Query Roundup 11/10

Saturday, November 10, 2012

As of 4:32 pm on Saturday, all of my queries have been answered. I had 246 queries in my inbox.

I requested 1 manuscript.

YA fantasy that sounds unique and amazing.

I regretfully passed on 2 manuscripts.

Another YA fantasy that had a really cool premise, but I just wasn't grabbed enough by the writing.
Adult romance with science fiction elements. Really cool premise, but I wasn't sucked into the voice in the first pages.

This is a new one for me, but--don't admit in your query that you don't actually read or enjoy books.

Along those lines, remember that the best way to present yourself is in a professional manner and as someone who will be lovely to work with. Agents want to represent good books, yes, but we also want to forge a great working relationship with our writers. Even if you are bitter, disillusioned, or desperate (It's a tough industry, I get it), try your best not to show it.

13 comments:

John Thorogood said...: I have two questions, if you don’t mind?

1. “...wasn't grabbed enough by the writing.” – Is this one of those subjective things that might vary from agent to agent, or is this a hint for that writer to go back and revise some more?

2. Do those pour souls who queried the close but not close enough, “regretfully passed” manuscripts get a personal rejection? A.k.a., is there an easy way for those two to know that you are talking about them?

Thank you for your time.; November 10, 2012 at 7:13 PM
Suzie Townsend said...: Hi John,

1. It could be subjective. I've certainly passed on books that have gone on to sell. But it's also probably a hint that the author should go back and look at those first pages. There's a strong chance if it doesn't grab me it might not be grabbing other agents too.

2. No. I respond to all my queries, then write up the blogpost. The manuscripts I've passed on but I'm still thinking about are the ones that I specifically point out.

But I can say that anything fantasy gets me to read the pages because writing a query for a book set in a fantasy world is super tough. And sometimes it's just easiest to look at the pages and see if the voice stands out.; November 10, 2012 at 8:00 PM
Lexa Cain said...: Very good advice. I hope you get find a project soon that's everything you want it to be. :-); November 10, 2012 at 8:59 PM
John Thorogood said...: Thank you Suzie.

One follow up (hopefully), just to be clear, if you thought the writing, voice, etc. were horrible (or some simile of horrible) your form rejection would not include statements like:

• “I don't feel I'm quite the right agent for your project.” – implying another agent might be right.
• “regretfully going to pass” – meaning there is some sorrow behind the decision.
• “Good luck with your submissions” – implying the author should be sending more submissions.

Instead, your form letter would include statements like: “I'm just not grabbed” or “This isn't different/unique enough to stand out.” or “This just doesn't sound very commercial.”

I’m referring to your September 17th post when drawing these conclusions.

In other words, you would not sugarcoat a response to a query that is blatantly flawed?

Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you for your time.; November 10, 2012 at 9:17 PM
Suzie Townsend said...: John--to answer your question simply: No.

Everyone gets a form rejection which says the same thing, It's not for me, I'm regretfully passing, good luck with your submissions. These are all true statements. (I'm regretful because I always want to find something good). It's not that I'm sugarcoating--it's that I don't give personalized responses because it eats up all my time. Also, the truth is I don't get that many queries that are straight up terrible. I get a lot that are okay, but I just don't have time to request and read okay, I have to look for amazing.

That 9/17 blog post is from when I did the "I can handle the truth" contest and I gave everyone a line of personalized feedback. (This took me an entire weekend where I did almost nothing else).; November 10, 2012 at 10:30 PM
Kessie said...: I'm just flabbergasted somebody would admit _in a book query_ that they _don't like books_. Uh, maybe they should go try another profession, like bricklaying?; November 10, 2012 at 11:56 PM
John Thorogood said...: Thank you. I thought maybe agents had 2 or 3 form letters they went to depending on what message they wanted to send. Now, I know better. Everyone is always so nice in how they reject me. They never say anything derogatory about my work. They just tell me it’s not for them. I guess I was hoping for a silver lining.

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this forum. It is noble. You seem like a good person and I wish you nothing but the best. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions.; November 11, 2012 at 2:17 AM
Megan Hand said...: This is great advice, thank you! I think that if we are trying to make it in this business in the first place, shouldn't we be keeping our most positive foot forward at all times? I know it's difficult, and I haven't really begun my query journey yet, but I'm looking forward to it, rejections and all. It can only make me stronger. Though I will say, four years of music school kind of beat the self-consciousness and insecurities out of me. Not that I don't have them, but you learn that taking everything personally does not make you a better performer. Same goes for writing, and just about everything really.

