And now a word from...Intern X

Two postings ago I promised a guestblog from Intern X, one of my fabulous query-reading interns, talking about how your querying chances are better than you think, based on the fact that many queriers disqualify themselves. So, without further ado, here is her take on the topic:

When I first heard that Jenny was looking for a few good interns, I was -so- excited to finally get to see how real authors write their queries and communicate in the uber professional writing world.

Boy was I in for a big surprise.

Before I was an intern, I had read that something like 90% of authors disqualified themselves without us even reading their query. I felt for sure that all those previous query-reading interns must have been wrong. I was going to blaze in there and find all these fab books and spend my time happily reading future bestsellers.

That’s not what happened.

Here’s what did:

That first time I logged into Jenny’s queries inbox I found it full to bursting.

About thirty percent of those queries didn’t match what Jenny was looking for (posted in her easy to find submissions guidelines). Instant rejections.

Another five percent of spam. (yes, agents get spam too) This included junk mail blasts of book promotions, invites to social media, etc. Instant deletions.

Half of those remaining didn’t include the requested ten pages (also posted in her submissions guidelines). If we didn’t like the query, we didn’t bother to ask for the ten pages. If we did like the query, we had to write back asking for them. Their query then went back to the bottom of the pile.

Another chunk, say fifteen percent of those remaining, were thank you letters for Jenny rejecting them so nicely. Jenny writes an amazing rejection letter.

When all is accounted for, that’s only about 20% of queries that come in that are formatted correctly.

And that’s not counting the ones we have to decline because of off-the-wall and copycat plots…or those that aren’t ready to be querying agents yet because they don’t have a good grasp of spelling or punctuation or grammar.

But every once in a while, a query would stand out. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, but they nearly always follow Jenny’s guidelines to a T. Those stellar books were worth hours of slogging through the queries pile. They made me rush to the “Fwd:” button and zip a copy off to Jenny with glee and then I’d wait by my inbox salivating, hoping I’d get a chance to read the novel in question.

My own query went from 0 out of 10 requests for more to 7 out 10 requests for more after joining Jenny’s query reading team. Every author should intern.

So how can you be one of those precious few that stand out? Here’s a few of the most common mistakes that we see. You can bet that those standout queries didn’t make these mistakes. Make sure your query doesn’t either.


Ten Common Query Mistakes

Spelling: You’ve proofed your MS to within an inch of it’s life (right? RIGHT?) so why would you rush through your query? Take a moment and make sure all your words are correctly spelled. You’d be amazed if I told you how many times someone has spelled query ‘queery’ or ‘querry’ or ‘quury’ (one out of every ten, usually).

Not knowing who you’re soliciting: If you query an editor, don’t say ‘Dear Agent’ because they are not an agent. Likewise, don’t address a query to a lady agent by saying ‘Dear Sirs.’ Giving us a choice (‘I am seeking a publisher or a literary agent’) means that you haven’t given the proper thought to who you’re sending the query to. Along that line, don’t say that you’re looking for a publishing house to represent you. Agents represent, not houses. There’s no need to say that you’re looking for an agent to represent you either. We know that any emails sent to the query address are queries. Just get to the point, *your book*

Not having the cajones: Don’t spend two paragraphs apologizing for ‘wasting’ our time by sending us your letter. If you don’t think you and your book are the bees knees, then how’re you going to convince us?

Using cliché/vague phrases: ‘Then a manipulated act sets a chain reaction of grim events into motion,’ could be said about anything; The Wizard of Oz, Titanic, Harry Potter, Winnie the Pooh, Prada & Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, etc. What sets YOUR book apart?

Oopsie: If you make a mistake, don’t send another email. The only time this is appropriate is if by some strange reason, your cat jumped on your mouse and clicked ‘send’ before you had a chance to paste in the appropriate amount of sample writing. In that case, immediately send the same query with the right guidelines followed. A good way to avoid this is to put the email address in last. An email cannot be sent if it doesn’t have anywhere to go. Don’t send an email apologizing for the misspelled word in paragraph three. Change it in your master query and don’t make the same mistake twice.

Not being passionate: Don’t say that the only reason you’ve written this book is because you were laid off last year/your wife left you/you found yourself with some free time. If you’re not serious about writing, why even bother? Are you just looking for a quick million? ‘Cause that ain’t gonna happen. If writing is just a hobby and you’re not willing to put your all into it, why not just use a print-on-demand service instead and save a lot of time?

