Start Your Year Off Right: Query Tips

The last couple of weeks have been crazy awesome. I got to celebrate my third Christmas ever (I’m a late bloomer regarding western holidays), spent lots of time relaxing and reading, and relished in the aftermath of my husband’s hard work. He set up an incredible media center in our house that makes me want to be a couch potato.

While I’ve been under the weather with what my doctor termed “a severe virus,” my throat is experiencing a little relief from the pain meds I’ve happily taken in. Thank you, God, for Vicoden… wow I sound like an addict.

Anyway, enjoy these query tips I’ve collected. I officially sent my query to a friend to look over (Thanks, Eve!) and was not surprised to see it still needs a lot of work. Regardless, I’m grateful for the fact that Eve took the time to provide feedback and helped me kickstart my resolution to begin querying this month.

What writing resolutions did you commit to for the year?

@suddenlyjen “No matter how many times I see it in a query, it is still lulzy to see someone call themselves a “fictional writer.” #querytip #pubtip”

@jawlitagent “Yay to a fab idea/plot. But if the voice telling that story is weak, it’s just BLAH. So, work. On. That. Damn. Voice. #writingtip”

@LitAgentMarini “Don’t start with “Since the dawn of” or “Every man has/is/does” or “Imagine if/ What if” or other non-specifics #pubtip #querytip”

@literaticat “If you’re tempted to reply to a rejection by being threatening, insulting, etc… for pete’s sake, DON’T PRESS SEND. #querytip”

@workingtitle7 “Do not misspell. Or say that your book will be the next Harry Potter. Or best seller #Querytip”

@KevanLyon “Think of your query letter as the back cover copy of a novel. You have abt 10 seconds to catch that rdr with your description. #Querytip”

@EvanJGregory “Searching for spam and nearly deleted a few queries. Authors, try not to make your queries look like spam. #querytip”

@laurenspieller “#WRITERS: start writing your query 3/4 of the way into your novel. u’ll see ur book in a new light. #askagent #querytip”

@workingtitle7 “Personalize it #Querytip.”