What I'm Listening To: Now or Never-Josh Groban
I was watching I Hate Valentine's Day (just because I was bored and am on a slight break from watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and the big concept in the movie was one of the 5 date rule. Apparently five dates is the maximum number that a couple can have before what they have constitutes as a relationship and people start to get hurt. I think that the concept was very interesting, but the execution faulty. The main character's motto was "when the romance is gone, let's just move on." I think most of this thinking and her unwillingness to take risks was because she was hurt in her relationship with her father. Here are the guidelines for the dates according to her:
Date 1: breath less flirting
Date 2: broaden your horizons
Date 3: the adventurous date
Date 4: fun and fabulous
Date 5: make it the best date ever
What do you think about the system and would you ever try it?
Also, Nathan Bransford had an interesting post on his blog about the one book that every writer should read A lot of people picked Stephen King's On Writing, some The Art of Fiction by John Gardner, or Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. For some reason there were a lot of votes for The Great Gatsby as well. All aspiring authors should at least have one of these books in their arsenal of books to become better writers, if they so choose.
There was also a good post about audience development from Writers Unboxed that people should read as well.
In addition, Rachelle Gardner has a great analysis of a query letter. If you haven't been looking at agent's responses to query letters, you should do so because they are the authority on what is a good one. Even though they all have different answers and preferences about what should stay or go, most of the time they will be in sync as far as the requirements and have good advice that can be applicable to all.
Showing posts with label query letter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label query letter. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Taking Rejection (the query kind)
What I'm Listening To: Telephone-Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce
I sent out a batch of query letters last week, and got my first rejection letter today. No one needs to know who it is or why, but I wanted to talk a little bit about getting those rejection letters, especially form ones. If you are a writer and are seeking representation for your work, first of all I want to say that you are brave, trying to put your creation out there in the world. Secondly, I want to say prepare to be rejected A LOT. Sure there are those exceptions when a writer magically combines what the industry is looking for + her own voice/style and it gets to an agent who that resonates with. When you don't get a form rejection, to me that means that an agent actually cared enough about your work to give you advice or to actually respond with their own words. And of course there is the rejection part where an agent may request a partial or full and then decide that it isn't something that they want to represent. I'm still waiting to get to the level of the second type of rejection letter from an agent.
Above all, you have to remember to stay positive. Don't trash the agent or agency, don't email them an angry letter back--none of that. Just file the rejection letter away, research another agent to add to your list to query, and then get out there again and query them. Right now I have three other query letters out that are still waiting for a reply. So any one of those could possibly be a request for a partial or full. You honestly have to look at the bright side and remember to query widely. Even if that was your dream agent, the one that you thought would be the absolute best fit for your work, you need to get that out of your head because there are plenty of capable agents out there. I suggest that if you have the time and money, to go to a book conference and meet some of them.
Another thing that I would recommend is to make sure that you are adhering to query letter guidelines. It's fascinating to me that most all agents have their own guidelines for query letters listed on their website or blog. So pay attention to that. DO YOUR RESEARCH when querying agents and it will definitely pay off. Always google your agents and definitely check to see if they have a website or blog, and what their preferences are. If the agent doesn't list any preferences, I suggest that you adhere to Noah Lukeman's How to Write a Great Query Letter The man knows what he's talking about, and even better, the book is free. Another thing is to make sure that you know your genre, you state your word count, and that you state what happens succinctly and the choices/consequences that the main character makes.
Just remember, there are so many agents out there and I bet you haven't queried them all. This wasn't my first rejection, and it most certainly won't be my last, but if you truly want representation for your work, you aren't going to let one person dissuade you. Another person could like it. Make sure that your book is finished and your adhering to the guidelines of the agents for the query or a general one like Noah Lukeman and you will be fine.
I sent out a batch of query letters last week, and got my first rejection letter today. No one needs to know who it is or why, but I wanted to talk a little bit about getting those rejection letters, especially form ones. If you are a writer and are seeking representation for your work, first of all I want to say that you are brave, trying to put your creation out there in the world. Secondly, I want to say prepare to be rejected A LOT. Sure there are those exceptions when a writer magically combines what the industry is looking for + her own voice/style and it gets to an agent who that resonates with. When you don't get a form rejection, to me that means that an agent actually cared enough about your work to give you advice or to actually respond with their own words. And of course there is the rejection part where an agent may request a partial or full and then decide that it isn't something that they want to represent. I'm still waiting to get to the level of the second type of rejection letter from an agent.
