How did you prepare your online presence for querying?

I guess I’m a little confused as to what an online presence has to do with querying.

At the same time, you’re not specifying *what* you’re querying, or for what purpose. So that may be part of the confusion.

What Denevius said. But mostly, you could have the shiniest professionally designed website and best author photo and terrific presences on Twitter and FB and Instagram and and and... and it wouldn't matter a whit to an agent or editor if your book isn't very good. Focus on that (and your query letter itself) and don't worry about the rest. And good luck!

In general? Take down anything you wouldn't want up if someone googles you (yes, an interested agent may/will google you). Take down anything you wouldn't want future readers to see. And I understand your gratitude to Wattpad, but I'd take down the rough of the book as well.

I'm unaware, though, of ways social media can actively boost your chances when you query. At that stage, it's all your letter and your book.

As far as I know, an online presence isn't super important (for fiction writers, anyway) when querying unless you have thousands of followers, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Certainly if you land an agent and sell your book an online presence would be a welcome addition. I think in the meantime, as long as everything is appropriate (no offensive tweets or pictures of you obviously drunk, of course) then you should be good to go!

Best of luck as you query!

Several agents on twitter have mentioned that they look at twitter profiles to see how nice/snarky/political/opinionated/helpful a person is. Other people on twitter have claimed that most of the agents super-active on twitter are novices in their own right.

I have no idea how much these things matter, but it is easy enough to clean up your tweets to present a good image. I imagine it's the same for Facebook, though I know less about that.

Traffic to my website always increases when I send a batch of queries. And usually it is my blog that gets the most hits. So if you include a website in your contact details, I believe there is a good chance the agents will surf to it.

Yesterday a junior agent said she wanted twitter handles included on the queries.

Patty said:

Several agents on twitter have mentioned that they look at twitter profiles to see how nice/snarky/political/opinionated/helpful a person is. Other people on twitter have claimed that most of the agents super-active on twitter are novices in their own right.

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TBF, I check out agents' Twitter feeds as well. Not looking so much for snark/not snark (Twitter is very much a performance venue for some people), but for obvious incompatibilities, and sometimes to get a sense of age/experience (not always obvious from agency web sites).

A saying I heard years ago, waaaaaay before social media was a thing: Never whisper what you would not shout. I try very, very hard not to put anything on social media I'd be uncomfortable seeing on a highway billboard with my name on it. If someone chooses not to work with me because of something I tweeted, we probably wouldn't have done well together anyway.

Shalon said:

Thanks guys,
I'm querying a middle grade science fiction, and I've actually read in quite a few places that you should get your web presence up to snuff. But from what I see in the comments here, it looks like that isn't all too common.

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I think this "advice" is coming from publishers who expect the author, and not the publisher, to do the bulk of the marketing and publicity. Check out any of the dozens of threads in Bewares, Recommendations, and Background Checks forum here at AW where authors have been blindsided by publishers who imply providing the world until launch day, only to say "Sorry, we never agreed to do any markting or publicity. That's up to you."

If you decide to go with such a publisher, then yes, your platform is important, as it is if you are self-publishing. However, since you are querying agents you aren't looking to self-publish, a good agent is going to place your book with a top-notch publisher who will do your marketing and publicity for you, so a platform is not as important.

lizmonster said:

In general? Take down anything you wouldn't want up if someone googles you (yes, an interested agent may/will google you). Take down anything you wouldn't want future readers to see. And I understand your gratitude to Wattpad, but I'd take down the rough of the book as well.

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This!

I know that both my agent and one of my editors had found my Twitter before they contacted me with the good news. That probably means they also found my website and Facebook page. I don't think any of them cared how many followers I had or anything like that, but I do think they wanted to get a feel for my personality... or maybe just check I wasn't the type of person you wouldn't want to go into business with.

So the only thing I would do to 'prepare' would be to purge your recent social media of anything that might work against you. And don't get obsessive about it!

In case it hasn't been said yet--From what I've seen agents saying, and querying guidelines, nonfiction (or perhaps memoirs) relies more heavily on an existing online 'platform' than fiction.

