Okay, I have a question. I hear that you send your query letters to several agents, in hopes of getting a bite. Then you get a bite, but you’re still in the queue at several other agent’s palaces, maybe some you’d prefer over this one. If you tell these agents that you’ve procured an offer, the other agents will suddenly spring into action, reading your letter, and possibly making a counter-offer. Now my question: What’s to stop you from lying? Why couldn’t I e-mail some agents and say “Hey, you know {AGENT I LOOKED UP ON AGENTQUERY} has expressed an offer of interest. What about you? Don’t you want in…
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More Agents to Come
My response from the Nelson Literary Agency was very quick. I received it at 6:30 this morning Monday. It was a form rejection, of course. The first rejection is always a little disheartening, but you get used to it, and continue on. A rejection could have happened for any number of reasons, none of which you’re in control over. I sent two more today, ones with allegedly longer response times. We’ll see what happens.
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My First Agent Query (Post 300)
300 Posts! And not a single comment! Seriously, what do I need to do to get some blog exposure? Not that I’m writing this for the purpose of getting followers, but some feedback would be nice. I can’t get Technorati to work for me. I never have. It’s always broken. I added some Digg/StumbleUpon/etc. links at the bottom of the posts, so maybe that’ll help with the 14 readers I get per month (who I think are all me). But other than that, I’m not sure what else to do. Hardcore nudity? Anyway, today is the day I e-mailed my first agent query. I think my query is in a…
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I Hate My Query Letter
I’ve finished my query letter, at least the first draft. I was struck by that same sickness I get when I know my writing’s not good enough, that it’s amateurish and going to get eaten alive, but I can’t think of how to make it better. The letter doesn’t crackle, it doesn’t singe. It doesn’t say “Oh my god this is so exciting look at all the awesome events and cool stuff in this book”. It doesn’t say Psychics! Pyrokinetics! Murder! Conspiracies! Strippers! Amnesia! Social Upheaval! I don’t know how to say that in a query letter. I need some serious help. Not unexpected, given that this is my first…
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The Ultimate Update OF ALL TIME!
I’m now in the homestretch of finished Black Hole Son. After I’m done revising, I’m going to turn on formatting, and check for the spaces between periods. This will also give me a chance to give it a fast lookover and final polish before it’s sent out into etherspace. And it’s looking good for me to finish under 120,000 words, if I haven’t already. I’ve also given permission for myself to start working on my query letter. I’ve already made a rough outline, thanks to a Query Letter questionnaire I found online (I forget where I found it, sorry. Try Nathan Bradsford’s site). It’s really a handy little tool, and…