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Queries and Pitches That Worked

Queries and Pitches That Worked

February 22, 2020 Conference 2020, Live 2020 18 Comments

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SheilaS
SheilaS
1 year ago

Thanks for filling in, Alyssa!

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Elissa
Elissa
1 year ago

I feel like this query is longer than what agents want these days. I’m curious about how old this query is?

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Amelinda Berube
Amelinda Berube
Reply to  Elissa
1 year ago

Meaning the first one discussed? It’s from 2015. The guideline I remember from Janet Reid (Query Shark) was that the plot summary should max out at about 250 words; this was ~230.

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Alyssa
Alyssa
Author
Reply to  Amelinda Berube
1 year ago

Ah! I was wrong in my commentary, then. Everyone pay attention to Amelinda and ignore me.

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Tara Kennedy
Tara Kennedy
1 year ago

How important is it to match the voice of the query to the voice of the book?

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Rebecca
Rebecca
1 year ago

It is so helpful to see a successful example, thank you for sharing! What resources did you use to learn how to write your query?

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Rebecca
Rebecca
1 year ago

I’ve seen stats about pitching in person being far more successful than submitting query letters. I get the elevator pitch… but what do you say next? And do you need business cards?

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Elza
Elza
1 year ago

How do you know if you need to fix your pitch BEFORE showing it to an agent?

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Rebecca
Rebecca
1 year ago

Do you send your queries to critique groups?

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Amy
Amy
1 year ago

What are some of the most common mistakes writers make when they start querying?

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Dave Wright
Dave Wright
1 year ago

Any tricks to writing multiple POV queries?

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Alyssa
Alyssa
Author
Reply to  Dave Wright
1 year ago

I think Rosiee’s example here was actually good! One paragraph for one character, one for the next. Both with their own hooks, etc., and hints at the ties between them.

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Elza
Elza
1 year ago

Do you have any tips or tricks to help relieve the pressure that comes with writing something as important as The Official Query for Your Book?

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Alyssa
Alyssa
Author
Reply to  Elza
1 year ago

Write it with music or a TV show on. Something that distracts you a little bit. I don’t know why, but that helps me.

Also, you can write out the main hooks on note cards and then go from there.

Most of the time it’s about just pounding it out and then returning to revise it into shape, though.

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Rebecca
Rebecca
1 year ago

How did you select the agents you submitted to? And how many did you send to?

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Alyssa
Alyssa
Author
Reply to  Rebecca
1 year ago

I’m Very Organized so I made a spreadsheet with about 30 agents, in order of “most likely” to “least likely.” Normally this involved a lot of stalking on #MSWL to see what agents were looking for and flagging the ones who wanted something that meshed with my manuscript. I sent out queries in batches of 3 or 4 at a time, if I remember right.

I actually signed with my agent in a weird way — through that university anthology and the speed-date pitch-in-person deal. So I didn’t end up signing via my query, personally.

Maybe Rosiee or Amelinda could chime in with their stats?

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SheilaS
SheilaS
1 year ago

Is it off-limits to add in an informal and personal line in a query letter? Is it a complete no-no.

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Alyssa
Alyssa
Author
Reply to  SheilaS
1 year ago

No, I think that’s good! You don’t want to be weird about it (I think one time I said “You like chai lattes — me too!”) but you can say something that relates to your project/you that you think they might like to know (“I saw you represent xxx book, and thought you might be interested in mine” or “I just want to say I love the writing advice you share on twitter — especially the thread about xxx”).

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