Email: if your email has a different name attached to it than the one in the email, that sometimes triggers spam filters. Make a new email address with your name on it and use it solely for queries. Be sure to disable any ‘pingback’ emails that say that you don’t allow unapproved email and that we need to fill out a form.

Telling: ‘This novel is a story about the destructiveness of war and hatred, and the redemptive power of love’ is a waste of space. Let your book do the talking.

Anything other than a query: Don’t email and ask us how to query. That’s what Google is for. That’s what submissions guidelines are for. That’s what agent websites and blogs and query help blogs are for. Use them. Queries inboxes are for queries.

Sample pages: If the sub guidelines ask you for ten pages embedded, it means ten pages embedded. It doesn’t mean the whole manuscript attached. It doesn’t mean seventeen pages because the first chapter was only nine pages long and you didn’t want to cut the second chapter off. If we write to ask for those ten pages, it is NOT a partial request. It’s us giving you a second chance to follow the guidelines.

BONUS – Comparisons: It’s one thing to say that your book is a cross between Watership Down and The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (Funny bunnies in space? Heck yes!) but it’s quite another to say that you’re the next JK Rowling or Stephen King. They already exist. Be the next YOU, not a copycat.

Seriously, by following the submissions guidelines for each query you write and double-checking that all is professional and spelled correctly, you’ll be ahead of 85% of all other queries.

Rookie Mistakes

It's okay to make mistakes. It's the way we learn, after all. And some mistakes are unavoidable. But others are not. I've been thinking a lot recently about some of the mistakes I've made in the past--I turned 40 this year (I've probably mentioned this 500 times already), and it's made me very contemplative. I've come to the conclusion that while I really am grateful for my mistakes because they've made me a better person in the long run, a great deal of them probably could have been avoided. These are the mistakes I made because I was young and in a hurry: in other words, I made Rookie Mistakes. They're mistakes I can look back on and learn from, but that I could have avoided at the time if I had slowed down and been more thoughtful about where I was going and what I was doing. Writers make Rookie Mistakes too, mostly because they haven't taken the time to educate themselves or to really think about the process and what's going on from the side of the agent or publisher. These mistakes aren't career enders, but they might be career derailers, even if only briefly. I'll go through a few of these, mostly having to do with queries, and then finish on a high/low note with the one Rookie Mistake I find truly appalling.

Some of you may think these are obvious, but I've seen all these mistakes multiple times and, if you think about it, they're not so crazy--maybe uninformed, but not completely from left field. With the exception of the last one, that is. I'll list them here and hopefully you can avoid making them *and* learn from them at the same time.

1. Pitch multiple projects in one query. I've heard from multi-published authors who send me a three page letter explaining five different projects in detail. Or I'll get an e-mail from an unpublished writer with short synopses for ten different books. In other words, this mistake is made by authors with all different levels of experience. I don't think this is an unreasonable mistake--if you have a lot of projects complete, why only pitch just one? Won't you increase your chances if you pitch a lot of different ones? But it just ain't so. What you need to do here is put yourself in the shoes of the person reading the query. They are tired. They may be hungry (pretty much a given in my case). They have a lot to do. They may have read thirty queries before yours and they may have to read thirty more after yours. Make their job easier by pitching one project. If it's in a series, you can explain the series arc. But keep it to one. Later, if they're interested, you can discuss the others. If you bring them up in your original query, you'll just make their eyes glaze over and their brain shut down.

2. Pitch a novel before you've finished writing it. Now, if you are a published genre writer, and you sell novels from proposals, this is fine. I don't mean that. I mean, you are a first time novelist and you are working on a novel and you send me a query for it before you are done. I am actually very surprised by how often this happens. Most of the mistakes I'm writing about, I really do understand. And there has to be a good reason for this one (I'm sure someone will tell me). But what is it? Why would you query me before you have something complete to send me? Surely you know there's a chance I'll want to read it? The downside to doing this is two-fold. One, agents have very short attention spans, basically for the reasons I outline in #1 above. We are like crows--we see the shiny object and we want it now or we fly away. If you get me excited about your book, you have a short window to get it to me before I get excited about the next one. Two, agents are suspicious (I can hear all my agent friends right now telling me to speak for myself, but whatever). If you take a few months to get me material, there's a good chance I think it's because you gave another agent an exclusive first, and only sent it to me after that agent passed.

