…
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I’ve done three drafts of my query letter and lots of tweaks in between, and I still feel as flummoxed as when I first started. My husband says I should be having fun with it. I have fun when I’m writing my novel and it shows. I should have the same fun with the query.…
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A few years ago, when I started getting serious about writing books for children, I got a few ideas for picture books and, in between working on my novel, I wrote one. Picture books are shorter, I figured, and wouldn’t take me as long. WRONG! Of course, I didn’t know that then. I wrote, researched picture book…
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After writing, for my query letter, a description for my novel that I was pretty happy with, I didn’t quite get the feedback I was hoping for from my critique group. The general feeling was that the paragraph was fine, but nothing special. Well, if you’ve been reading this blog over the past couple weeks, you’ll…
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I finally finished researching the 124 agents AgentQuery.com came up with as representing middle grade books and have made a list of close to 30 who I think will be a) great to work with based on their blog posts and interviews and b) could be interested in my book based on the books they…
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Literary agent Nathan Bransford has a contest on his blog this week. On Monday, he posted 50 query letters from real writers. Five are from published works (with the names changed, of course) and the rest are either fake or real from writers who volunteered their queries for the contest. The game is Be An…
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In numerous conference seminars, I’ve heard that one of the best ways to prepare to write a query letter is to read the jacket flap copy on books that are similar to yours. So, I spent about four hours in a bookstore this weekend doing just that. It was a very useful and interesting exercise.…
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I found another great link on query letter writing, this time from author Jackie Kessler on the Deadline Dames blog. Jackie graciously provides the query letter that got her 11 requests for the full manuscript, then five offers of representation. Within a week after she chose which agent to sign with, her book, Hell’s Belles,…
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Happy Easter! As much as I like this blog to be read, hopefully you’re all taking a break from publishing (I know, strange for the “write every day” girl to say that) and enjoying your Easter. It’s hard to believe, but some things are more important than our writing. 🙂 I’ve done more research on how to…
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Yesterday was my first day trying to formulate a query letter for my newly (nearly finished) polished novel (I say nearly finished because I’m still waiting for some notes to come in from a writer friend who is reading it). I’ve written query letters before and hated it. I was never any good at writing…
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