Also, make sure to put page numbers, author name, manuscript title on every page (in header, footer, whatevs). #querytip

All of this is to say—make it easy for an agent to read your manuscript. Annoyances do not make for ideal submission reading. #querytip

More ms formatting fun: only ONE (1) space after a period. That's another holdover from typewriter/early word processor days. #querytip

Those formatting issues, btw, come from antiquated (i.e., pre-2000) advice, but word processing has evolved greatly since then. #querytip

For the love of commas, use italics instead of underlining. That's one I can't easily search & replace, and it drives me BATTY. #querytip

Standard manuscript formatting: 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced. JUST SAY NO TO COURIER. (It's annoying to read.) #querytip

I like it when writers mention social media accounts and author websites in a query. Makes google-stalking easier. #notkidding #querytip

Pelting agents and editors with tweets is not how to interact with them. #QueryTip #subtip #common_sense

From the blog archive: WHEN TO FOLLOW UP WITH LITERARY AGENTS WHILE QUERYING mariavicente.com/post/120013409… #querytip #amquerying

Please, please, please, please, please do not query unfinished manuscripts. Or ones that you're still revising the first draft. #querytip

#querytip If you call your book a thriller/romance/YA… make sure the blurb shows how it fits the genre.

For the love of Pete, learn the mechanics of the English language before querying a novel. Punctuation isn’t a free-form art. #querytip

Two queries this week with the deliberately misleading subject line "Requested Materials."

#QueryTip http://t.co/vugt2p8awd

Not a must-do, but I'm really coming around on authors including their query letter on the first page of a requested manuscript. #querytip

All novels should follow the trials, tribulations and triumphs of your protagonist. It's not a selling point. #querytip

Authors! If you're going to use comps in a query, be thoughtful. Don't choose popular books just because they're well-known. #querytip

DO mention if you are a part of the culture your book references/pulls from, bc I'm very interested in authentic, diverse stories #querytip

Don't quote from other rejections (??) even if they sound somewhat complimentary or nice #querytip

Also, don't use your valuable opening lines on bio, past works, etc! Hook me with your book as soon as possible #querytip

#querytip: When I'm in the middle of an inbox plunge, an opening paragraph that's basically a wall of rhetorical questions kills your query.