3. Query multiple agents at one agency--at the same time. This one I think is pretty reasonable. If you can query multiple agents, what does it matter if they're at the same agency? The problem is this: if you query multiple agents at different agencies, and two different ones ask to see it, it's not a problem. But if you query two agents at the same agency, and they both want to see it, then you have a problem. This happened to me more than once while I was at Trident. And because the agents want to be respectful of each other, they fall all over themselves insisting that you send it to the other one. It gets awkward and uncomfortable, and it just casts a pall over your whole submission that you'd probably like to avoid. Also, let's say that Agent A looks at it first, and passes. Agent B then gets a chance, but human psychology being what it is, is probably going to be less enthusiastic now.

In a corollary to this, people often asked me when I was at Trident if I would read a query or a manuscript that someone at Trident had already passed on. There's a subtle distinction to this from the scenario below. In this situation, the author is being straightforward and also respectful by checking the etiquette before proceeding. In other words, not acting like a Rookie. Having said that, while I never had a problem with that, knowing that we all had very different taste, I've heard other agents say that they do. Still, never hurts to ask.

4. Send exclusive queries. There's a reference to this on my website. This is an understandable mistake to me. If you're supposed to send exclusive submissions (well, not to me, but it's a standard thing), then why not an exclusive query? Most of you reading this, if not all of you, know why this is a mistake. You are only hurting yourself with this one. When I first started, as many of you know, it took me months and months to get through the instant backlog of queries. If you had sent me an exclusive query, you'd be pretty pissed. (Hell, people who had been sending *multiple* queries were pissed off enough, but that's a different story). As I've written about before, this business is nothing if not subjective. Send your query out to lots and lots of agents to increase your chances of finding the perfect one. If you do that one at a time you're going to be dead long before you're published.

5. E-mail an agent asking if you can query them or if they accept e-mail queries. Again, understandable. It never hurts to ask, as I just said above. But you're slowing yourself down and there's a good chance the agent won't answer you anyway. So I'll answer both of these now and then it's 'nuff said. Yes, you can query them. And check the website for guidelines.

6. E-mail an agent asking how to get an agent. I know if you're reading this blog that you would never do this. And I feel badly when people write and ask me this, I truly do, but I still don't have enough time to sit down and answer them. If you think about it, it's pretty labor intensive to sit down and write an e-mail explaining how to find an agent. So if you are savvy enough to figure out my e-mail address, you are savvy enough to do a little research online.

7. Ask an agent, "why do I need an agent?" This is the one that drives me crazy. Inevitably when you're on a panel at a conference, someone asks this question in a fairly belligerent tone. Look, buddy, I always want to say, it's not my job to justify my existence to you. If you want to sell your own book and negotiate your own contract (and that's just the starting place), it truly is not a problem for me. Why anyone wants to come to a conference and antagonize an entire panel of agents, is beyond me. It's the one Rookie Mistake I really just cannot excuse.

7.a. Post antagonistic comments on an agent's blog. I understand the urge, I really do. This is a tough business, and rejection hurts--I know, I've been rejected too. But 1. it's bad energy and 2. if you must do it, I suggest you do it anonymously. It's a very small business, and chances are I know your editor or agent and am old friends with him/her. Do you really want this kind of thing getting back to them?

From the archives: Some Query Tips from Victoria

Continuing our month discussing queries, we have a great post from the archives from TBA agent Victoria Lowes:

As I make my daily trek into the slush pile, I’m often quite surprised at just how many authors make the same easily-corrected mistakes. So here are a few tips for those of you currently looking for representation to go over before you hit the send button.

1. Always follow the submission guidelines.

I’m always a little shocked at how many authors ignore our submission guidelines — like not including sample pages, or attaching them rather than embedding them. (You can find our submission guidelines here.) Each agent has her own preferences and you should make the necessary tweaks to your query to meet their guidelines. While it’s policy here at the Bent Agency to respond by asking the author to correct their mistake, for some agents, it means an automatic form rejection.

