Query Roundup 9/28

Only 93 queries today! Another light week. As of 12:48 pm I am finished!

Today I requested 3 manuscripts.

YA contemporary with a really cool concept and a fun voice.
YA sci-fi. I recently told myself I wouldn't request anymore, but this one just sounded so good.
YA fantasy that sounds amazing.

I swear guys, I'm looking for more adult and MG. But probably 95% of my queries today were YA.

Trying to find an agent via querying is a little like trying to find someone via the internet to be your long distance boyfriend/girlfriend. Anyone who pays attention to pop culture knows that desperation can be a turn off when you're trying to get a date (stage 5 clinger, anyone?). It's also a little scary to agents.

And I get it. If you've written a book, you've put in a lot of hard work and the industry is tough to crack. It's hard to get agents' attentions and you're dealing with something that's really important to you. But when you query, try to turn all of your insecurities and fears off.

You've written a book--that's the art. Now you're querying--that's the business.

Your query is you selling your book. Think about what makes the book stand out, what makes the characters unique, what makes the plot compelling, where it would fit in the market, and then show that as you tell what the book is about.

Be professional and passionate and show off your awesome writing ability. Be confident about it.

Try to avoid: begging, threatening, pleading, oversharing (keep those personal TMI details and the number of rejections out of your query)

Remember your query is similar to what an agent is going to pitch to an editor and what a reader is going to see as the description on the book jacket. No one picked up The Lovely Bones and read that she was rejected everywhere, and no one would want me for an agent if I pitched books by *crying* and saying "If you don't read this, I'll die."

It only takes one yes. There are so many hugely successful authors out there who will tell you all of there horrible rejection stories. Yet here they are.