[Moved from Novels] Queries to Agents

Aloysius · Jun 2, 2015

Can they be single-spaced?

Is one page single-spaced or two pages double-spaced ok?

Any do's or don'ts that come to mind?

For those who were successful in landing an agent: What did your query letter do to attract their attention?

Many thanks for any considerations.

neandermagnon · Jun 2, 2015

In the "show your work" section there's one subsection called "query letter hell" where people get their query letters critiqued. That has lots of stickies with info about writing query letters. Plus of course once you get 50 posts you can post the letter in there for critique. There are experienced people in there critting, so that's well worth doing.

I can't really offer any more help than that because I haven't got that for with my own writing (yet), but I'm sure you'll find something helpful in that section.

Aloysius · Jun 2, 2015

neandermagnon said:
In the "show your work" section there's one subsection called "query letter hell" where people get their query letters critiqued. That has lots of stickies with info about writing query letters. Plus of course once you get 50 posts you can post the letter in there for critique. There are experienced people in there critting, so that's well worth doing.

I can't really offer any more help than that because I haven't got that for with my own writing (yet), but I'm sure you'll find something helpful in that section.

Thank You. Good luck with your work.

Maryn · Jun 2, 2015

I second the advice to visit Query Letter Hell and read the stickies, then some of the recent queries.

But to minimize the suspense, a query letter is a business letter. As such, it's single spaced, and its normal business font and size does not need to match that of any attachment, addendum, or enclosure.

Maryn, who struggles with queries

Aloysius · Jun 2, 2015

Maryn said:
I second the advice to visit Query Letter Hell and read the stickies, then some of the recent queries.

But to minimize the suspense, a query letter is a business letter. As such, it's single spaced, and its normal business font and size does not need to match that of any attachment, addendum, or enclosure.

Maryn, who struggles with queries

Thanks for the instantaneous gratification. I thrive on it.

Aloysius · Jun 2, 2015

Maryn, may I pm you with an AW question? I pm'd two other moderators but hitherto have received no response.

Laer Carroll · Jun 2, 2015

You really need to go to the Agents forum in AW for these and other questions. Did you not know it exists?

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?58-Ask-the-Agent

Aloysius · Jun 2, 2015

Laer Carroll said:
You really need to go to the Agents forum in AW for these and other questions. Did you not know it exists?

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?58-Ask-the-Agent

No. But I do now thanks to you.

cornflake · Jun 2, 2015

More than the pages thing, keep to 250 words or below is a good guideline. As noted in the stickied threads in Query Letter Hell. It's under Share Your Work, the password is: vista.

amergina · Jun 2, 2015

Hang on, I'll port this thread over there.

Roxxsmom · Jun 2, 2015

And be aware that each agent or agency has their own preferences, so it's always good to check. Some want five pages of the manuscript pasted at the bottom of the query, some want ten, some want the first chapter or three or fifty pages, while others only want a query letter. Some like a short synopsis sent with the query letter too. There are a handful who still want paper queries, but the overwhelming majority prefer (or only take) e-queries these days.

So check out the web sites of the agents and agencies you're interested in to see what their specific guidelines are.

A great resource for learning more about querying and for researching agents is querytracker. Also, preditors and editors and doing a search here on AW by the name of an agent or agency can give you information about peoples' experiences with them.

Old Hack · Jun 3, 2015

Aloysius said:
Maryn, may I pm you with an AW question? I pm'd two other moderators but hitherto have received no response.

You can PM me if you like. And go to the FAQ room, as there are lots of answers there.

kenpochick · Jun 3, 2015

I second reading the stickies but also go check out Query Shark: http://queryshark.blogspot.com/ Read all of them.

Maryn · Jun 3, 2015

(You're more likely to get a thorough and timely answer from Old Hack, for the record. I flail around doing the best I can, whereas she knows stuff.)

Aloysius · Jun 3, 2015

Old Hack said:
You can PM me if you like. And go to the FAQ room, as there are lots of answers there.

Got the answer I needed. Thanks for the offer.

Matthew Warner · Jun 4, 2015

How Many at Once?

This is more of a "Ask the Writer" question. How many simultaneous queries is a good number to keep out there?

I currently have my query on submission to eight different agents, with my submissions spanning from the end of January through now. Haven't heard back from any of them yet.