2. Make sure you get the agent’s name right and skip the mass email.

While you should certainly query multiple agents simultaneously, take a second to be sure that you’ve gotten the agent’s name correct. We won’t be insulted or take it personally, but you don’t want to come off as careless. Also, skip the 'To whom it may concern' and opt for addressing each agent personally.

3. Proofread.

One or two spelling/grammar mistakes won’t prove fatal for your query (we’ve all done it), but more than a few will be sure to raise a red flag with an agent.

4. Do your research.

Be sure to research the agent and what she’s currently looking for to make sure your project fits the bill.

5.  Be specific.

If you’ve been published before, we definitely want to hear about it. However, if you say that you have publishing credentials, be sure to include the details!

6. Don’t over self-promote.

It’s great to be enthusiastic and passionate about your work, but try to avoid going overboard tooting your own horn. If your project is that good—and it may very well be—we’ll be able to tell. You should use that space to give the agent a better sense of what your project’s about.

7. Keep it short and sweet.

You should be able to tell the agent what your book’s about, the hook and why you’re the author to write it in less than a page. And while you should always include a bio, try to keep it brief and only include relevant facts, like publishing credentials or what makes you the ideal person to write your novel.

8. Finish your book before querying.

While you may be anxious to find representation, avoid querying before you’ve finished your novel. Agents want to see full manuscripts that have gone through one or two rounds of edits first.

9.  Start your query off right.

It’s best to start your query off with your hook or synopsis, rather than your bio.

10.  Be creative.

Try to avoid starting your query with rhetorical questions like “What would you do if…” and “Have you ever wondered what it would be like if…” Be creative with your hook! You want your query to grab the agent’s attention right away.

Click here for the great Ask Agent that Beth and Victoria recently did on queries

Some Query Tips -- a post by Victoria

As I make my daily trek into the slush pile, I’m often quite surprised at just how many authors make the same easily-corrected mistakes. So here are a few tips for those of you currently looking for representation to go over before you hit the send button.

1. Always follow the submission guidelines.

I’m always a little shocked at how many authors ignore our submission guidelines — like not including sample pages, or attaching them rather than embedding them. (You can find our submission guidelines here.) Each agent has her own preferences and you should make the necessary tweaks to your query to meet their guidelines. While it’s policy here at the Bent Agency to respond by asking the author to correct their mistake, for some agents, it means an automatic form rejection.

2. Make sure you get the agent’s name right and skip the mass email.

While you should certainly query multiple agents simultaneously, take a second to be sure that you’ve gotten the agent’s name correct. We won’t be insulted or take it personally, but you don’t want to come off as careless. Also, skip the To whom it may concern and opt for addressing each agent personally.

3. Proofread.

One or two spelling/grammar mistakes won’t prove fatal for your query (we’ve all done it), but more than a few will be sure to raise a red flag with an agent.

4. Do your research.

Be sure to research the agent and what she’s currently looking for to make sure your project fits the bill.

5.  Be specific.

If you’ve been published before, we definitely want to hear about it. However, if you say that you have publishing credentials, be sure to include the details!

      6. Don’t over self-promote.

It’s great to be enthusiastic and passionate about your work, but try to avoid going overboard tooting your own horn. If your project is that good—and it may very well be—we’ll be able to tell. You should use that space to give the agent a better sense of what your project’s about.

      7. Keep it short and sweet.

You should be able to tell the agent what your book’s about, the hook and why you’re the author to write it in less than a page. And while you should always include a bio, try to keep it brief and only include relevant facts, like publishing credentials or what makes you the ideal person to write your novel.

      8. Finish your book before querying.

While you may be anxious to find representation, avoid querying before you’ve finished your novel. Agents want to see full manuscripts that have gone through one or two rounds of edits first.

     9.  Start your query off right.

It’s best to start your query off with your hook or synopsis, rather than your bio.

    10.  Be creative.

Try to avoid starting your query with rhetorical questions like “What would you do if…” and “Have you ever wondered what it would be like if…” Be creative with your hook! You want your query to grab the agent’s attention right away.

From the Archives: Making a good impression with your query letter--a post by Gemma

After our month talking about conferences on the blog, we are now going to spend some time on query letters and submissions. Next week agents Beth Phelan and Victoria Lowes will run a query letter Ask Us Anything (stay tuned for more info), and today I'm reposting a popular old blog post about how to make a good impression with your query letter.

