Tag: querying

The Most Important Paragraph of a Query Letter

by Maria

Desktop-and-flowers

Query letters are not fun for anyone. Writers hate writing them, and agents are so inundated with them that it can be hard to churn through the onslaught, day in and day out. But as with most painful things in life, they are necessary and unavoidable. A query letter is still the best way to concisely tell agents who you are and why your book is exciting.

Everyone has a different system for reviewing and processing queries—some agents automatically route them to a query inbox and review them en masse, while others only review projects that have made it past the first barrier of assistants.

My method is probably a little weird. I have all queries sent to my main inbox, and I try to review and file every last one of them by the end of the day. This works for me for two reasons: 1. I am a little OCD about keeping my inbox manageable and filing things correctly; and 2. It means I never have a fantastic project languishing in a rarely-checked inbox for months.

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2 Types of Flawed Thinking That Are Getting in the Way of Landing a Book Deal

by Maria
how to get a book deal
thought patterns that hold you back

I was thinking about the last batch of queries I caught up on last week, and I was trying to pinpoint why I passed on so many of the nonfiction projects.

On the surface, it’s easy to quantify the most common reason for passing—around 350 of the approximately 500 rejection letters I sent were because the author’s platform wasn’t strong enough yet.

The “yet” is the crucial part of this. I was so happy to see so many well-written queries and proposals with sound market research, unique concepts, and strong sample material. But when I looked at the marketing and publicity section, there were too many instances of “I will do this…” rather than “I have already done this.”

Which leads me to believe that the deeper issue is more about timing and perspective than hard numbers. I think two things are happening:

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If Querying Isn’t Working for You: Troubleshooting & Resources

by Maria

Typewriter

As I’ve been talking about on my Twitter, yesterday afternoon I finally caught up on all queries as of February 1, 2015. Writers: if you submitted a query to me before that date and haven’t received a response, please re-send. It may have been lost in the cosmic Internet shuffle!

I’ve also been hearing back from many writers who are looking for a bit more guidance about how to build their platforms, so here’s a quick round-up of resources and articles you might find helpful:

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