Ready to send that query?

I had a wonderful lunch yesterday with a fellow friend and writer, and it brought back memories of days past submitting query letters in search of landing a big time literary agent.  It also brought back some of the valuable lessons I learned during that process. 

In my eagerness to get represented and then published, I didn’t want to hear some of those important lessons I needed.  So, I’m sure there are others in that same spirit of impatience who will not want to hear them from me now, but nevertheless, I’m going to post them.

1.    Professional – Be professional, not personal, in your query letter.  Your query reveals a lot about who you are, how you write, and what that agent can expect from you as a writer.  While writing may be an agent’s passion, they’re also in a business where success is dependent on the ‘type’ of writer they represent.  They don’t get paid unless they can get their client signed by a publisher.  So, while they may be moved with compassion by your personal story, its business that will be the deciding factor.  SHOW, don’t tell, the agent that you are professional, determined, and filled with natural talent and an overabundance of drive, and you might just get that call.  Don’t write a long, personal sob story about yourself and your dream of being published.  EVERY writer who submits a query letter has a dream of being represented and published.

2.    Polished  - Make sure your query letter is error free and ‘shows’ a prime example of your writing style, a clear and correct synopsis of your story, and has a powerful message.  This is probably the most difficult part of the query; writing that short, but powerful, sales pitch of your story.  You don’t have to write the WHOLE story, just the pitch that gets them to want to know more.

3.    Pro-Active/Promising – Agents ‘invest’ in their clients, because they feel that the writing/novel can be successfully placed and sold.  However, they’re also looking for clients who will continue in that success, and are not just ‘one-trick ponies’.  So make sure you ‘show’ that you’re busy working on the NEXT BIG THING, the next project, the next novel. List your accomplishments, affiliations, and the immediate working project.  DON’T list everything you dream of doing in the distant future – just list the big project you’re currently working on. This tells the agent that you’re not sitting at home biting your nails, and placing all your hopes on this one book.  A good agent knows that the more novels an author writes the BETTER writer they become.

4.    Prepared – This is the MOST important.  Don’t query UNTIL you’re completely prepared.  Your novel needs to be polished, printed and ready for publication, and you already WORKING on the next project.  You need to be DONE – completed, edited and ready to go.  This is how you will immediately lose an opportunity for representation and burn a networking bridge – by getting a request for a partial or full manuscript, but then not have one ready to send immediately, or it’s unedited and not in the best possible shape.  This SHOWS an agent that the writer is unprofessional, lazy and impatient. 

So, if you’re thinking about sending out that query letter, but haven’t covered these basic issues, don’t.  Remove your emotions from the process and tackle it with the prowess of professionalism.  Then watch those requests and offers come pouring in.

Till next time,

~T.L. Gray

Who Surrounds You?

We’ve been told to be careful with who we hang out with our whole lives, starting with our parents warning us about wayward friends.  Most cautions were not in judgment against them, but for our protection.  When we became teenagers and thought we knew everything, we began making those decisions for ourselves, some resulting in huge mistakes.   This is all part of growing up.  Now that we’re adults, we need to use the wisdom we’ve gathered through our lives to this point, including both from our parents and our mistakes, but this doesn’t need only apply to our friends. As writers we must apply this principle to the people with whom we network in the business. 

A person is usually judged by the friends surrounding them, just as a writer is judged by whom they choose to network.   It is very important that we align ourselves with where we want to go and what we want to achieve, not necessarily where we currently stand.  It is a fact that if a person desires promotion, they must act and dress for the position they want, not the position they currently hold. If you want to be successful, you must align yourself with those who’ve succeeded, not be constantly surrounded by failure. 

Take an assessment.  Who are you investing your time and attention?  To those you admire and respect, or with those who want to hold you back?  Do the people around you encourage, inspire, and incite you to push through, to reach higher, to take another step, or do they accomplish nothing themselves and complain about those who do?  Do all the people around you only placate and pat you on the back, but never offer good, solid, sometimes hard, criticism to push you to your boundaries?  Platitudes are great, but only for the ego. 

A true writer should desire the truth, in a pursuit to improve and perfect their craft, but most often the artistic ego can’t handle the truth or constructive criticism.  An egotist only desires to stroke the ego.  Since becoming a writer and delving into the artistic world, I’ve never met more narcissistic people than those in the artistic guilds.  They’re mostly a bunch of snobs.  I don’t quite understand where this pretentiousness and elitist attitude extends from, but the air is thick with them, and usually the snootiest of the bunch is the one who holds the least amount of natural talent. Combine that with the one-trick ponies, which after twenty years have yet to display another gem of their genius, and it’s easy to find yourselves in company that is designed to hold you back and lead to failure or stagnation.

Be careful with whom you align.  Choose those who sow wisdom, knowledge, encouragement and truth into your life and career, not just their opinions.  Be selective which fellow authors you network with – do they write, market, inspire and encourage the way you hope?  If not, let them go, or else they will drag you down to their level.  However, please be careful not to block opportunities to sow into others who’ve yet to reach your level of success.  Just as you look to move up into the world of success, don’t forget to be a helping hand to others.  Whatsoever you do to the least of these …will be done to you.  Whatsoever you sow, that also shall you reap.  What you do FOR others reflects more on who you are, more than anything you can say.

Seek the opinions and reviews of those with the highest and strictest levels of excellence, and not your friends.  True friends tell you what you ‘need’ to hear, not what you ‘want’ to hear.  However, in my experience, there are few ‘true’ friends in this world, and those who try are often rejected because the recipient’s ego can’t handle the harsh truths that sometimes have to be said.  I’ve lost many of so-called friends because I’ve dared to tell the truth.  But I appreciate everyone in my life who’s dared to sow the truth to and in me.  Because of them, I’ve enhanced my craft and pushed myself to yet another level of excellence. 

I encourage you today.  Seek the next level above you. Write something that pushes you to the edge of your ability and beyond.  Seek a network connection that will help you take a step up.  Reach out to another author in whom you admire and respect, and to whom you are a huge fan.  Take a chance and submit a query to a bigger agent or publisher.  Request a review from someone you know is truthful, yet harsh, and whom you fear may give you hard criticism.  And, look for someone you can lend a hand or bit of encouragement. 

Till next time,

~T.L. Gray