Molly and I analysed a lot of queries on our regular Ask Agent column last year (here, here, here, here and here) so for today’s blog post, I thought I’d talk about things outside of the meat of the actual pitch.

You all know to avoid the basic errors like cc’ing multiple agents, not personalising to the agent’s name, comparing your book to Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, etc. (check out this post for a more detailed list of these). 

But there are other things that you can avoid to ensure you make the best impression with your submission letter: 

• Don’t apologise for taking up an agent’s time. If they are open to submissions then they are happy to hear from you. Reading submissions is an important part of our job. 
• Don’t put down your own work or your writing skill. If you are negative, it’s going to rub off on the agent and they will look at your work already expecting it to be bad. 
• Don’t be too over-familiar – commenting on photos agents post on social media may seem like a compliment, but it can come across creepy.
• Not attaching massive files seems obvious. But don’t add in smiley faces and other small images, either. These often look like they are embedded in the email when you send, but come though as an attachment, so your email will be deleted or get stuck in spam. (And also, don’t use smiley faces – this is a business email).
• In an email, there is no need to put the agency address at the top. It’s an email, not a letter. You can put your own address under your name. We shouldn’t have to scroll through a page of addresses to get to the actual query. Speed is everything, so help us get to the best bit quickly!
• Make sure you title your email – not just ‘A book,’ ‘Query’ etc. That isn’t very descriptive. If I see a query come in while I’m at my desk and it has a really snappy title, I’ll be more likely to take a look at the pages sooner. ‘My book’ says nothing to me, but  ‘YA romance/REALLY AWESOME TITLE/Author Name’ will get me excited without even reading a word.
• Don’t ignore submission details – we all get a lot of queries with the words, ‘I know your submission requirements are pasting the first 10 pages, but instead I have...DONE SOMETHING ELSE.’  We have to have a system, and it will immediately get an agent’s back up if you can’t follow our first simple rule. 
• Don’t give extensive details of your availability to talk on the phone, with all your holiday dates and hospital plans (yes, that has happened). Just give your contact details and we’ll get in touch. It’s very rare we wouldn’t email you first to arrange a call as we want you to be prepared with questions.

I always say that people over think query letters. Keep it simple is my best advice.

Dear [Agent’s Name],

I am seeking representation for my [age - MG/YA etc.] [genre] manuscript [title] complete at [word count rounded to nearest 1000 words].

[Insert Pitch - 1 or 2 paragraphs explaining your plot. Introduce your main character. What does she want? What’s preventing her from achieving those goals? And what are the stakes if she doesn’t achieve them?]

According to your submission guidelines I have [consult the specific guidelines for the agency, posted on its website. For the Bent Agency, you’d say, ‘pasted the first ten pages of the manuscript below.’]

I am a member of [any writing organisations] and have won [any relevant writing prizes]. [Then add anything relevant to your role as the best person to write this book.] Thank you for your time.

All best,

[your name]

This was originally posted April 2014

Holiday Wishes and Wish Lists from TBA!

We’ve had a fantastic 2014 here at TBA, and are all very much looking forward to 2015. January is always an exciting time to dive into our submissions inbox and look for that gem that we'll be talking about all year. So, with this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of the sort of submissions each TBA agent has asked Santa to bring us in our Christmas stockings. He's obviously a busy guy in December, so if you have any of these, please help him out and email them over! Submission guidelines can be found here.

Jenny Bent:

• High-concept, emotional women’s fiction like THE LIFE LIST and SWEET FORGIVENESS by Lori Nelson Spielman
• Novels for adults about crazy quirky families like THE FLOOD GIRLS (a novel I just sold to Gallery by Richard Fifield)
• Novels with a touch of magic or paranormal in them like THE NIGHT CIRCUS or THE GHOST BRIDE by Yangsze Choo (but not genre fiction)

For a longer list, click here.
Query Jenny/Follow Jenny on Twitter

Gemma Cooper:

• Animals and anthropomorphic characters—I love stories with either animals as the main character, or with a close bond with a child. Examples: CHARLOTTE’S WEB, A DOG CALLED HOMELESS, THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN. Or what about historical fiction seen through the eyes of an animal—major events in history with a dog or cat or pig or...etc. narrator?
• Adventures are big for me in MG—I’d love something Goonies-inspired or a coming-of-age adventure like Stand by Me, where characters set off on an adventure and come back irrevocably changed having learnt something important about themselves.
• I am always nostalgic for extreme weather. Can someone please send me my DASH AND LILY’S BOOK OF DARES or my THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY!

