Help! The query letter - looking for advice.

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Querying & Synopsis Advice Videos

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popparazzi

popparazzi

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Dec 19, 2018
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I'm at that stage. I can't put it off any longer.

After proof reads and edits, the time has come to submit my debut novel.

I've read so much conflicting advice about the style, content and format of the query letter, I've seen websites with wildly different examples, all purporting to show exactly how it should be done and I'm left feeling just a little confused.

Some examples read like a synopsis and others concentrate more on the author. If you've got no previous writing credits to brag about, this might prove tricky.

I'd be interested to know what advice Litopians might offer.

My apologises if this has been asked before - I'm sure it must have been.
 
I knew there would be something in the archives - thank you for responding and for the link. I've had a look at both the videos and am relieved that I'm on the right track. I just need to summon up the required amount of nerve to press 'send'.
 
popparazzi said:
I knew there would be something in the archives - thank you for responding and for the link. I've had a look at both the videos and am relieved that I'm on the right track. I just need to summon up the required amount of nerve to press 'send'.
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Don't hold your breath, popparazzi, expecting a prompt reply. Response times vary enormously. My quickest was five minutes—from an agent in N.Y. who represented several English crime writers. The slowest was almost two years, from a new literary agency with two agents, who'd been inundated with queries after several articles in the press about their start-up.

Typically, it will be a couple of months before you hear anything, and that will be a standard rejection email of a few lines, with no reasons given. Many agencies won't reply at all. Querying helps a writer grow a hide like a rhinoceros!
 
Thanks Paul - I'll be thrilled to get a reply at all - even if it takes months. The stories I've read about what it takes to find an agent have left me in no doubt about what to expect. I believe persistence, determination and the hide of a rhino are the chief requirements.
 
Oh no. You can put it off. I'm sure of it. I believe in you.

But ...

A Query Whisperer

The above isn't the query whisperer I was looking for ... let me look some more....

Ugh. I can't find her. She was a young adult author who claimed to be a query whisperer. But the one above claims the same thing. Maybe she's just as good.

Anyway, if the idea of writing a query letter fills you with trepidation, my advice is to relax your brain. Have you ever seen Bull Durham?

Breath Through Your Eyelids
 
What Rachael Herron, the Query Whisperer, says about how long an agent spends on a query letter gave me an idea:

"Agents (or their interns) give your perfectly-crafted email approximately 15 seconds or less. They’re literally looking for an excuse to say no to your pitch in order to get through their inboxes which will fill again tomorrow with yet more mediocre queries."

Something in a writer's email needs to catch the agent's eye. I'm currently writing synopses for my five Cornish Detective novels, and to concentrate my thoughts about the main elements of each story I compile a list of a dozen keyword tags above the synopsis. I've used these when listing short stories, novellas and poetry on Amazon and Smashwords.

Using Amazon Keyword Tags to Sell More Books

They're a shorthand way of saying what a story is about. Thus, someone who likes crime stories with detailed Forensic and Autopsy elements would search those tags.

I'm thinking about listing my tags above the synopsis that I send to agents.

The keyword or tags for the latest novel The Dead Need Nobody are:

Murder...Art Theft...Art Forgery....Cat Burglar...Prostitution...Embalming...Opium... Burglary...Autopsies...Love...Lust...Passion...Creativity...Eccentricity.

It might help, but with the nebulous ways that agents decide on the fate of queries, none of us know why they like some submissions and ignore others.
 
I doubt even agents themselves would know what it is that jumps out and grabs them - we're all guilty of making decisions based on nothing more than a whim. I like the tag approach though, certainly concentrates the mind and if one or two words can make a difference then it's got to be worth thinking about.

The query whisperer's "15 seconds or less" is probably a little optimistic, a quick scan of the first paragraph might only take 5 seconds and if there's nothing there that makes them want to read on - next please. Or am I just too old and cynical?
 
@AgentPete has said in multiple Pop-Up Submissions that agents are *not* looking for a reason to say NO. And if you really think about it, you'd see that would make zero sense for them to want to reject all their submissions.

How do you think they make money? By selling books. So obviously they're looking for a book they know they can sell.
The reason it only takes them a few moments to make a decision is because they know what they want, and they know what they don't want. The majority of the time, they're passing because the writing is not there yet. Or because they don't represent what you sent them. Or because they do represent it, but no one is buying it right now. Or because the idea doesn't move them. Or because you have failed to tell them what the story is about and why they should read it.

Use tag words if you must but honestly? They aren't going to make a decision based on them, or on the lack of them. They're going to make a decision based on the writing. The story. The pull of it. The right idea at the right time. The right commercial idea at the right time.

You want to know what agents are looking for? Tune into Pop-Up Submissions this Sunday.

Or at least view this so you better understand, from an agent's POV, what rejection is really all about: https://colony.litopia.com/threads/on-handling-rejection.5122/
 
@popparazzi , congrats for being at the query stage, so get it out there. I wish you all the best.

I agree with Carol and Katie-E above. They are two very wise people.

I’d like to add few thoughts.

Watch some pop-ups and imagine you were the agent. While a sub is being read out, ask yourself: would I take on that sub? If not, why? What's wrong with it. Analyse it. You might find it useful and gain some useful tips. Then listen to Pete's analysis of that same sub. You WILL find it useful. He is a guru as far as I'm concerned. If he likes it and calls it in, then listen to the why.

So 'play agent' and you might get a feel for what they are looking for and how to write a good query. What kind of letter ect would you want to read if you were the agent?

popparazzi said:
style, content and format of the query letter,
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Always check their websites for specifics. They may have guidlines. Professional is always good.

