A full request for my MS! - UPDATED

Steam&Ink

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(Updated in post #12)

Hello History buffs,

I just got a full request for my historical mystery MS, Unseemly Conduct - from an agent on my "A-list"! woo-hooo!
It has been a few weeks since I queried her, so I was thinking it might be a passive R, but she just requested the full MS. Soooooooooooo happy :) :snoopy:

I know it's no guarantee of anything besides her passing interest, but just to get a full request from one of my A-list is awesome. My first novel (now trunked) never got more than a partial request.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my progress with you guys, as many of you have been really supportive and encouraging about the story. :Sun:
 
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cooeedownunder

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Ah, very, very well done. As I've said previously I absolutly loved Isabel in the snipplets shared. Fingers and everything else crossed for you that it gets picked up.

Maybe it will be a year for Isabel's :D
 
Puma

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Good going, Steampunkette - got my fingers crossed for you. Puma
 
Steam&Ink

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Thanks you guys, so nice to hear your support.
We'll just see where it goes from here. As I said to my husband yesterday, it's just nice to know that an agent appreciated the first 50 pages enough to request the rest :) If it goes further, whoopee! If not, well, there are other agents out there too - and I will feel better having the encouragement.
 

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Would you care...

to share your successful query letter with us all? It would be nice to see how you nailed the agent with it.
 

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Yay, steampunkette! Can you tell us who the agent is? If you put random punctuation in the name, it won't show up in searches.
 
angeliz2k

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Sweet!! (This deserves more than one exclamation point; please forgive my little-girl squealy-ness here). It must be an awesome manuscript since it got snapped up so fast! I'm sure it'll be out on the bookstore shelves within the year.

My update on the full request is not as exciting. The agent said "no news is good news" and she hasn't gotten around to reading the ms yet. Ah well.

Well done, Steampunkette!
 
raburrell

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Awesome, SP!! Fabulous news, and best wishes for a quick sale - can't wait to buy a copy :D
 
Steam&Ink

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cooeedownunder said:
This is the last thread from Query Hell...I'm sure if it changed sinced steampunkette will let us know.

I thought she managed to capture her MCs and WIP's voice in the query pefectly.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157318
Click to expand...

Thanks Cooee. That's about the version I sent off.
I did elevate Isabel's social status towards the end, for a couple of technical reasons. Here is the final version, below.
My agent said that this was the final query of her day before she went home, and she was exhausted, but after she read the query she decided to take the first chapters home and read them. And the next morning she emailed and asked for the full!
Needless to say, I owe this little query a great deal of gratitude :)


Dear Ms Agent,
I am seeking representation for Unseemly Conduct, an historical murder mystery set in 1890 London:

When the mutilated corpse of heiress Georgia Fenwick is found floating in the Thames, the Honourable Isabel Crawford has no intention of becoming involved. Isabel has enough problems of her own – it isn’t easy for a Viscount’s daughter to adapt to life as an under-paid governess. But a regrettable act of kleptomania has put Isabel into a delicate position: either help the strange Inspector Victor Dennehy to find Georgia’s killer, or be exposed as a thief.

Armed with her acerbic wit, questionable charm, and a sensible brolly, Isabel enters the seamy life of the nouveau riche. Middle-class London, she soon discovers, has a shadowy past, a penchant for vice, and a bottom drawer full of ether bottles. And, as if she didn’t have enough to keep her gloved hands full, Inspector Dennehy is proving to be a man who knows how to misbehave. It seems that he is “mad, bad, and dangerous to know” – but perhaps that’s just how Isabel likes him...

Meanwhile, there are more domestic issues to manage: her employer is either going mad or to France (whichever is closer), and the handsome young artist Shaw, whose talent doesn’t quite match his reputation, will keep insisting she take off her chemise - it’s enough to make a governess reach for the smelling salts.



But far more worrying is the proof that no good deed goes unpunished: when the last piece of evidence falls into place, it seems that Isabel herself will hang for Georgia Fenwick’s murder.

Unseemly Conduct is a stand-alone novel of 84,000 words, with series potential. [contact information] Thank you for your time and consideration.
Click to expand...
 
Steam&Ink

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lkp said:
Yay, steampunkette! Can you tell us who the agent is? If you put random punctuation in the name, it won't show up in searches.
Click to expand...

Sure, I was a bit shy to put in in the Goals and Accomplishments thread, but it's cam.)%eron mc#$clu&^re.
She's absolutely lovely and was really enthusiastic about the novel. I'm looking forward to working with her! :Sun:
 
Steam&Ink

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angeliz2k said:
Sweet!! (This deserves more than one exclamation point; please forgive my little-girl squealy-ness here). It must be an awesome manuscript since it got snapped up so fast! I'm sure it'll be out on the bookstore shelves within the year.

My update on the full request is not as exciting. The agent said "no news is good news" and she hasn't gotten around to reading the ms yet. Ah well.

Well done, Steampunkette!
Click to expand...

Thanks :) I've been pretty squealy about it the last few days :D
I think all the stars must have been in alignment for it to have happened so quickly. I'm definitely a believer in the "no news is good news" ethos!
 

lkp

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steampunkette said:
Sure, I was a bit shy to put in in the Goals and Accomplishments thread, but it's cam.)%eron mc#$clu&^re.
She's absolutely lovely and was really enthusiastic about the novel. I'm looking forward to working with her! :Sun:
Click to expand...

Ooo, great agency for fiction!
 
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