For a longer list, click here.
Query Gemma/Follow Gemma on Twitter

Louise Fury:

• A m/m romance like FALSE COLORS by ALEX BEECROFT, but for teens
• A cool, but interesting cookbook like THUG KITCHEN by Thug Kitchen or Gluten Is My Bitch by April Peveteaux or a fun one like An Illustrated Guide to Cocktails by Elizabeth Graeber
• A YA that has interesting family dynamics, is deeply emotional, compelling and thought provoking, with a touch of mystery that pushes the boundaries of realistic contemporary like MADE YOU UP by Francesca Zappia or WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart.

For a longer list, click here.
Query Louise/Follow Louise on Twitter

Molly Ker Hawn:

• More witty YA romance-with-a-twist
• Smart, accessible contemporary MG fiction that deals with everyday bullying—not so much WONDER, but more like BLUBBER and THE AGAINST TAFFY SINCLAIR CLUB (shout-out to my fellow 70s/80s kids)
• A gorgeously-written YA fantasy set in a world I've never seen before. I'm tired of medieval/Elizabethan/Victorian/British/Game of Thrones-feeling stuff—show me something new. Bonus points for absorbing political intrigue, alternate history, and no elves whatsoever.
• Diversity! Show me characters we don't see enough of in MG/YA fiction, in leading roles.

For a longer list, click here.
Query Molly/Follow Molly on Twitter

Susan Hawk:

• Richly imagined YA & MG fantasy, perhaps with an alternate historical setting, and strong characters, like ABHORSEN, SHADOW AND BONE, or CHAOS WALKING series.
• YA and MG that uses found documents, like diaries, maps, journals or letters as a story-telling device; WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE for teens or tweens.
• Literary, character driven MG with a (possibly magical) twist, like A SNICKER OF MAGIC or WHEN YOU REACH ME.

For a longer list, click here.
Query Susan/Follow Susan on Twitter

Victoria Lowes:

• A contemporary novel that focuses on friendship. Perhaps something that explores the way friendships evolve like THE GIRLS FROM CORONA DEL MAR or Emily Gould’s FRIENDSHIP.
• A smart domestic thriller that is both a real page-turner and emotional in the vein of Liane Moriarty.
• A YA romance set in contemporary Middle East

For a longer list, click here.
Query Victoria/Follow Victoria on Twitter

Beth Phelan:

• Emotional and magical novel, like a YA version of Mary Rickert’s beautiful and witchy THE MEMORY GARDEN. 
• Poignant and sensitive YA that features characters struggling with not often explored issues of mental and physical health, like trichotillomania, phobia or genetic mutation.
• Thoughtful, moving, coming-of-age YA about cults, rumspringa or the rapture, in the vein of RAPTURE PRACTICE.

For a longer list, click here.
Query Beth/Follow Beth on Twitter

Brooks Sherman:

• YA or adult epic or historical fantasy with vivid world building, like Libba Bray’s THE DIVINERS, or Susanna Clarke’s JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL.
• Fantasy and/or adventure middle grade fiction, a la ARTEMIS FOWL or THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES.
• Works of adult speculative fiction, thriller, or horror, along the lines of THE MAGICIANS by Lev Grossman, THE ROOK by Daniel O’Malley, or NOS4A2 by Joe Hill.

For a longer list, click here.
Query Brooks/Follow Brooks on Twitter

We look forward to hearing from you in the new year!

The Recent #MSWL - by Beth

I love #MSWL. It’s such a great way to get specific, targeted submissions in my inbox that I can get really excited about. Not everyone participated in this week’s #MSWL, but I’ve decided to provide an updated summary of what the TBA agents are hoping to see in their slush. For a summary of the last #MSWL, and a bunch of other helpful tips on making the most of it, see here for Susan’s post. 

