Lawyer with no publication experience

ErinGlover

ErinGlover
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 9, 2017
Messages
79
Reaction score
8
Location
Denver
Website
www.erintollglover.com
Hi! I am wondering if in my query letter I mention my experience writing press releases, briefs, speeches, and newsletters when pitching my literary fiction novel. I do not have any publication credits. My book is not about anything having to do with legal matters. I just wanted to show I could write. What are your thoughts please?
 

cornflake

practical experience, FTW
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 11, 2012
Messages
16,171
Reaction score
3,734
Hi! I am wondering if in my query letter I mention my experience writing press releases, briefs, speeches, and newsletters when pitching my literary fiction novel. I do not have any publication credits. My book is not about anything having to do with legal matters. I just wanted to show I could write. What are your thoughts please?

I wouldn't. If you had significant published or high-level work in unrelated areas -- if you were a presidential speechwriter, wrote a trade-published non-fiction title, were a reporter for the NYT, whatever, then I'd add it, because it shows you can write to a certain level and have some other relevant experience like working with professional editors, getting work in on deadline, etc. Work-related stuff like press releases, newsletters, isn't really quantifiable, so it's not useful to agents or relevant in this context.

If you don't have credits, that's fine.
 

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 15, 2008
Messages
18,644
Reaction score
4,097
Location
Brillig in the slithy toves...
Listen to the hippo. Press releases and such aren't the same as novel / narrative writing. It might be an interesting tidbit, but unless it involves a platform or contacts that might help you later on, it's not relevant.
 

Myrealana

I aim to misbehave
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 29, 2012
Messages
5,425
Reaction score
1,911
Location
Denver, CO
Website
www.badfoodie.com
Your query and sample pages will sell your book, not your experience writing press releases the agent has never seen.
 

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer
Super Member
Registered
Temp Ban
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
2,481
Reaction score
271
Location
Los Angeles
Website
LaerCarroll.com
Queries have to be really compressed, almost poem-like, because agents are so very busy, and have maybe dozens of queries to get through every day.

My suggestion is to focus tightly on the hook to your book. Then in the bio section (very short, like everything else) mention only what relates to your book. Mentioning that you're attorney as below should clue the agent that you're literate and disciplined and so likely able to deliver more books and so more business for them.

"I'm a 34-year-old attorney specializing in [WHATEVER], with a secret life as an [YOUR BOOK RELATED]."
 
Last edited:

ErinGlover

ErinGlover
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 9, 2017
Messages
79
Reaction score
8
Location
Denver
Website
www.erintollglover.com
I wouldn't. If you had significant published or high-level work in unrelated areas -- if you were a presidential speechwriter, wrote a trade-published non-fiction title, were a reporter for the NYT, whatever, then I'd add it, because it shows you can write to a certain level and have some other relevant experience like working with professional editors, getting work in on deadline, etc. Work-related stuff like press releases, newsletters, isn't really quantifiable, so it's not useful to agents or relevant in this context.

If you don't have credits, that's fine.

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense.
 

ErinGlover

ErinGlover
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 9, 2017
Messages
79
Reaction score
8
Location
Denver
Website
www.erintollglover.com
Queries have to be really compressed, almost poem-like, because agents are so very busy, and have maybe dozens of queries to get through every day.

My suggestion is to focus tightly on the hook to your book. Then in the bio section (very short, like everything else) mention only what relates to your book. Mentioning that you're attorney as below should clue the agent that you're literate and disciplined and so likely able to deliver more books and so more business for them.

"I'm a 34-year-old attorney specializing in [WHATEVER], with a secret life as an [YOUR BOOK RELATED]."


I like the bit about adding I'm an attorney. Then they'll know that at least I can write, presumably.

Thanks.

- - - Updated - - -

Your query and sample pages will sell your book, not your experience writing press releases the agent has never seen.


Do you always add query pages?
 

