Even more exciting, I'm reopening to queries on November 1st! (That's a week from today!) The agency's official submission guidelines are here, and I've included my guidelines + updated wishlist here.
And the most exciting news is that I will be celebrating my move to Nancy Coffey and my reopening to queries with a QUERY CONTEST!
Here are the details:
Can
you handle the truth?
Many writers want to know what an agent is
really thinking when they pass on a query, right? You want the truth...but can
you handle the truth? Well next week I will respond to the queries I receive
in complete honesty. You may see something as simple as "Not
bad, but just not for me." or "I don't represent legal
thrillers." OR you may see something like "I stopped reading when you
mentioned that the mailman was a vampire space zombie who has come to deliver a
message of PAIN. Because come on...seriously?"
So, if you want the truth, query me next Tuesday morning, between 9-10 am EDT (as in the time it is in NY). Read on for the rules.
Rules:
- The contest will be open for only ONE
HOUR.
- Queries must be submitted to
Query(at)nancycoffeyliterary(dot)com between the hours of 9:00am EST and 10:00am EST Tuesday, November 1st, 2011. Any queries
submitted before or after those times will not be qualified to enter and
considered only as a regular query.
- All queries entered must have this in the
subject line: QUERY CONTEST - Yes, I can handle the truth
- If it does not have this in the subject line,
it will be considered a regular query only.
- Queries must be in the body of the
email. NO attachments!
- Queries must be one-page length long, size 12
font. That's ONE PAGE ONLY!
- No manuscript pages attached or included at
all.
- You will receive our usual auto-response. If
you do not receive an auto-response, resend!
I will respond to all
queries entered in the contest by Monday (11/7/11) at 5pm EST.
Further Guidelines:
- Yes, if you've
already been rejected you may resubmit your query. I will read (if
submitted in the correct time frame) and let you know why it's been
rejected. Don't say "You already rejected me..." Treat it like
you've never queried her before.
- Your queries will NOT be
posted on this or any other blog. I will reply to you via your e-mail,
only.
- You must treat
this as an actual query process, which means you need to have a complete
manuscript. If I do request your manuscript, I don't want to find out
there isn't one!
101 comments:
Eep! *bites nails* *marks calendar*
Congrats Suzie!
And what a great contest...well, not really even a contest since everybody wins...I'll be sure to plug it on my blog this week.
Congratulations on your new position. I look forward to participating in your contest next Tuesday. It's a generous offer for you to make. Thanks.
Oh WOW, what a generous offer. I will definitely enter. Good luck in your new company.
Oh wow! I'm excited to hear this.
Congrats, Suzie!
Congrats on the move, Suzie! I'm sure you'll do great things at your new home, and what a wonderful contest. (in which i really wish I had something ready to query, as I'd so love to enter it. aw, well. it happens *shrugs* next time)
also: is it weird that i was totally picturing that scene from a few good men while reading your post? I kept expecting Jack Nicholson to jump out of my computer and start yelling "you can't handle the truth!" at me. oh yes, I can Jack. Oh yes, I can ;)
Cool contest. Will enter for sure! Thanks Suzie.
Fabulous! Can't wait. :)
Congratulations, Suzie! And I have to say I love this contest idea!
Congrats on your move. Hope you are happy with the change of agency. And your contest sounds awesome.
Congrats on the move, and thanks for the double edged sword of awesome. I can't wait, but I'm already bracing for the pain.
How exciting! Congratulations on the move! :)
Congrats, and thanks for a great contest!
Congratulations! Sounds like a great contest, and if I can wrap my head around the timezone differences I might give it a shot. =)
Ooft. In all honesty, I'm happier without the truth! But congrats on the move, I hope you're happy there!
Congrats on the new office! I can't wait to see what great books you pick up from this contest.
Congrats again on the move :) Hopefully you'll find some gems with your contest!
Congrats Suzie for your move to the new agency. And really thanks for the opportunity to get your comments on a query. Best wishes.
So, in a sense, it's a contest where everyone wins? This sounds like more fun than a party at L. Ron Hubbards.
