{"id":1762,"date":"2012-04-30T09:57:19","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T13:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.old.caraghobrien.com\/book\/?p=1762"},"modified":"2012-04-30T09:57:19","modified_gmt":"2012-04-30T13:57:19","slug":"agent-query-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/birthmarked\/agent-query-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Agent Query Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not so long ago, I had tons of my own questions about how the query process works and I wondered if I\u2019d ever find representation.\u00a0 I speculated whether my query would stand out or get lost in the slush pile without being read. \u00a0It was a time of careful research and cautious hope. \u00a0Since then, I\u2019ve corresponded with dozens of agents, and I have found they are genuinely nice people with a passion for books.\u00a0 Needless to say, they didn\u2019t all want to represent Birthmarked<\/em>, but they were all nice, and I ended up with the right agent match for me.<\/p>\n

\"\"Lately, I\u2019ve had several writers ask me for advice about publishing, and I\u2019ve expanded my FAQ<\/a> to cover their most common questions.\u00a0 A fellow Connecticut writer, Candyce Pruitt<\/a>, recently corresponded with me about her agent search, and when her questions touched on some of the same things that used to mystify me, I asked if we could cross-post our exchange on our blogs, and she agreed.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to stress that I\u2019m not an expert on agents.\u00a0 I\u2019m simply a writer who has gone through a search, and it was a positive experience for me.<\/p>\n

Candyce: I do have a few questions regarding the agent search, but if you have any\u00a0other\u00a0advice to offer, I would also love to hear it!<\/span><\/p>\n

When an author has no publishing experience, what are some good ways to beef up the author bio portion of the query letter? How important is that part of the query letter?<\/span><\/p>\n

Caragh: Be honest.\u00a0 If you have no previous publishing experience, you\u2019re an unknown with a clean slate.\u00a0 Briefly state your education and your two jobs because they demonstrate your passion for ya lit, and that counts.\u00a0 Your book info is what will intrigue the agent or not.<\/p>\n

Candyce: After you’ve queried an agent, will they provide feedback if they request all\/part of your manuscript?<\/span><\/p>\n

Caragh: If they\u2019re interested, they keep asking for more.\u00a0 Once they\u2019re not, they politely pass and wish you well with your writing and with finding representation elsewhere.\u00a0 In rare cases, if they\u2019re on the fence but super interested, they might ask you about what you might revise, with no promises to represent you.<\/p>\n

Candyce: Can you query an agent a second time?<\/span><\/p>\n

Caragh: Why would you want to?<\/p>\n

Candyce: I’ve read on a lot of sites that I should expect a lot of rejection. How often do agents actually request partial\/full manuscripts?<\/span><\/p>\n

Caragh: They request them whenever they encounter an irresistible idea.\u00a0 New agents seeking clients are particularly receptive.<\/p>\n

Candyce: How many agents did you query before you found your current agent?<\/span><\/p>\n

Caragh: I queried 40+, in waves.\u00a0 Details of my search<\/a> are on my blog.<\/p>\n

Candyce: Do you have any tips for making the query letter stand out?<\/span><\/p>\n

Caragh: Your letter will probably be in the strongest twenty percent simply by being clear and coherent.\u00a0 After that, your ideas are what matter.<\/p>\n

Candyce: I’ve been trying to draft my query letter while making final revisions to my manuscript. If you have the time (and I understand completely if you don’t), could you skim over the description I have and let me know if you think I’m on the right track? I’ll include the description below the salutation just in case.<\/span><\/p>\n

Caragh: It would be a mistake for me to advise you specifically on your description, because it conveys your idea, how you think, your voice, and other subtleties that are strongest when they are purely your own.<\/p>\n

I can see you\u2019ve looked into this process a lot already, which is great!\u00a0 Being informed is so helpful.\u00a0 I can\u2019t recommend AgentQuery.com<\/a> highly enough for tips and searching info.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll look into which agents are most likely to be interested in your work, and you\u2019ll follow their submission guidelines on their sites to make it easy for them to consider your query.\u00a0 If you send out half a dozen queries and no one asks for more, that could be a sign to revise your query before you try the next batch.\u00a0 Keep trying.\u00a0 If your novel reaches the right agent at the right time, you\u2019ll be on your way.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t find representation for this book and the writing makes you happy, keep on writing.<\/p>\n

And to anyone else searching, too, good luck!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not so long ago, I had tons of my own questions about how the query process works and I wondered if I\u2019d ever find representation.\u00a0 I speculated whether my query would stand out or get lost in the slush pile without being read. \u00a0It was a time of careful research and cautious hope. \u00a0Since then, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[53,37],"class_list":["post-1762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birthmarked","category-miscellaneous","tag-agents","tag-writing-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1762"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1769,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762\/revisions\/1769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}