This is what I'll be doing with my next one: I'll send the queries out in batches of maybe five then wait a couple of weeks. Someone might be kind enough to give constructive feedback as to why they said no. If no one bites, I'll look at my sub. Is there anything I want to change? After a two week break from it, I might see a weakness in my letter. I then re-consider, tweak if necessary, then send out the next lot.

And I will now keep it simple. I'll pick one strong selling point of my novel then run with that; the core of what makes it sell-able, read-able. The core question / conflict of the story. Too much info in your letter might muddy the sub.

I guess there is no magic formula. All we can do is write the best novel we can write, then write the best sub we can, then send it out. Be you. If the moment is right for our work, great. If the 'no's and no responses flood in, stop, and take stock. Is it you? Is it them? Is the novel not ready? Was the market not ready? Did you query the wrong agent? Etc.

I'm coming to the conclusion that Agent Pete's mantra of 'More meaning from less words' also applies to the submission process. I wonder if that's that the case, @AgentPete? I suspect overselling rarely works. A travel writer told me to query like this: Short, sharp, then shut up. The three 'S'.

Paul Whybrow said:
They’re literally looking for an excuse to say no to your pitch in order to get through their inboxes which will fill again tomorrow with yet more mediocre queries.
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Appologies in advance but I'm about to tread on a toe or two: I find this statement untrue, and toxic. It gives agents a bad image. Agents aren't sharks who sit behind desks waiting for the subs to flow in so they have something slaughter. Agents want to find the next bestseller. They don't look for an excuse to say no. They simply know what they're looking for. They are innundated with subs to the point they can be fussy. They deal with subs everyday and have experience to see red flags (by red flags I mean anything from bad writing, to stories that won't sell, to stories that don't fit in with what they represent, to stories that have been done, to stories that ... etc). They know their stuff. In other words, they have the ability to assess a sub in seconds.

Unfortunatly with so many people writing these days, there will be more 'no's than 'yes's. It's just numbers. Mediocre subs aren't the agent's fault. Imagine having hundres of emails then having to sift through them to find the gem that will pay your mortgage ...

Agents want us to do well because if we do, they do. They benefit from us, we benefit from them. Let's see them as friends, not enemies.
 
So much good advice; I'm grateful.

Recognising that the process of getting published is highly competitive, it's no wonder that agents are picky, they have to be. Before sending my first batch of five submissions off, I accept that it could take a while and I have to be prepared for rejections. That said, the writing, the story, the characters have got to stand up to scrutiny and that should come across in the query letter and the synopsis, they must both be some sort of indication of what is to come.

I've watched a couple of pop-ups and will tune in for more, playing the agent role with an objective ear.
 
popparazzi said:
the writing, the story, the characters have got to stand up to scrutiny
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That's why the first few chapters are so key. The time to glow. I spent yonks on the beginning of my novel. I 'designed' it, crafed it to get all the ingredients in. Pete's advice from the submission surgeries helped tons.

popparazzi said:
that should come across in the query letter and the synopsis, they must both be some sort of indication of what is to come.
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Totally agree. Not a stress-free task, I noticed. Sometimes I wish writing was easier.
 
It's a worry when I think how long ago I started writing the book - I hope I've learned something over the years (many years) but it's hard to resist re-writing the first three chapters in light of how my writing may have changed (improved?). Wouldn't it be wonderful if writing was as easy as taking pictures.
 
popparazzi said:
it's hard to resist re-writing the first three chapters in light of how my writing may have changed (improved?)
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Resisting means there's a pull. If you feel a pull, maybe explore it? If what you've learnt over the years improves those chapters, it might be something to consider? I guess the question would be: would you be improving it, or changing it? Just a thought. :)
 
Until I get an unbiased objective opinion, the 'pull' to make changes will always be there. Much as I love them, friends and family are never going to be too critical and their enthusiastic support and kind words are no substitute for the opinion (harsh or otherwise) of someone who knows what sells. I'm not too much of a snowflake, I can handle criticism, or should I say "negative feedback".
 
popparazzi said:
Until I get an unbiased objective opinion, the 'pull' to make changes will always be there. Much as I love them, friends and family are never going to be too critical and their enthusiastic support and kind words are no substitute for the opinion (harsh or otherwise) of someone who knows what sells. I'm not too much of a snowflake, I can handle criticism, or should I say "negative feedback".
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Have you had any of it in the writing groups for feedback? I can highly recommend putting yourself under the scrutiny of fellow litopians.
 
Looking through those successful queries on Writer's Digest above, it strikes me there's no rule, except clearly expressing what your novel is about, and it happening to be of interest to a particular agent at a particular time.
 
popparazzi said:
Gulp. I think that day is approaching and I can't put it off. How do I go about doing that? - I've never been part of a writing group.
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I think you have to have made a certain number of posts to qualify. Get posting! I'll look forward to seeing your stuff.
 
Just finished the webinar - plenty of good advice, much of it repeating the words of wisdom expressed on these pages but always good to hear an agent explaining things from their point of view and patiently answering questions they must have been asked a ton of times before. I particularly liked the idea of finding a "moment of connection" when researching an agent, a shared interest, or liking for something or someone that would make your letter stand out.
 
I just spent the last couple of weeks reading the Query Shark archives, and I recommend it. She's an agent who chomps queries to bits and you get to see how she does it. It's been immensely helpful in learning how to craft one—I completely rewrote mine and think it's much better. Just a bit clunky yet, and I'm biding my time until I'm not such a newbie and can post in the Writers Group. Looking forward to getting some help and helping others.
 
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Paul Whybrow

Querying & Synopsis Advice Videos

  • Paul Whybrow
  • Replies: 14
Erica Verrillo

7 Great Writing Conferences in February 2019

  • Erica Verrillo
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