This is great, Suzie! I've been stalking the Nancy Coffey Agency blog for the last two months since Joanna first started this. I'm so happy it's happening again! Thanks a million for doing this and congrats on your move!
Thanks for the congrats everyone, and AJ don't worry you can query and not enter the contest :)
Congratulations!
Whew, 6 a.m. for the west coasters, huh? An all-nighter for me!
Congratulations!
Congrats on your move! I think I might have something for you . . . You do realize your computer will be slammed during this time, don't you? Hope it can handle the onslaught. . .
UGH! I just had my nails done. Why don't they make these things unbreakable anyway?
Congratulations on the move!
Trying to figure out how to set the iphone alarm for a time zone I will most likely not be in.
My uberagent at a new uberagency! Yay! And I'm totally posting this contest on my blog =) You rock!
Wow! That's some incredible news. Congratulations. Thanks in advance for your generous-to-the-point query contest.
VERY exciting!!! Congrats!!! I;ll be sending you my query! :)
Congrats! And thanks so much for the opportunity. Can't wait for a big helping of truth!
Congratulations!
And awesome contest.
I have a question ... can I enter two query letters? Separately, of course. (Both manuscripts are finished, btw).
Thanks!
Best contest EVER!
Question: I queried you and got a request for a full that was ultimately rejected (in a very polite email, which is much appreciated). I have reworked the query since then, can I still enter the contest?
Congratulations, Suzie! What a kind offer (this isn't a contest, it's an amazing gift!) Are you ready for the flood of queries?
@ Ms.Snip - Looking at the guidelines, you should be fine:
"if you've already been rejected you may resubmit your query. I will read (if submitted in the correct time frame) and let you know why it's been rejected. Don't say "You already rejected me..." Treat it like you've never queried her before."
I love contests like this! Thanks, Suzie!
But I have the same question as Juliana: Can I submit two different query letters for two different manuscripts?
Oooo, totally doing this. Very risky without attaching any pages but I'll cross my fingers and hope that my query is strong enough. I would LOVE to have you as an agent - congrats on the move!! Hope it's as wonderful as you hoped.
Just to clarify, do you mean EST or EDT (in effect until 6th November)?
Good call Emma, you were totally right.
@Juliana and others--Just submit one query for one project. I'm not going to request more than manuscript per writer.
@Ms. Snip--Yes!
Thanks for answering.
Can I ask another question?
If I send you a query for the contest and you reject it (and tell me why) and I rework it, can I send it again to you, outside the contest and reworked, as a regular query?
Thanks!
Yes! You can always query me again.
Good to know lol ;0)
Awesome! Thank you!! Guess us west coasters hav eto get up early :)
Forgot to say: Congrats!
I'm so looking forward to this! Thank you again, Suzie, for taking the time out for us!
Congrats!
Congrats on the move and thanks for hosting a very exciting contest. I wonder how many queries an hour will produce. . .
Yes EDT or EST? I'm trying to work out whether to stay up until midnight or 1am Australiam time and I'm etting conflicting web advice. Is it 9 - 10 EDT (New York time???) or EST?
Since your comment is dated 8:03 am i think the contest starts in another 40 minutes
Just entered. Thanks for providing this opportunity. :)
I entered, but didn't get the confirmation email.
So, I waited about ten minutes and sent it again ... and still didn't get any confirmation email.
Perhaps I'm not supposed to enter this contest? lol
I'll wait until the hour is almost up ... let's see if I get a late confirmation email.
Suzie, I've sent my query twice and didn't get a auto-response.
I have a funny feeling it went to spam.
Actually, I just spoke to a cp and she said she hadn't received one either.
Maybe we overloaded your box? LOL :)
Entered! Can't wait to get a rundown of all the ways I'm full of fail :)
Congrats on the move, btw.
I've sent twice with no auto response. Shucks.
Yeah, I just sent one. No auto response.
Ditto... No auto response.
I've also sent twice and not recieved an auto response. Darn it.
I also sent a query with no auto response. Giora
No auto-response here either. Are we doing something incorrectly?
I sent twice now within 15 minutes and no auto response either time.
-Abigail J.
Same deal here. Send twice. No auto response. Maybe we crashed the world's email?
