Edited to Add: Ugh! This post was supposed to go up hours ago.

Anyway, things are crazy here for Thanksgiving, so I’m going to wait until next week to get into part four of writing the fiction query letter.

Hope you all have a fantastic holiday!!!!

So, I missed posting on Friday. Sorry about that. I meant to post all day, but somehow, I blinked and the day evaporated.

This week will be rather short on posts, as I have a lot of work to do while getting ready for two Thanksgivings. That’s right, I said two. Want to know more about that? Check out my post at The Novel Girls today!

Beyond that, I have client work to do, two proposals I hope to finish up soon, some brainstorming for book four in my Magic series (still don’t have a title), and I might get revisions from my editor this week on A Breath of Magic. If not this week, I’m guessing next week for sure, and I’d like to be ahead of the game on all of this other stuff when they come in.

However, I’ll still post the next portion in my “How to write a fiction query letter” series on Wednesday.

Oh…and BE SURE to head over to the Dorchester Publishing Message Boards this week to check out the jacket copy for the America’s Best Celler Top Ten Finalists! This is an awesome contest from Dorchester Publishing and Text Novel, with one winner walking away with a publishing contract.

There are links on the message board that will take you to each finalist’s novel on Text Novel, where you can read a good portion of their books. And, beginning today, the jacket cover copies will be up to vote on. One of my critique partners (Liane Gentry Skye) is a finalist with her book, Muse Struck. Yay, Liane! 

Until Wednesday…

If you’ve written a novel and are looking for represenation, you will need to write a query letter. In part one in this series, I talked about how important research is. In part two, I gave the basic rundown of what components should make up a query letter, and the format that I have always used.

To read Part One, go HERE

To read Part Two, go HERE

Today, I’m going to focus on the first and second paragraphs in the query letter. For a quick refresher, those paragraphs are:

• Paragraph One: A personalized explanation (a sentence or two) of why you’re querying this particular agent (you should know this because you did all that research, remember?), the title of your novel, the approximate word count, and the genre.
• Paragraph Two: This is your hook, which is a one to two sentence generalization of your novel. Think high concept, the blurb line that you might tell someone when they ask about your book.

Let’s take a closer look at paragraph one. While the majority of your query letter can remain the same for any agent you’re querying, there is one section that should differ (at least slightly), and one that might differ, depending on the submission guidelines of the agents you’re querying. Because your opening paragraph should contain a personalized sentence or two, specific to each agent you’re querying, this is where the “slight difference” portion of my prior sentence will occur. Remember all that research you did? This is the information you’re going to use to personalize your query. You should have a list of the agents you want to submit to, right? And along with that list, a note of why that agent made it to your list. Whatever that reason is, that is the first place to look for help in personalizing your query.

Some possibilities for personalization:

• You heard an agent speak at a conference, and liked what they had to say.
• You met an agent at a conference.
• You read their blog daily.
• You’ve read several of their authors’ books.
• You’re targeting publishers that the agent already has secured book deals with.

These are just a few examples, but regardless of what type of personalization is used, let the agent know WHY you are querying them. This personalization is great because it tells the agent you’ve done your homework, but also because it shows them that you’re not simply copying and pasting your query letter for all of the agents you’re querying. The personalization needn’t be more than a sentence or two, and you can (and should) keep it brief and to the point.

The remainder of the first paragraph should be about your manuscript. Let the agent know the title, the word count, and the genre of your project. This will help them get a sense of the project before they read further, and it will help them begin seeing your project as a possible product. Here is an example from my original query letter for my first published novel, A TASTE OF MAGIC, which, at the time, was titled A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR…A PINCH OF MAGIC:

As you can see, it’s a simple paragraph, but it tells the agent why I’m querying them and it gives the agent necessary information about the novel before they even begin to read what the story is about. So, what information do they glean from this one paragraph?

1. I met them personally at a conference.
2. My novel is complete.
3. The word count of my novel.
4. The title of my novel.
5. The genre (romance) and the sub-genre (light paranormal) of my novel.
6. And that I consider the story to be both humorous and emotional. (Granted, the agent might read some of the book and have a totally different opinion, but at least I’m giving her/him information about what I think the novel is, and how it might be marketed).

Now, let’s say I also want to query another agent. Maybe I haven’t personally met this agent, but I read their blog on a daily basis. All that needs to be changed is the first sentence:

By the way, I completely made up the blog name, so if there is one out there with the title “The Agent’s Side,” I truly was not referring to it! But still, see how easy it is to personalize your query? Now, if the agent doesn’t have a blog and you haven’t met them personally, but you’ve read several of their authors’ books, simply replace the first sentence with that information, or whatever the reason is that you’re querying them. Couldn’t be simpler!

Moving on to the second paragraph–your hook, which is the one or two sentence high-concept pitch of your novel. I am not an ace at high concept, I’ll admit that right now, but learning how to drill your novel down to one or two sentences is extremely important. This is information that you can use far beyond your query letter! Once you have the shortened pitch written, you can use that whenever anyone asks you what your book is about. And trust me, this is something you’ll use even after your book is published!