ErinGlover

ErinGlover
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 9, 2017
Messages
79
Reaction score
8
Location
Denver
Website
www.erintollglover.com
Listen to the hippo. Press releases and such aren't the same as novel / narrative writing. It might be an interesting tidbit, but unless it involves a platform or contacts that might help you later on, it's not relevant.

When you say platform, does it help that I started an author's website that mentions I'm writing a novel? I've been thinking of doing book reviews on it to get a fan base until I get published. Would you mention you have a platform ready to go, as in you're ready to help market?
 

ErinGlover

ErinGlover
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 9, 2017
Messages
79
Reaction score
8
Location
Denver
Website
www.erintollglover.com
I wouldn't. If you had significant published or high-level work in unrelated areas -- if you were a presidential speechwriter, wrote a trade-published non-fiction title, were a reporter for the NYT, whatever, then I'd add it, because it shows you can write to a certain level and have some other relevant experience like working with professional editors, getting work in on deadline, etc. Work-related stuff like press releases, newsletters, isn't really quantifiable, so it's not useful to agents or relevant in this context.

If you don't have credits, that's fine.

I'm trying to send you a private message about editing but your box is full. Do you have other contact info you'd like to share?
 

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 15, 2008
Messages
18,644
Reaction score
4,097
Location
Brillig in the slithy toves...
When you say platform, does it help that I started an author's website that mentions I'm writing a novel? I've been thinking of doing book reviews on it to get a fan base until I get published. Would you mention you have a platform ready to go, as in you're ready to help market?

By platform, I mean thousands, even tens-of-thousands of regular followers / readers / viewers (depending on the platform you use). If your professional writing has given you this kind of reach / exposure, then great. If your professional writing has given you contacts with people who might be advantageous once you get to the promotional stage of things, then great.

If you don't have that, then don't mention it.


Do you always add query pages?

Yes. Absolutely. Unless the agent says NO PAGES or QUERY LETTER ONLY, then paste 5-10 pages (ch. 1) into the body of the email, after the query letter close.
 
Last edited:

cornflake

practical experience, FTW
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 11, 2012
Messages
16,171
Reaction score
3,734
Always check every agent's/agency's guidelines -- some request query + 10 pgs, some query + X chapters, 5 pages, no pages at all... check and comply with their specific guidelines.

As to the website; it doesn't sound like you do have a platform; it sounds like you have a website, which is as meaningless in the grand scheme of things as the work-related writing to agents in general.

Agents are concerned with authors having platforms mostly in terms of non-fiction, when the authors are generally expected to be experts in their fields and, because many of the books are on specific topics (like, say, weight loss), it's beneficial to have a platform of followers or people familiar with your work built in, who would be interested, to help the book stand out from the crowd of other books on how to lose weight. With fiction, it's not the same. Aside from already-published authors, it's not so much a thing that there's an audience who will go 'oh, Bob wrote a book about a painter in 1930s France; I love his, uhm, ideas about France.'

In some cases of relevance, this is a thing -- which is, I'm guessing, why you noted you're not writing a novel that relates to legal themes. If Alan Dershowitz writes a legal thriller, there's some built-in audience, and he'd be wise to mention that little career thing he's got going in a query.

For most people writing fiction, not a thing unless it's specifically relevant in some way (you're pitching a novel about a high-end restaurant kitchen romance and run a blog about your adventures working in restaurant kitchens that has 300,000 followers. That's relevant).
 

cornflake

practical experience, FTW
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 11, 2012
Messages
16,171
Reaction score
3,734
I'm trying to send you a private message about editing but your box is full. Do you have other contact info you'd like to share?

I am soooo popular... and also lazy. :D Sorry about that.

I just sent you a rep - up on the top right of your screen click 'settings' and you should be able to see the message. You can send quick, shorter messages back and forth to members through reps -- click the star under a user's avatar on any post and it opens up a window with a little text input.
 
Last edited:

Cobalt Jade

Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 21, 2015
Messages
3,327
Reaction score
1,484
Location
Seattle
Highjacking the thread a little. For a fiction author, is there an advantage, or disadvantage, in writing book reviews? I am thinking that a bad one, or a sporking, may actually harm the author with other agents/publishers/authors.
 

