Marie Lamba

Query 10 - picture book by an author/illustrator. A germ of fun idea here, but didn't quite pull it off. Personal rejection. #querytip #amquerying #pubtip #amwriting

Query 9 - Horrible title, but possibly intriguing idea, plus the writer has some experience in entertainment industry. Hm. Setting this one aside for later look #querytip #amquerying #pubtip #amwriting

Query 8 - Time travel fiction - felt a bit too familiar and the voice didn't work for me. Form rejection. #querytip #amquerying #pubtip #amwriting

Query 7 - A really solid NF PB query by a published author. Well-written, but I think the focus is off for the market, so I'm passing. But open to seeing more in the future from this writer. #querytip #amquerying #pubtip #amwriting

Query 6 - More attachments. Why??? #querytip #amquerying #pubtip #amwriting

Query 5 - Memoir - could be interesting. Another one to set aside for later. My guidelines allow 20 pages of ms. to be pasted into query, so sometimes I need a bigger block of time to think more deeply on a query. #querytip #amquerying #pubtip #amwriting

Query 4 - This writer followed guidelines, knows my interests and has an interesting premise. Hm. Setting this one aside till I can consider it more. #querytip #amquerying #pubtip #amwriting

Query 3 - Picture book manuscript by a first-timer. My guidelines say I'm only looking at established pb authors, but okay. The rhyme is forced. Rejection sent. #querytip #amquerying #pubtip #amwriting

Query 2 - My name is misspelled. There are typos and grammatical errors in the first 5 lines of the query. I'm passing without reading further. #querytip #amquerying #pubtip #amwriting

Query 1 - Has an attachment. My guidelines say NO ATTACHMENTS. Delete. #querytip #amquerying #pubtip #amwriting

Query 10: Not addressed to anyone - clearly a massive cut and paste submission to any agent sent everywhere. And non-fiction adult - which I don't represent, per my guidelines. Poorly written query to boot. DELETE

Query 9: I've seen this exact same premise many many times. PASS.

Query 8: This author is obviously new to writing and doesn't understand the children's market re: length, content, voice. PASS.

Query 7: Nice voice, but the premise wasn't interesting enough to pull me in. Personalized rejection.

Query 6: Not addressed to me. A business letter must at least address the person you are writing to. DELETED.

Query 5: This query had WAY to much going on in the plot. I couldn't really understand what was going on. Not being able to write a clear query isn't a good sign. PASS!

Query 4: This one was a bout 50,000 words too long for its genre, and the plot idea didn't interest me enough. PASS!

Query 3: This one felt overly sentimental and too familiar plot-wise. Didn't excite me enough. PASS!

Query 2: Not address to anyone, and high fantasy. My guidelines say NO HIGH FANTASY. PASS!

Query 1: So gory, I can barely make it through the query without feeling ill. My guidelines say NO GORE. PASS!