Here is the second paragraph from my original query letter for A TASTE OF MAGIC:

A thirty-five-year-old divorced woman discovers there’s a lot more to living than she thought when she inherits her great-great-great grandmother’s Gypsy Magic, and using it, she curses her ex-husband and his mistress’s honeymoon, and then systematically attempts to change her life, and those around her, with one misfired magic spell after another.

I’m not going to try and say that I worte the best high concept, one sentence hook that anyone could write about A TASTE OF MAGIC. I am sure I didn’t. However, the sentence does drill the book down nicely, and it gives a quick overview of what the book is about. Within this one sentence, the reader learns that my heroine is:

1. Divorced
2. Magical
3. Apparently has sour feelings toward her ex (otherwise, why would she curse his honeymoon?)
4. Wants to change her life
5. Isn’t that successful with the magic (which, hopefully, gives a clue to the humor in the novel)

So, while this sentence could likely be written in a stronger, more evocative way, it does the job I set out to do. You need to do the same thing with your novel. Now, I wish there was an easy, fit-all, formula I could give you, but there isn’t. So much will depend on your story, your genre, and your characters, but if you play around with it, you’ll eventually find a sentence (or two) that delivers the information you need. Here’s how I did it:

• I started with character. Because this book is first-person, single point-of-view, I only focused on the heroine for this sentence. (thirty-five-year-old divorced woman)
• What happens that changes her “normal” world? (inheriting the magic)
• What becomes the theme of the book? (changing her life)
• How does she do this? (by cursing her ex-husband’s honeymoon, as well as the lives of those around her)
• What are the consequences? (misfired magic spells)

Your questions for your novel might not be exactly the same, but if you focus on the 1) Character(s), 2) What their normal world is, 3) What changes that normal world, 4) Theme, and 5) Consequences, I think you’ll be able to begin to narrow your hook, and therefore, your one or two sentence “pitch.” My first tries, by the way, were wordy and too long, but I kept cutting and revising until I had a sentence that worked well for A TASTE OF MAGIC.

Let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll try to answer them when they pop up!

I’ll continue on with this series next Wednesday! But I’ll be back on Friday with some type of a post…until then, be safe and happy.

Don’t Forget!

We’re dishing about our favorite restaurants at The Novel Girls this week. Stop in and share your favorites with us!

Just a quick post today as I’m in the thrall of new-puppy-ownership. Her name is Holly. Here are a few pics:

and:

We didn’t plan on getting a new puppy, but sometimes things just happen. And she’s a very welcome addition to the household!

Don’t Forget!

This week at The Novel Girls we’re dishing on our favorite restaurants! Come say hi!

And on Wednesday, I’ll continue with my query letter series.

My brain is sluggish this morning, and even maximum amounts of coffee isn’t waking me up. So today’s post isn’t very creative, and possibly won’t be that interesting, but I can’t think of anything else at the moment to chat about. So, here we go, a day in the life of Tracy (this day was yesterday):

6:30 AM: Get up and get on the bike. Exercise, yuck, but I gotta do it.

7:15 AM: Shower

8:45 AM: Head out to meet with writer friends at a local coffee place. Good times!

11:45 AM: Head out with a friend to eat lunch. We went to Chili’s. Yum!

1:00 PM: Grocery store. Not fun.

2:00 PM: Dash through emails, check FB and Twitter, etc.

2:30 PM: Begin work for the day: write one article for a client.

3:30 PM: Read through synopsis of current propoosal. Make changes.

5:30 PM: Dinner

6:30 PM: Begin writing chapter one of newest proposal.

9:30 PM: Crash in bed with new JD Robb book. Read for a couple of hours until eyes will not stay open any longer. Sllllleeeeeeep.

So, there you have it! One of these days, I’ll do a day in the life when I’m home all day. Cuz, you know, that will be soooo interesting. <G>

Have a great weekend! I’ll see you all on Monday!

If you’ve written a novel and are looking for represenation, you will need to write a query letter. In part one in this series, I talked about how important research is. If you didn’t read part one, or would like a refresher on what I went over, you can find that post here: Writing the Fiction Query Letter: Part One.

So, now we’re going to start to get into the nuts and bolts of the actual letter, but I want to preface again, that I’m writing this from my experience and that this should be taken as advice only.

I have a certain format to query letter writing that I’m comfortable with, but that doesn’t mean that this format is the only format that can/should be used. If you look around, you’ll find lots of opinions and advice on writing query letters from agents, editors, and other authors. While there are many similarities in the grand scheme of things, there are also many differences. Some of this is style, and some of this is personal preference.

What is a query letter, exactly? Basically, a query letter is nothing more than a mini-proposal that will give agents and editors a description of the project, a short biography of the author, where the project will fit in the marketplace (the genre of the manuscript), the hook of the story, and the author’s contact information. That’s it, and it sounds simple enough, but one of the general guidelines that seem to be fairly constant is that all of this information should be in a one page letter. If you go over a little, that’s not a big deal, but try to keep the full letter to one page.

