When you imagine a literary agent behind his or her desk, what kind of expression do you see on their face? Depending on how you feel about your recent interactions with a literary agent, you may imagine a grumpy face, …
Queries
Hidden Treasure on Back Covers
While Amazon or other online retailers can deliver our books in one or two days, there is one experience that online retailers will never be able to deliver: the thrill of flipping our wrist to see the back cover.
When …
Six Phrases to Avoid in Your Query
Finishing a query is big deal! You’ve spent hours in front of your computer wrestling the words that capture your passion, imagination and life experience into a query letter.
To give your dream the best chance of getting an agent …
Getting an Agent to Read Your Entire Query
As a literary agent, I love seeing stacks of queries in my inbox. Like the other agents at Books & Such, I enjoy discovering unique book ideas, moving memoirs and fresh new voices. However, all literary agents must balance limited …
When An Agent Doesn’t Reply
blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
When an agent doesn’t reply to your query, proposal, burning question, or manuscript submission, is it because she/he doesn’t care?
Admittedly, sometimes writers–whether aspiring or veteran–choose the default answer, “Yes! That must be it! I’m not important …
The “Perfect” Query
Blogger: Wendy Lawton
You’ve seen a number of agent blogs and agent twitters talking about query tips and #queryfail. Agent websites are filled with instructions on how and how-not to query. Nearly every writers conference offers a session or two …
Swipe Left, Swipe Right
Blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
Swipe left or swipe right? People who’ve used Tinder (the app, not scraps of wood and dried leaves) are familiar with those questions.
MedicalXpress.com notes, “Anyone who has used the dating app Tinder knows that swiping …
The Broken Query System
Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Broken things drive me crazy. Just call me the Fix-it Fairy. If something is broken–be it an object, a person, or a system–I have trouble accepting the state of brokenness. I want it fixed.
Last week I …
Query Guidelines
Blogger: Wendy Lawton
It’s been over 100˚for so many days even my brain feels hot. (Next few days? 104˚, 101˚, 100˚, 101˚, 100˚, 104˚, 106˚, 105˚.) In spite of sizzling summer I thought I’d tackle the question of queries again.…
What Not to Say
Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Plenty of blogs tell you how to approach an agent, what to say and how to say it. Today I’m going to highlight my top ten things not to say when seeking to impress an agent. Here, …