Above all, you have to remember to stay positive. Don't trash the agent or agency, don't email them an angry letter back--none of that. Just file the rejection letter away, research another agent to add to your list to query, and then get out there again and query them. Right now I have three other query letters out that are still waiting for a reply. So any one of those could possibly be a request for a partial or full. You honestly have to look at the bright side and remember to query widely. Even if that was your dream agent, the one that you thought would be the absolute best fit for your work, you need to get that out of your head because there are plenty of capable agents out there. I suggest that if you have the time and money, to go to a book conference and meet some of them.
Another thing that I would recommend is to make sure that you are adhering to query letter guidelines. It's fascinating to me that most all agents have their own guidelines for query letters listed on their website or blog. So pay attention to that. DO YOUR RESEARCH when querying agents and it will definitely pay off. Always google your agents and definitely check to see if they have a website or blog, and what their preferences are. If the agent doesn't list any preferences, I suggest that you adhere to Noah Lukeman's How to Write a Great Query Letter The man knows what he's talking about, and even better, the book is free. Another thing is to make sure that you know your genre, you state your word count, and that you state what happens succinctly and the choices/consequences that the main character makes.
Just remember, there are so many agents out there and I bet you haven't queried them all. This wasn't my first rejection, and it most certainly won't be my last, but if you truly want representation for your work, you aren't going to let one person dissuade you. Another person could like it. Make sure that your book is finished and your adhering to the guidelines of the agents for the query or a general one like Noah Lukeman and you will be fine.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Two Books Every Aspiring Author (who really wants to get published) should read
What I'm Listening To: My Life Would Suck Without You-Kelly Clarkson
So while I was in NYC, another author from Kentucky who had a stellar query letter told me that she had gotten all of her tips from this book. And it was free. I turned to her in disbelief. I had never heard of this book before and I had been searching he internet high and low for some pointers on a good query letter. She told me that it was by Noah Lukeman and immediately when I got home, I looked it up. Sure enough, there was a FREE downloadable e-book called How to Write a Great Query Letter by Noah Lukeman. He has also written How to Land (and keep) a Literary Agent which I also bought. He also has a couple more books that are pretty good. And why, you ask, are they good?
Noah Lukeman has had over 13 years of experience as an agent. So when he points out some of the key mistakes and what not to do, I definitely am going to follow it. He has represented many bestsellers and prize winners as well. The same is true about Donald Mass, the author of the next book I'm going to talk about. It's called Writing the Breakout Novel. This book has all of the key ingredients of a good book, and I was really happy to see that I already had many of them. However, it doesn't hurt to enhance or go over your book to see that it definitely is top notch. Another thing to note, is that in both book titles, the authors both put INSIDER advice or INSIDER tips. They both are really successful agents, they both know what agents are looking for, and that gives them the credibility over any other to write these types of books because they will help to get aspiring authors published. I know that I'm going not going to regret the money I invested in buying these books and definitely listen to their advice, how about you?
So while I was in NYC, another author from Kentucky who had a stellar query letter told me that she had gotten all of her tips from this book. And it was free. I turned to her in disbelief. I had never heard of this book before and I had been searching he internet high and low for some pointers on a good query letter. She told me that it was by Noah Lukeman and immediately when I got home, I looked it up. Sure enough, there was a FREE downloadable e-book called How to Write a Great Query Letter by Noah Lukeman. He has also written How to Land (and keep) a Literary Agent which I also bought. He also has a couple more books that are pretty good. And why, you ask, are they good?
Noah Lukeman has had over 13 years of experience as an agent. So when he points out some of the key mistakes and what not to do, I definitely am going to follow it. He has represented many bestsellers and prize winners as well. The same is true about Donald Mass, the author of the next book I'm going to talk about. It's called Writing the Breakout Novel. This book has all of the key ingredients of a good book, and I was really happy to see that I already had many of them. However, it doesn't hurt to enhance or go over your book to see that it definitely is top notch. Another thing to note, is that in both book titles, the authors both put INSIDER advice or INSIDER tips. They both are really successful agents, they both know what agents are looking for, and that gives them the credibility over any other to write these types of books because they will help to get aspiring authors published. I know that I'm going not going to regret the money I invested in buying these books and definitely listen to their advice, how about you?
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