Hey Shalon!

I checked out your links and honestly I think everything looks pretty great. You have a very nice looking platform and look personable and professional. I can't comment on the Wattpad thing at all as I just have no idea. I personally wouldn't want anything out there that was a rough draft of my work, but at the same time it might be more of a conversation to have with your agent once you sign. You do have a decent number of readers and stuff and who knows, that might actually be attractive to an agent. Someone else with more experience will have to say.

I did want to talk a little about your Twitter. It looks great, personable and active. My only slight concern is you are actively talking about the query process. So far I haven't seen anything negative or anything, but be very careful with what you share on that score. You really want to stay positive about the industry, and agents etc. Asking if it's "normal" for it to take so long to compile a list of agents to query is likely meant to be more of a comment about yourself than the industry, but it could be read as if you are complaining about agents not making it easier, you see what I mean? Just really think about how your tweets might be read by others. And remember that there are so many unprofessional writers out there who treat agents like the enemy and therefore agents can be a little more sensitive to hints of that personality type in us authors . (again, you aren't doing anything wrong that I can see, just stay vigilant)

I do want to add though that if you had none of this, if you had literally no presence online at all, that would not hinder your chances of getting an agent. Everyone here is right, it's truly about the book (with fiction, with non-fiction it's a whole other thing). Ultimately that's where your focus should lie. But it just so happens you already have a very good social media presence and that definitely won't hurt .

I understand how you feel about Wattpad. My daughter's been on for years, and has made genuine friends - people vitally important to her. Even only as a parent, I'm grateful for the community she's found there.

But it's a publishing platform. Your rough draft is published. I honestly don't know how agents are going to view that, but I really would advise taking it down, unless your reads are in the 5 digit range, and even then it's likely to come up when you're offerred rep. There's a reason other Wattpad authors take down what they're going to query, despite the backlash from the community.

You might ask on the Wattpad forum here to see how others have fared.

Okay, I followed your Wattpad link, and I think you need to disclose this in your query letter. You've got a decent number of reads, but rough draft or not, you're querying a published book. Any agent who googles you - and if they're interested, they will - is going to find this. You're better off being the one to tell them, and they can decide if it's worth pursuing.

To be clear: This has nothing to do with the quality of your work. It's a business fact an agent who offers representation to you will need to know, and it's my opinion you'll look better to them if you're up front about it.

ETA: Lane Heymont is answering questions in Ask the Agent for another week. You could get his opinion on the subject. Yes, he's only one agent, but I'm only one writer. His professional opinion is worth way more than mine.

Patty said:

In case it hasn't been said yet--From what I've seen agents saying, and querying guidelines, nonfiction (or perhaps memoirs) relies more heavily on an existing online 'platform' than fiction.

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I'd agree with this. I've published non-fiction books with two different publishers, and both proposal forms asked for details of my social media and web presence. I approached a couple of other places before finally finding a home for my work and it was the same there too. It's important for non-fiction writers to be able to demonstrate credibility with the target audience, as you're often being commissioned to write based on your expertise in a particular thing. This is much less of an issue with fiction, so providing there are no photos of you cavorting naked at a Nazi-themed orgy or doing anything else questionable, you're probably in the clear.

Hi. I write non-fiction and I think a dedicated web presence is more important for that. I have an online bibliography with links to pdf versions of my magazine articles. About a year ago I didn't have much experience publishing, but since then I have published in numerous magazines. When I circulate my query letter for a book I just completed, I want an agent or publisher to know that and to have an opportunity to read through some of my work. My online bibliography can be found here: www.lightfigures.com

Good luck,

-Charles

I'm an aspiring mystery writer and I've done nothing to boost my online presence. Let it be also known I've have received zero interest from literary agents.

Shalon said:

what kind of online presence did you develop before querying?

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Some books the publisher contacted me because of my online presence. It mattered for them. It was non-fiction and they wanted someone with expertise in the field who could write.

Other books, I did nothing. Nobody ever commented about my online presence for a fiction work, other than about setting up marketing. I never had an online following for some of my non-fiction, not sure it would have changed anything.

Jeff