ARGGH!
Why is this so hard?! I’ve done
this before. I’ve successfully done
this before so why am I practically in tears?
Query Letters.
There aren’t very many two-word
combinations that strike so much terror to a writer’s heart.
I’m writing a query letter. And
dang if query writing isn’t like some great mystery of the universe, some
massive puzzle the solution to which is held by very few people in the world.
ARGGHH!!
The reason for those arghs is that
it seems each agent and editor has her/his own idea of what makes a good query
letter. No two agents or editors like the same thing in the same way and in the
same format. And from what I’ve recently seen, each agent has different ideas
on different days of what makes a stellar query! One of my dream agents has
several of her favorite query letters posted on a site, along with her comments
on what made each great. I was so thrilled to find this Holy Grail, but then my
hopes were completely dashed when I discovered that there was no consistency to
what she liked. Argghhh…
My first ever query letter, the successful one, was to editors of small
publishers, not agents. And to be perfectly honest that book and those query
letters were for practice purposes. I was LEARNING how to write a novel and
LEARNING how to write synopses and query letters. That my first effort was a
success was surprising to say the least. All but one editor requested either a
partial or a full, and all sent glowing rejections, except for the one who
offered me a contract.
But agents are a different story,
and they are making me very nervous. I believe an author’s chances of making it
onto an NBA team are better than landing an agent.
Of course we all have our short
list of dream agents, the ones we can only hope to one day have represent us. Which
raises the next unanswerable question: Do I send queries to each of them in the
first round, or spread it out a bit, mixing them into rounds with second and
third tier choices? If the query fails, I want to know it and be able to
rewrite it before I’ve sent it to all those first choice agents. Argghh…
Now do you see why those two words
are so dreaded among writers?
If you want to further educate
yourself (or confuse yourself depending on how you’re feeling about it) on
query letter writing there are fortunately many good sources online. I just
came across a fabulous post by dream agent Sarah Davies of the dream agency
Greenhouse Literary. I like this post because she makes it clear and
straightforward—there is little alchemy involved. At the end of this post I’ll
give you links to Ms. Davies’ post as well as other useful sites.
Now I really need to get back to
writing my query letter. And make sure it reflects the voice of my book. And
make sure I include a blurb that makes the agent want to read more. And make
sure I have enough biographical info but not too much. And, and, and. Sigh…
I highly recommend each of these
sites for useful, helpful information on query writing:
Sarah Davies’ Query Writing: A Guide for the Anxious: http://greenhouseliterary.com/index.php/blog/article/query_writing_a_guide_for_the_anxious
Writer’s Digest—60 examples of successful query
letters: http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/successful-queries
Query Shark:
Writer’s Digest’s Chuck Sambuchino on Query Letter Writing:
Good luck on your query letter!!
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