Jenny Bent  

#MSWL high concept women’s fiction, with a strong plot, great pace and lots of emotion. Like THE LIFE LIST by @lnelsonspielman

#MSWL bookclub fiction with an element of fantasy or magic like THE NIGHT CIRCUS or THE GHOST BRIDE by @yangszechoo

#MSWL contemporary YA with a strong plot and great hook, strong voice and lots of emotion

#MSWL suspense or crime with a strong female lead like anything by @LORIROYauthor, Tana French, Gillian Flynn, @LauraMLippman

#MSWL historical fiction (for adults) with a strong female lead and lots of plot

MG fantasy that reads like something Edward Eager would have written #MSWL

Earlier in the year, Jenny also shared her wishlist in this blog post. 

Query Jenny / Follow Jenny on Twitter

Victoria Lowes  

#MSWL YA historical fiction set in the early-mid 20th century with a hint of romance.

#MSWL Always looking for fun contemporary romances with a smart voice and a strong hook!

#MSWL Also looking for either YA or adult atmospheric mysteries that are filled with suspense

Victoria also shared a wishlist on the blog earlier in the year, which you can check out here.

Query Victoria / Follow Victoria on Twitter

Gemma Cooper

Gemma was a day early, but take note!

Reading submissions on the train - still really want a MG updated Homeward Bound or anything with quirky animal protagonists #wishlist

Query Gemma / Follow Gemma on Twitter

Brooks Sherman

I often have darker tastes with MG fiction: think THE WITCHES, THE CAVENDISH HOME FOR BOYS AND GIRLS, and the Bartimaeus Trilogy. #MSWL

That said, I also love straight-up comedy in MG books! Recent favorites have been BETTER NATE THAN EVER and (of course) ORIGAMI YODA! #MSWL

For YA fiction, I’m most interested in stories teens can relate to, rather than escape into. But speculative elements are fun, too! #MSWL

And for speculative YA projects, I’m most interested in fantasy (epic or historical) and horror (psychological or supernatural). #MSWL

Query Brooks / Follow Brooks on Twitter

Molly Ker Hawn

Molly didn’t get a chance to tweet updates to her #MSWL, although she’ll probably fight me for a cult book!  

But you can also find more details of what she’s looking for on the blog, over here.

Query Molly / Follow Molly on Twitter

Louise Fury

Sadly, Louise is closed to queries at the moment but she did run a really fun #pitchFURY event on the blog a while back. Check it out here and the results over here. And make sure you follow her on Twitter and keep up with the blog for more opportunities like that!

Query Louise / Follow Louise on Twitter

Susan Hawk

Susan is also presently closed to queries but mark your calendars because she’ll be reopening on September 22^nd. Look here for her latest wishlist post and keep these in mind too:

A MG or YA novel in verse that's laugh out loud funny #MSWL

MG novels that include 'found' documents, like diaries, maps, journals, letters #MSWL

#MSWL YA or MG novels with historical element, and span generations, think Joy Luck Club for teens.

#MSWL YA or MG novels that are layered, rich with emotion, and include complex sibling and family relationships

#MSWL MG contemp novel that's fast-paced, with strong plot and big stakes, features 10/11 year old boy MC like the ones I know:

thoughtful, full of heart and affection for friends, loves sports and facts! #MSWL

Query Susan / Follow Susan on Twitter

Beth Phelan

Hungry for some dark, upmarket suspense. #MSWL

Can I also have more #YA with a laugh-out-loud kind of voice? #MSWL

Oh, and looking for beautiful, haunting, literary #YA that will make me cry. #MSWL

Still a sucker for creepy cults. Outstanding world-building, please! #MSWL

Also: islands, gated communities, small settings. #MSWL

Give me other cultures, diverse backgrounds. #MSWL

Query Beth  / Follow Beth on Twitter

I’m also looking forward to the upcoming #PitMad (for details, see here) on September 9^th, and will be hopping around the feed all day. You should also check out Victoria’s tips on how best to tackle these kinds of Twitter pitch parties; just go here!

Good luck everyone!  

It's not WHO you know, it's WHAT you write in your query

This is #2 in my series of posts which are meant to demonstrate that you don't need connections to be successful in publishing--just a really good query and manuscript.   To do this, I'm featuring unsolicited query letters that captured my attention and got multiple offers of representation from different agents.  Last week I wrote about Yangsze Choo's letter for THE GHOST BRIDE and today I'm highlighting a letter from author Lori Nelson Spielman for a book we retitled THE LIFE LIST and sold to Random House.  We've also sold rights in 13 other territories (including France, Germany, Italy, Brazil and Spain) and optioned the book for film to Fox 2000.   Again, Lori didn't have a connection to me or to the other agents who offered representation--she just wrote a great query letter.   I'll parse it below.