And, I couldn't help but chuckle at the comment about not enjoying reading. That was hilarious!; November 11, 2012 at 9:11 AM
Emilyann Girdner said...: Thank you for your continued sensitivity to the life of a struggling writer mixed with constant encouragement, it is very appreciated. I hope you are having a lovely weekend, Suzie.; November 11, 2012 at 4:22 PM
Guppy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; November 14, 2012 at 1:17 AM
Guppy said...: I can't imagine what sort of purgatory a person goes through hearing that their writing might not have grabbed the attention of an agent, but at the same time they don't know for sure if it was their piece. Any advice for those left in ambiguity of whether or not their writing is just plain awful or just not a fit for the agent?; November 14, 2012 at 1:19 AM
Suzie Townsend said...: My advice: query widely, keep writing. If your query doesn't get requests, revise and try again. if you get requests but then passes, revise your writing. If the first book doesn't work, query another book, enter contests, go to conferences, have a beta reader give you feedback.; November 14, 2012 at 12:52 PM
Freda Cameron said...: Your website says that there is auto-reply, but I didn't get one with my query tonight. I didn't get a mailer daemon bounce either. Is your auto-reply still on?

Thanks,
Freda; November 16, 2012 at 11:06 PM

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Five Random Things About Suzie

1. I drink so much orange soda, it's probably running through my veins. I've been known to go through a twelve pack of diet sunkist in a day.

2. I'm legitimately nocturnal (or a vampire). I will be so exhausted at two pm that I'm falling asleep standing up - it has happened before, at Six Flags no less - but as soon as the sun goes down I'm wide awake.

3. I have a gorgeous unused $6000 Reem Acra wedding dress hanging in my closet, and it showed up on my doorstep the same day my (now ex) fiance broke up with me. And thank God for that. I wouldn't have wanted to waste that dress on him.

4. Social anxiety plagues me daily. I write a script and practice in front of the mirror when I have to make a phone call, but most people who interact with me have no idea how nervous I am (or perhaps they lie) because I've worked so hard to try to overcome it.

5. I'm actually worried that I will never love my children (when I do have them in the far off future) as much as I love my dogs. I just like animals better than people - they're sweet and innocent and soft and furry - is that so wrong?

quotes

金不一定閃
流浪者不都迷路

"I dreamed you bewitched me into bed

And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane
I think I made you up inside my head
I fancied you'd return the way you said
But I grow old and I forget your name
I think I made you up inside my head" ~Silvia Plath, Mad Girl's Love Song

"Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." ~ Robert Frost

"Love is not love,
Which alters when it alteration finds." ~ William Shakespeare, "Sonnet 116"

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…And one fine morning-...So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald, THE GREAT GATSBY

"For deadly secrets strike when understood
and lucky stars all exit on the run:
never try to knock on rotten wood,
never try to know more than you should." ~ Sylvia Plath, "Admonitions"

"The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in the love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become." ~ Milan Kundera, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING

William Wilberforce: "No one of our age has ever taken power."
William Pitt Jr: "Which is why we're too young to realize certain things are impossible. Which is why we will do them anyway."

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." ~ Mark Twain

"Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform." ~ Mark Twain

“You know what I am going to say. I love you. What other men may mean when they use that expression, I cannot tell; what I mean is, that I am under the influence of some tremendous attraction which I have resisted in vain, and which overmasters me. You could draw me to fire, you could draw me to water, you could draw me to the gallows, you could draw me to any death, you could draw me to anything I have most avoided, you could draw me to any exposure and disgrace.” ~ Charles Dickens, A MUTUAL FRIEND

"I think the idea of life after death is a bad idea. It distracts you from appreciating the uniqueness of the here and now, the moment you are living." ~ Joseph Campbell

"Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear...Cry for the broken tribe, for the law and the custom that is gone. Aye, and cry aloud for the man who is dead, for the woman and children bereaved. Cry, the beloved country, these things are not yet at an end." ~ Alan Paton, CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY

"To laugh often and much.. to endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better... To know even one life has breathed easier because you lived, This is to have succeeded." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"After telling the hard facts to anyone from lover or friend, I have changed in their eyes...[Some see it as] a mission, as if ...they can pull me back from the wreckage of that day. Of course, their best efforts are largely useless. No one can pull anyone back from anywhere. You save yourself or you remain unsaved." ~ Alice Sebold, LUCKY

"Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it's dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared." ~Tupac, The Rose That Grew From Concrete

Confessions

Saturday, November 10, 2012