Category: Querying

Querying is the Worst

While I rewrite query letters for fun, writing my own is basically the worst. Here are a few reasons why writing your own query letter sucks, and a few things that query letter needs in it.

Don’t Self-Publish That Book 6 Minutes After You Finish Drafting It!

Recently, I was celebrating the anniversary of the time I finished rough drafting my first full manuscript, and a friend told me that I’d lost 8 years of royalties and should really finish it! He was trying to be encouraging and supportive, but instead, all I really have is a pile of justifications.

Now, I’m not saying you should wait as long as I have before putting your book out into the world, but there are a few reasons why you might wait before publishing.

Here are the 10 reasons I haven’t published yet. Tell me about YOUR publishing journey. How is it going?

Why Agents Stop Reading

The only way to sell a book is to get people to read past that first page. The voice, the story, the setting, all of it has to mesh in such a way to make the reader wonder “and then what?”

Now, I know my stories — and probably yours — are amazing. And if the agents and publishers read the full story, they’d see its shining merits. Unfortunately, time is limited, the slush piles are enormous, and no one is getting paid for books that never sell. Most manuscripts from the slush pile are put down before the reader makes it through the first page.

Today, I’m here with tips from Imaginarium 2023. I had the privilege to read a stack of first pages aloud to publishers and agents and heard firsthand why they would put down that page.

The agents and publishers really do want to find the diamond in the pile of mediocre-to-bad stories. But, they need a reason NOT to reject your story, rather than a reason TO reject it. There are just too many coming their way, and they can’t publish everything.

Loglines versus Queries

After a resounding round of form rejections, I took a step back, revamped my query and synopsis, and am now getting back into the query trenches.

You’d think I know querying forward and backward — and I do, when I stop to think about it. But, recently, one of the query submission forms asked for a one-sentence pitch — a logline — I almost flubbed it!