"Please consider my 200,000 word..." #querytip

Guest Post: Julia Bennet's Query Process #query #querytip #amquerying #amwriting bookendsliterary.com/2018/06/25/gue…

#PubTip = to query me, include the word “query” in subject line of email.

Subject line, “Query: Red Hot Love” goes to my inbox.

Subject line, “Red Hot Love” goes to my spam.

#queries

Do not use Mailchimp to send query letters. Seriously. #pubtip

If you want to write children's lit, then you need to read children's lit, and I mean CURRENT children's lit. You shouldn't be comping your work to C.S. Lewis, J.K. Rowling, or Roald Dahl. #querytip

General PSA: please follow our submissions guidelines when sending in your query. I promise we're not being picky just to be difficult; our form formats queries in a certain way in our inbox and makes it easier for us to read, organize and respond in a timely manner #querytip

I've been asked a few times lately so let me respond with clarity:
YES, if I reject your book I would love to see a query for a different book by you!
YES, if I reject your book and you revise it significantly, I would love to see the query again!
#querytip #askagent

To follow that: Takedown Piracy is a great website you can report pirated books too, and they help shut the pirating sites down. takedownpiracy.com/tips/ #pubtip #bookpiracy

Authors (even traditionally pubbed ones): Set up a Google Alert for the title of your books. That way you discover when they've been pirated and can report the website. #writetip #pubtip #bookpiracy

A good #askagent question, and my answers. #amquerying #querytip

...but rather because she wants to have the opportunity to take the chance on you with the right book at the right time.
Signing you when you're not ready does you no favors. It only sets you up for greater hardship in the future. END

I don't have any stats or anything about how often this impacts deals. But when I'm considering an author, I do look to see our communicative history. And if an agent turns you down due to writing, it isn't because she isn't willing to take a chance on you...5

So if agents are telling you your work is not ready, know that we mean it not to insult you but to DO YOUR CAREER A FAVOR. You have a better chance of making the perfect impression if we refused to send something out that wasn't high enough quality to stick. 4

If your 1st book goes out to publishers in a sub-par state, all it takes is a quick search of the inbox to make an editor question their initial impression of your NEXT, BETTER BOOK. They go from "I love this author!" to "Hm. The author's work is not consistent" in a few clicks.

In this digital age, searching my inbox to see if I have communicated with a writer or not take me 2 seconds. So if I like your book, I DO check to see if I have rejected you before and why. Editors have this ability too. The reason this matters...2

YES TO THIS 👇🏽👇🏽 if you knew your genre inside out, you wouldn't say this and you wouldn't feel superior to others writing in it, because you'd be too busy figuring out how best to honor it for having made you the writer you are today.

#querytip

#PubTip = a book's cover should be evocative if not, necessarily, literal.

#querystats Of the 26 queries I rejected about...
30% were because querier didn't understand their audience/genre
30% were because I didn't see enough story/plot
20% were because the idea didn't sound marketable
20% were because didn't feel different enough #amagenting #querytip

I average ~3 dream queries a week. More than fae/fairy queries, which are common too. Dream walking, dream reading, living in dreams, dreams coming true, dream manipulation...

The downside is that these queries focus on the gift rather than the character & plot. #querytip 1/3

#querystats 29 queries read: 3 YA, 7 WF, 4 Romance, 5 Suspense, 10 General Fiction. 3 requested: 1 Suspense, 1 WF, 1 YA (FYI -- All the requests happened to mention seeing my #MSWL somewhere) #amagenting