My instinct says to keep going and send more out, and to follow up on those more than three months stale.

Thoughts?

Thedrellum · Jun 4, 2015

Everyone does it differently, but I definitely think you should follow-up or cross off those already three months old. QueryTracker is a good way to get a baseline for the response times of agents and, if you're willing to pay for premium membership then you can get a more details on how quickly they response (i.e., whether you should count something as a rejection after ten days or four months).

I aimed for fifteen queries in circulation, though my response rate was relatively low.

Matthew Warner · Jun 4, 2015

Thanks; I'll check it out.

One of the agents I queried is yours. I Q'd her on 1/26 and sent a followup on 3/31 to report I'd secured an acquisition editor's interest via a pitch session. No response yet.

Aggy B. · Jun 4, 2015

Matthew: When I was querying, I usually sent mine out in batches of 5(ish) every couple of weeks and/or whenever I got a rejection. This meant that depending on how quickly the rejections/requests rolled in I had somewhere between 10-25 queries out at a time. I had a pretty extensive list though that started with folks who repped both SF and Fantasy, then those that repped only Fantasy, then those that didn't state a preference but were looking for Commercial Fiction.

If your list of agents is smaller, it might be wiser to query more slowly/in smaller batches in case you find a flaw in your query or opening pages. If you haven't heard back from anyone yet, I would send out more. It's usually safe to assume that after three months with no response that's a no, but I did have a few outliers that responded positively in the 4-6 month range on the query.

Matthew Warner · Jun 4, 2015

Thanks for the thoughtful answers.

popgun62 · Jun 4, 2015

Aloysius said:
Can they be single-spaced?

Is one page single-spaced or two pages double-spaced ok?

Any do's or don'ts that come to mind?

For those who were successful in landing an agent: What did your query letter do to attract their attention?

Many thanks for any considerations.

Aloysius, you can read about how I got my agent at Querytracker - https://querytracker.net/success/toby_tate.php It even has a sample of my query letter. You might have to get a password first, but if you haven't already heard about it, Querytracker is a great site. Good luck!

dda27101 · Jun 4, 2015

Besides giving the agent genre and word count, the Q should hook the agent…not so much on the story (though if you can in 200 words—BRAVO)…but more on how concise you can be. Agents HATE page after page of words strung along, without advancing the story. So, my advice will be to send Qs out ONLY after experts on this site (and we have more than a few) tell you it’s ready. As to whom to query…do your research (Query Tracker’s a great place to start). As to how many…use your gut feeling. I sent 10 a day for 3 days and stopped. It got me 15 requests, and ultimately 2 offers.
Check Share Your Work/Query Letter Hell/Successful Queries. It’s a good indicator, and you can see what got representation.
Good Luck.
PS. Don't even think of querying before the book is ready and PROPERLY edited.

Old Hack · Jun 4, 2015

dda27101 said:
PS. Don't even think of querying before the book is ready and PROPERLY edited.

But realise there's no need to pay anyone to edit your book for you, and that your own revisions are enough.

dda27101 · Jun 5, 2015

Old Hack said:
But realise there's no need to pay anyone to edit your book for you, and that your own revisions are enough.

Amen to that.
I was fortunate to have a friend, and best selling author, help and teach me about proper editing. Most new writers don’t have that. Some might get lucky and enlist the help of experienced writers on this site. Most will submit the MS after minor changes…and inevitable will be turned down.

Aloysius · Jun 5, 2015

popgun62 said:
Aloysius, you can read about how I got my agent at Querytracker - https://querytracker.net/success/toby_tate.php It even has a sample of my query letter. You might have to get a password first, but if you haven't already heard about it, Querytracker is a great site. Good luck!

Thanks. Great advice.

[Moved from Novels] Queries to Agents

Aloysius

neandermagnon

Nolite timere, consilium callidum habeo!

Aloysius

Maryn

Baaa!

Aloysius

Aloysius

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer

Aloysius

cornflake

practical experience, FTW

amergina

Pittsburgh Strong

Roxxsmom

Beastly Fido

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

kenpochick

I should be writing, not on AW.:-)

Maryn

Baaa!

Aloysius

Matthew Warner

Thedrellum

Grr. Argh.

Matthew Warner

Aggy B.

Not as sweet as you think

Matthew Warner

popgun62

Keeper of the pace.

dda27101

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

dda27101

Aloysius