And, of course, all of this information should be presented in a clear but compelling manner that shows off your voice. Yep, I know. This is a lot to accomplish in one page, but by breaking the letter into sections, it’s much easier to get a handle on. So, in part two, I’m going to give a quick breakdown of the basic format of a query letter, and then will do a more in-depth look at each section in upcoming posts.

You’ve done the work: you’ve written a manuscript, have edited it, polished it, and edited some more. You’ve done your research and have a handy list of agents (and/or editors) who you’re interested in submitting to, along with each respective agent’s preferred submission guidelines and contact information. Now what?

Well, you want to make a good first impression. After all, first impressions matter. Your initial contact with a literary agent will likely be your query letter (unless, of course, you’ve met the agent at a conference). The basics of the letter are fairly simple. A query letter should be:

• in standard business letter format,
• have one-inch margins all around,
• written in a readable 12-point font,
• single spaced, but double spaced between paragraphs, and
• professional in appearance, meaning there is no need to use pink paper or anything other than black ink. Seriously.

As I already mentioned, by thinking of your query letter in portions, you’ll likely find it easier to compose. At least, I do. What are those portions? I’m glad you asked! I consider there are five sections (paragraphs) to a query letter, along with your basic contact information and your signature line:

Contact Information: Put your snail mail address, e-mail address, and phone number(s) at the top left hand corner of the page (or center the info, if you prefer, just keep it clean and professional).

Double space, and left-justified, type in the date. Double space again, and write the agent’s name, agency, and address. Double space again, and type: “Dear Mr./Ms./etc. LastName.” If you are unsure of the agent’s gender, then simply write “Dear FirstName LastName:” Finally, you’ll double space again to begin the body of the query letter.

Note: I included the above information for folks who might not be knowledgeable of how a standard business letter is formatted. I figure too much information is better than not enough.

The body of the query letter is where the five sections come into play. I write query letters in a five paragraph format. Here is a brief description of what each of these paragraphs should contain:

• Paragraph One: A personalized explanation (a sentence or two) of why you’re querying this particular agent (you should know this because you did all that research, remember?), the title of your novel, the approximate word count, and the genre.
• Paragraph Two: This is your hook, which is a one to two sentence generalization of your novel. Think high concept, the blurb line that you might tell someone when they ask about your book.
• Paragraph Three: Here, you want to expand on your hook, giving a little more information about conflict, motivation, characters, and the purpose of the story.
• Paragraph Four: A short bio, including prior publishing history (if any), contest finals/wins, writing organizations you are a member of (including if you’ve held any offices within the organizations), and any other pertinent information that relates to you as a writer. This is also the place to put your web site or blog addy, if you have one or both.
• Paragraph Five: This is your concluding paragraph. State what material you’re enclosing, if any (i.e. synopsis, first three pages, first chapter, etc–but only if these items are part of this particular agent’s submission guidelines OR if they’ve requested this information from you through a previous query or a personal meeting), what materials you can forward on if requested (partial or full), and if this is a snail mail submission, that you’ve enclosed a SASE for reply.

Then, you’ll simply close the letter with “Sincerely,” your typed name, and then your signature.

Also, more and more agents and editors are now accepting e-mail queries as a preference over snail mail queries. This is another reason why researching possible agents is so important–you definitely want to follow their guidelines. So if they want e-mail, you’ll e-mail, and if they want snail mail, you’ll snail mail. However, regardless of how you send the query, the format should remain the same: standard business, professional, and clean.

This might seem like a lot of information to process if you’ve never attempted writing a query letter before, which is why I’m going stop here. In part three, we’ll tackle paragraph one and two. Part four will tackle paragraph three, part five will be the remaining two paragraphs, and then I’ll likely follow up with a couple of posts about query letter etiquette, what to expect, and whatever else I think of. If you have specific questions you’d like me to address at any portion, just leave them in the comments section and I will make note of them!

We’ll cover part three next Wednesday. But I’ll be back on Friday for a whatever-I-feel-like-posting type of post, so if you have any questions about part one or part two, let me know before then, and I’ll try to answer them then.

Have a great few days!

Don’t Forget!

I’m at IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) today with a guest blog. Huge thanks to historical romance author TJ Bennett for inviting me to play in her playground. Prizes are being given away, so hop on over and check it out.

Also, all week at The Novel Girls, we’re talking about what we love about our cities. Stop by and say hi!

That tomorrow I’ll be guest blogging at historical romance author TJ Bennett’s blog, IMHO (In My Humble Opinion). I’ll be talking about what I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving season, and there’s a really cool contest, so pop on over and say hi! And while you’re there, check out TJ’s other guest posts, along with her book trailers. She also has a drool-worthy pic of Pierce Brosnan to…well, to drool over.

And remember to stop by here tomorrow for part 2 in my query letter series of posts.