Dear Ms. Bent,

What’s the downside of a successful thirty-something with the world at her feet who’s set to inherit millions of dollars? She can only get the money if she fulfills the naïve dreams of her teenage self, and that’s an order from her dead mother!

I love your blog Bent on Books, and would be thrilled if you’d consider my contemporary women’s novel, ANOTHER SKY (104K words).

Following her beloved mother’s death, Brett Bohlinger naturally assumes she’ll take over the family business. But she is stunned when her savvy sister-in-law inherits the lucrative company, and Brett is handed a yellowed, dog-eared life list. Brett had no idea her mother’s sense of humor was this twisted: her inheritance hinges upon completing the ten remaining goals on her life list—the very list her mother fished from Brett’s Beverly Hills 90210 wastebasket twenty years ago.

And that girl’s life wishes are insane! Have a baby? Not happening. Become a teacher? Surely she’s not expected to swap her lucrative salary and stock options for snotty noses and spelling bees. Buy a horse? The condo board doesn’t even allow fish. And a relationship with her father is out of the question. The coldhearted stranger died seven years ago!

But Brett’s biggest challenge is Andrew. When her driven, big-city boyfriend comes home toting a bottle of Perrier-Jouet to celebrate, she doesn’t have the heart—or the guts—to tell him she is not, and never will be, President of Bohlinger Cosmetics. And she’s sure as hell not telling him about that asinine life list. He’d be history if he found out about the humble, conventional life she’d once craved.

Entangled in a web of deceit, Brett is forced to examine the life she chose and the life she dreamed of as a teen. With a multi-million dollar inheritance at stake and nothing but her mother’s letters to guide her, she wades from her comfy Gold Coast neighborhood into the streets of Southside Chicago in search of a young girl’s dreams. There she faces challenges and victories, and loves and losses, that her youthful heart never could have imagined.

I’m a member of RWA-Pro and a local writer’s group. Like Brett, I work as a homebound teacher in an inner-city school district, though writing is my true passion. Along with my teaching degree, I have Master’s degrees in Speech Pathology and Guidance Counseling.

Pasted below you’ll find the first ten pages, per your guidelines. Thanks so much for your time and consideration.

Warm regards,

Lori Nelson Spielman

If you break this letter down, it is many ways similar to the letter for THE GHOST BRIDE and you can see the same elements that go into a successful letter:  it has a great log line, a reason for querying me, a snappy synopsis, and a bio that highlights the relevance of her personal experience to the book she has written.

First, her log line.  Two sentences, which is absolutely fine, and it sums up the plot while giving a sense of the emotional hook, which is essential.  Then she tells me she reads my blog, which does mean something to me (I appreciate writers who do their homework).   Her synopsis is actually fun to read and it showcases her voice, which is such a great thing to do in a query letter.   And she doesn't have showy writing credentials but her life experience mirrors that of her heroine, and publishers love that--it's a great hook when pitching the novel to media.  

You may have noticed that Lori doesn't include comp titles, which is okay because of her log line.  The reason for including comp titles or a log line is because they serve as a kind of shorthand for the agent--they give me a sense right away of the kind of book I will be reading.  If your log line is effective, therefore, you don't need the comp titles (although including them wouldn't have hurt the letter either).

Best of all, her letter has heart and you can tell from reading it that her novel does too.  It's packed full of words that convey emotion--something to think about when you are working on your own query.  If you can make me feel something just by reading your letter, you know you will capture my attention and get me to request your manuscript.

So, once again, I present you with evidence that you don't need to schmooze to get an agent or a book deal.  You need to do your homework about what makes a great query, research agents to make sure you're approaching the right ones, and of course, write a great book.   Then, all you have to do is press send.  I'm rooting for you!

Oh, and if you're intrigued by the letter for the book that became THE LIFE LIST (which pubs in about a year), please do go over and join Lori's author page on Facebook.  I promise she's just as warm and lovely as the premise of her book.