Does a bio need filler?
- Thread starter TwentyFour
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I think that having short fiction credits might get you out of the slush pile quicker (assuming that they were published in reputable venues) but if you're querying for a novel, the agent will make a determination based on the novel, not on your previous publishing credits.
If you haven't any publishing credits, just skip the bio paragraph in your query letter. Plenty of people get good agents without having published before.
- Victoria
If you haven't any publishing credits, just skip the bio paragraph in your query letter. Plenty of people get good agents without having published before.
- Victoria
Somewhere around, I read this -- if you have no credits to put in your bio, let them know you are a member of a writing group. Presumably it means you've run your work past other writers. I don't know if it will help, but it can't hurt.
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I used to really try to pad my bio (B.A. in Creative writing, short stint at a small publishing company) but on my last query, I didn't put in a bio at all.
I don't know how much I would recommend that--you'll have to go on your gut--but I got a request for a full this morning so it doesn't seem to have damned me. *shrug*
Maprilynne
I don't know how much I would recommend that--you'll have to go on your gut--but I got a request for a full this morning so it doesn't seem to have damned me. *shrug*
Maprilynne
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NO.
I had no pub credits. I mentioned that I attended the Maui Writers Retreat and Conference. What got me my agent was the first paragraph where I stated the premise of my novel and the end of the query where I added the first five pages of my novel.
That is what my agent said.
I had no pub credits. I mentioned that I attended the Maui Writers Retreat and Conference. What got me my agent was the first paragraph where I stated the premise of my novel and the end of the query where I added the first five pages of my novel.
That is what my agent said.
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I wouldn't do this. It might not hurt you, but I think it mightmake you seem amateurish. Like contests, writers' groups vary a lot in their professionalism and rigorousness, and being a member of one might or might not mean you'd gotten decent criticism.Carmy said:
- Victoria
Thanks Victoria.
I don't even remember where I read that but it stuck in my mind even though I have credits and don't need it.
I don't even remember where I read that but it stuck in my mind even though I have credits and don't need it.