Jacquie Flynn

The holidays are coming, agents are shutting down. Hold off on queries until the new year #querytip

#QueryTip for you. If you reply to your own query to nudge a literary agent, you will move your query to the later date in the queue.

#QueryTip DON'T send this to an agent you might ever want to query again. It's hard to find time to even send a rejection, many agents don't

#querytip DO remember that only purpose of query is 2 ask agent 2 consider UR work 4 representation. It's a yes/no question. That's it

#QueryTip DO B4 querying read UR letter to people, ask them to tell U what UR book is about. If they don't get it, agents won't either

#QueryTip DON'T say fictional novel.

#QueryTip DON'T complain about other agent rejections, how horrible publishing biz is, or how UR unwilling to follow submission guidelines

Agents post #QueryTip (s) b/c we see same mistakes over & over. We don't have time 2 coach people who aren't clients, but we want to help.

#QueryTip DON'T waste agent's time. It's almost the worst thing you can do

#QueryTip DO answer agent questions completely to communicate that you would be great to work with & R professional.

#querytip DO remember that even if U snag an agent, U might need another agent in the future. Always be professional

#querytip DO tell agents who have requested partials/fulls if you are accepting an offer of representation.

#QueryTip DO add emails for agents you are querying to your Contacts so you will see agent responses.

#Querytip DO give title, genre, word count at the rather than describing world of novel as if real which can seen off or confusing...1/2

#QueryTip DON'T add agents mailing lists unless requested. We are really sensitive to the overwhelm of our in-boxes & our time

#QueryTip DO entire pass on UR sample/ms/query ONLY 2 Omit Needless Words. It can B fun, like a puzzle. U have 2B brave, but worth it

#querytip DO. If U have self-pubbed books prior to 1 UR querying make sure UR Amazon author connect page looks good & UR fans have reviewed

#QueryTip Do Check how file 4 your MS comes up on various e-readers to make sure UR ms. is readable. Agent prob won't want to reformat 4U

#QueryTip Don't start query by dwelling on "you get a lot of queries, mine's just another one..." Sounds like you've given up. Unappealing

#QueryTip Don't say UR book is funny. Write a query that makes me laugh. Humor is subjective & telling me I'm going to laugh makes me not