I'm in a round of queries and a lot of the agents I'm querying have twitter feeds. Is it good to mention something you've seen -- like noticing they attended a conference in a town I used to live in or they had spent hours stuck by the side of the road -- or would you think that it sounds like I'm a creepy stalker?
Mentioning tweets: Creepy or shows initiative?
- Thread starter whiporee
- Start date
not a creepy stalker.....but maybe a kissass
I'm a skeptic by nature. I've had my ass kissed. Had to kiss ass. And watched it, many times. There are rare little snowflakes and Napoleons who pretty much demand ass-kissery, but in general, people want what they want, not adoration in place of it. Agents want good books. So when you add relevant experience or information, the keyword is RELEVANT.
Will them knowing you once lived in Bangor or that you read their tweets translate into a better book? No, but it will sound needy.
If it's relevant to the query (such as "I noticed you're looking for a YA fantasy novel about a family of talking toasters blah blah blah"), I'd say it's fine.
It'll comes across as creepy (or ass-kissing - good point quicklime) if it's got nothing to do with the query. It'll just look like you're plucking random information from a Twitter feed (which is kind of what it would be).
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I agree that any personalization in the letter should be related to the agent's interests and how they relate to your books. If you check this Tumblr, you can find wishlists for a lot of agents: http://agentandeditorwishlist.tumblr.com/. If they are wishing for something that your book can fulfill, certainly mention that and how your book fulfills that desire.
However, don't mention things unrelated to your book, such as if the agent attended a particular convention (unless you went too and met the agent and had them ask you to send them a query letter.) Ultimately, everything you write in the query letter should show why your book is well-suited to that agent. Personalization is generally good to have, but it should be intentional - don't just put it in to put it in. Make sure it's done to show why your book is suited to that particular agent.
However, don't mention things unrelated to your book, such as if the agent attended a particular convention (unless you went too and met the agent and had them ask you to send them a query letter.) Ultimately, everything you write in the query letter should show why your book is well-suited to that agent. Personalization is generally good to have, but it should be intentional - don't just put it in to put it in. Make sure it's done to show why your book is suited to that particular agent.