Anna Iguana

reading all the things
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 16, 2017
Messages
925
Reaction score
219
Location
US
Cobalt, I can't see any way that's related to Erin's question. Can you connect the dots a bit? (Far as I know, you are welcome to start a separate thread to ask your question.)

Erin, Query Letter Hell (in the Show Your Work section) has some sticky notes about query letters that many people have found helpful.
 
Last edited:

ErinGlover

ErinGlover
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 9, 2017
Messages
79
Reaction score
8
Location
Denver
Website
www.erintollglover.com
Cobalt, I can't see any way that's related to Erin's question. Can you connect the dots a bit? (Far as I know, you are welcome to start a separate thread to ask your question.)

Erin, Query Letter Hell (in the Show Your Work section) has some sticky notes about query letters that many people have found helpful.

It's my fault. Someone mentioned having a platform in my query letter. I wondered if a website where I did book reviews while awaiting publication was enough for a platform for query letter purposes. Cobalt and Cyia both answered separately. I hope that adds some dots for you.
 

Anna Iguana

reading all the things
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 16, 2017
Messages
925
Reaction score
219
Location
US
Thanks, Erin. It does add dots. :) I'd followed the platform discussion but lost sight of that detail. (Everything Cyia said about platform is correct, as far as I can tell, which is why I wasn't focused on your website's possible content.)
 
Last edited:

ErinGlover

ErinGlover
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 9, 2017
Messages
79
Reaction score
8
Location
Denver
Website
www.erintollglover.com
Thanks, Erin. It does add dots. :) I'd followed the platform discussion but lost sight of that detail. (Everything Cyia said about platform is correct, as far as I can tell, which is why I wasn't focused on your website's possible content.)

Thanks for being around Anna. I like your icon. You've answered a couple of things I've posted. I posted in the Literary Fiction Group two days again and again today and no one answered. I guess some groups are inactive? I'm still learning my way around.
 

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer
Super Member
Registered
Temp Ban
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
2,481
Reaction score
271
Location
Los Angeles
Website
LaerCarroll.com
I read over 200 agent submission guidelines and winnowed them down to 61 to which I'm submitting, 10 every few months. Many if most of them suggest you include any web site in your contact info at the end of the query.

There is a forum for discussion of web sites and such at the following link.

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?90-Blogging-Podcasts-and-Social-Networking

The consensus seems to be that every author will need a web site eventually as a central location for your fans to come to, but it does little good for the debut author. Still, it's a good idea to start a site and slowly improve it for the day when you will need it. Take your time as there's no urgency for debut authors.

Once it's in place and looks the way you want it, post about once a week about some passion(s) of yours which is likely to appear in your books or affect them. If you're into equestrianism, for instance, you'll likely to see books, movies, TV shows, hear about events, and so on which you want to share. Post those short notices in the blog part of the site. Post longer articles in the static part, such as your bio, background info on the setting(s) of your novels, and so on.

Avoid deeply personal info, as the net is full of trolls and haters who will attack you, but don't avoid the personal entirely. On your web site you are selling yourself, your "brand" and the personal is part of it.

For more info about how to make your site more visible on the net, see the first post in the following thread. It's brilliant: clear, short, factual, and wise.

How to promote your book like an intelligent human being and not an SEO Dweeb
 

Anna Iguana

reading all the things
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 16, 2017
Messages
925
Reaction score
219
Location
US
I'm not an agent, but through research, I've formed an impression about what's advisable for an author's website. I'd suggest the same things Laer did, with two exceptions:

1. For fiction, the most important thing is, write your book. If you can't do that and blog once a week, don't blog. If you can't do that and set up a website, don't set up a website. An agent won't reject you because you haven't created a website yet.

2. For fiction, the second-most important thing is, write your next book. While you're querying, start writing your next novel. If you can't blog and write the next novel, writing the next novel is more important.