Getting them to turn around...

[Jo Zebedee]

Just watching The Voice and it makes me think of the whole submission process.

I spent some time on Absolute Write getting my query trashed, and, as etiquette demands, reviewing others'.

I was astonished how quickly they blended into mish mash of .... Boredom, quite frankly, mine included.

Agents get 100 of these a week! and making them stand out is massively objective. But some tips I have heard:

First line - title, genre, word count

State who the story is about. Not all the side stories, but the main character.
State what the story is in present tense.
Say what the stakes are.
Give it a question of will they/won't they- a synopsis tells the end, a query leaves the question hanging.

Read the guidelines! An agent I submitted to asked why I should write the book - I think the response to that section might have been what bagged me a full.

I also wrote the current query I use - which has done well compared to earlier ones - in the mc's first voice, then translated it to third.

Avoid lists: they must overcome the ravening crowds of agents - the one who wanted voice, the scary one,the one with great hair... And no gimmicks, they make you sound desperate, not unique.

But, mostly -- if you were reading a hundred a week what would make you reach for more? Short, snappy and engaging (and lots of luck!)

 

[Mouse]

I don't watch the Voice. I watch BGT and BGMT because they're funny as all hell.

That's what I'd want. Something that made me laugh.

I don't understand all this about queries, really, because UK agents just don't ask for them. Dreading having to submit to US agents, but looks like I'm going to have to do it. Will mine stand out? Doubt it. Getting fed up of the whole thing, really.

 

[JoanDrake]

I don't watch the Voice. I watch BGT and BGMT because they're funny as all hell.

That's what I'd want. Something that made me laugh.

I don't understand all this about queries, really, because UK agents just don't ask for them. Dreading having to submit to US agents, but looks like I'm going to have to do it. Will mine stand out? Doubt it. Getting fed up of the whole thing, really.

Publish it yourself. Authors are rapidly becoming the fastest growing group of Internet millionaires.

I watch no talk show but Craig Ferguson. The others consist of a guy who was funny 10 years ago, a guy who never was funny and several women doing their best to imitate a woman who thinks she's Jesus because she got even richer once she realised celebrities have the same problems as any other of the lower classes.

And I apologise for not realising what you were talking about and posting on something with no relevance. I just looked up the Voice. I've heard of it but thought it was another talk show. I have no place for shows that feature other people making fools of themselves. I'm too busy doing that to myself.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I suspect a mod will move this to gwd since it's digressing.

Self publishing is an option I think most writers who reach the query stage are aware of. And to go for that with the assumption you would make a lot of money would be, I think, a bit naive.

The Voice analogy - my apologies, btw, I thought there was a US version - is that, unlike in BGT etc. the judges select you purely on your voice - they can't watch your performance. Which is, I think, like the query process. They don't read your book...

Mouse, I feel your pain, but I think once you nail what they're looking for it gets easier. And you're good at twitter pitches, which aren't dissimilar!

 

[Mouse]

Sorry, didn't mean to digress.

Self-publishing - I've been there, done that. I would never do it again. To me, and I know this isn't right at all, self-publishing is what you (you as in me) do because you're not good enough to bag a traditional publisher. It's even more soul destroying than the query process. I need validation now. If TBM isn't good enough - and I just don't think my starting chapters are 'fast' enough - then it'll have to die a death and I'll work on the next thing.

 

[Kissmequick]

I was astonished how quickly they blended into mish mash of .... Boredom, quite frankly, mine included.

One reason it's a good idea to read lots of queries -- you soon get to see which ones stand out and why. Which you can then try to translate into your own query.

The main undesirable things that I see (in my own first attempts as well as other) queries is:

Vagueness - specifics about your story are what sells it. What makes it different to the other eleventy billion fantasy queries the agent has seen this week?
Thinking you have to add in the whole plot/all your worldbuilding
No sense of the main character apart from the stuff that happens to him/her
No hint of what the stakes are.

I don't understand all this about queries, really, because UK agents just don't ask for them. Dreading having to submit to US agents, but looks like I'm going to have to do it. Will mine stand out? Doubt it. Getting fed up of the whole thing, really.

It's a useful skill to have, being able to distil your story down to basics and make it compelling. It's hard to learn, but once you have the hang of it, it becomes a LOT easier (kind of like writing in general really!).

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Write the query in present tense but don't write the book in the same. I've managed to get a few to turn part the way round but they have asked for a rewrite I just don't think I can do.

So I am doing like Mouse I am working on the next book.

 

[Glitch]

What good is a story if there is no one to read it?

If the best I can get my current WIP isn't good enough for traditional publishing, then I might consider self publishing. Not in a vain attempt to get rich, but rather to release the story into the wild. If only one other person reads and enjoys it, then my work as the creator is done.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

ooh can I borrow your quote Glitch for discussion on different forum ?

 

[Glitch]

Certainly Anya.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

It is perfect and says what I feel

Mayhem is fast being considered as a self published book.

 

[Mouse]

It's a useful skill to have, being able to distil your story down to basics and make it compelling. It's hard to learn, but once you have the hang of it, it becomes a LOT easier (kind of like writing in general really!).

I do have a query. Luckily - because an agent who wanted me to query based on a Twitter pitch was American. So it was good to have one handy! Anyway in the end she said 'I didn't connect with it like I hoped I would' and I have no flaming clue what that means.

 

[Glitch]

It is perfect and says what I feel

Mayhem is fast being considered as a self published book.

Glad it resonated with you

And good luck with Mayhem. Self published or otherwise.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I do have a query. Luckily - because an agent who wanted me to query based on a Twitter pitch was American. So it was good to have one handy! Anyway in the end she said 'I didn't connect with it like I hoped I would' and I have no flaming clue what that means.

I think that is pretty much a form rejection - I've had that or something similar from several agents.

 

[allmywires]

If the best I can get my current WIP isn't good enough for traditional publishing, then I might consider self publishing. Not in a vain attempt to get rich, but rather to release the story into the wild. If only one other person reads and enjoys it, then my work as the creator is done.

That's pretty much how I see it. No point it lingering in my 'Works' folder when it's so easy to do it through Amazon. And also, like, praise is addictive, even if it comes with the price of negative feedback...

Whether it goes well or badly, I'll never know unless I try.

um, off topic, I guess