Oh good, I'm not the only one having an auto response problem. Really don't want to keep resending...
Just re-sent... still waiting on the auto-response.
I also got no auto-response.
I didn't get an auto-response either, but I didn't want to resend in case the system is on overload.
Two words Miss: Time Goblins.
I sent, but no auto response either.
I too sent something and didn't get a response. I'm thinking, perhaps, that you are getting too many emails for your servers to handle. :)
Time Goblins would be an awesome name for an MG book.
Sent as well without an auto-response. :) Just might be a little bug -- it's probably just as important that I didn't get a bounceback error. We'll see what happens! Thanks for the opportunity to get the truth.
Okay, mine may have gotten lost as it ended up in my trash folder somehow?? So I resent. Sorry if you get two copies. And thanks for the opportunity to get some feedback. :)
Just submitted - thanks so much for hosting the contest!
Debating whether or not to resend a third time in these last few minutes...has anyone gotten an auto response?
I haven't gotten an auto response yet either.
Same. No autoresponse. I sent it a couple times. Sorry if you get them all.
I also haven't gotten an auto response. Apologies if it shows up three times!
Me neither. No auto response. Will resend--just in case I did something wrong. Thanks for doing this.
I didn't receive an auto-response either - sent twice just in case. I'm sure the server has been pounded! So I'm just crossing my fingers cuz it's too early in the morning to think any more clearly!
Obviously, nobody is getting an auto response. Suzie was very generous with her Query Contest and her company will fix the prolem. Thanks again.
I just re-re-sent, and still no auto-response.
I sent twice due to no auto response. So sorry if you get both and THANK YOU for offering this contest! Congrats on the move and best wishes for your future there!
hey, did anyone else notice there wasn't an auto-reply?
(kidding, kidding.)
Joanna and I are looking into the auto-responses...
I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't get an auto response. *fingers crossed* hoping my submission was received.
Fingers crossed mine gets through - hotmail had a delay when mine went through so unsure whether I got it in on time. :0( I hope so!!! Ah well. What will be, yada yada yada.
Didn't get one either and neither did a friend of mine...so I came straight here rather than spamming the NCL inbox.
Hooray for the blogosphere!
(And thank you again for the opportunity, Suzie!)
Everyone seen Twitter? Apparently their servers went down and they might not have received ANY. Bad timing, huh?
Whew! So, I'm not the only one. I sent it three times thinking I was screwing something up! Hopefully, my query made it through.
Thanks so much for offering this opportunity!
I don't have access to Twitter--hopefully there will be updates here.
I'm sure that resending a thousand times isn't the best way to address this issue lol
Congrats on your news! Thanks so much for offering to share your thoughts on our queries. I'm glad I checked in here to find out the auto response malfunctioned. I sent mine at 9:11. I hope they eventually went through! Christy
On Twitter, Suzie said that 626 queries had finally come through (and that she may just do another contest).
Though given that a lot of people sent 2 (or more times), if they filter through probably closer to 200. :)
Phew....The fun police at work block twitter and this blog (?) so I thought it was just my e-mail system having a chomp again.
THanks for running this again Suzie!
Is she running it again? I don't have access to Twitter at the moment.
Her twitter said that she thinks she got them and will try to send out auto responses by tomorrow, but I think the auto response still isn't working yet. Good luck everyone! Hope she got them all :) Thanks for running this critique!!! and Congrats Suzie! :)
Oh, I hope she does another. I had no internet due to this obnoxious snow storm (October? Really?) and drove my kids around for over an hour looking for (and not finding) free wifi. It came back seven hours too late. T'would be nice to have another shot. :) However, since that's a whole ton of work for Suzie, I'm not counting on it. To all who did manage to get through, good luck!
Congrats on your move & good luck with the new agency!
I was so excited for this contest, and made sure I was up at 6AM pacific time to send off my entry. At 6:04 it was sent, but I never received an auto-confirmation email. So I thought this meant you didn't get my query contest entry. Now, reading your comments, I may be wrong. I sure hope so!!
Good luck everyone!
I haven't received an auto-response yet, fingers crossed it'll come through today.
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