In Which We Enter The Query Trenches

"Bad trench. Bad trench!"

I can't help but hear Dory's voice from Finding Nemo whenever I think of the phrase query trenches. And yet, here I go, just like foolish Marlin, swimming right into it.

Every aspiring author hopes that their stay in the trenches will be a short one, and yet many of us wind up there for quite a long time. I am only entering the dreaded trench for the first time myself next week. And of course I, like all others before me, hope my stay will be a short one. But we just never know, do we?

There are ways, however, that we can increase our chances of coming out the other end more quickly... or, dare I say, at all. Maybe you are an aspiring author yourself, planning on making your own first swim into the dark trench and feeling lost or in over your head. I would be feeling the same way myself right now if I hadn't spent the last five years studying the world of traditional publishing daily.

That's why I've created this post of tips for querying authors that I've collected during my years of publishing research. And below that, you will find a list of all of the websites and podcasts that I've found invaluable as a writer wanting to learn absolutely everything she can about traditional publishing. Hopefully, we can land on both feet together one day when that coveted agent call or first contract comes in. I hope you'll find it useful, and if you're not a writer, I hope you'll find it ....rabbit hole-ish.

Is that a word? ...It is now.

Alright, let's dive in!

So how does one get an edge up on the competition while querying? There are so many ways to rise to the upper layer of the slush pile among a slew of querying authors who haven't done their research. And yet, even following these tips, you want to be as polished in your query letter as you possibly can be, because the amount of information on how to query well and the ease of access to that information has grown exponentially and has even increased quite a bit in the last five years as I've been watching it. The truth is, writers are getting better at writing queries. So, in a way, it's even more important now to have your pitch well-polished than it ever has been before.

First, we have the simple stuff: address the agent by name, and personalize the intro of your query to that specific agent. Show them you did your research and that you truly want to work with them. Mention specific reasons you're querying them: "I saw that you are looking for a horror story that comps to the musical CATS and thought you might enjoy my Adult Horror manuscript, SILENCE OF THE CAN-OPENER, complete at 7 million words."*

*Blogger not responsible for the forthcoming rejections and hate mail should you query something with 7 million words.

If you met the agent at a conference or listened to an interview they were a part of, even better. That said, there is a fine line between well-researched: "I enjoyed the talk you gave at San Francisco Writer's Conference last year where you mentioned..."

And stalker: "I attended the San Francisco Writer's Conference last year and saw you bend down to tie your shoe. I was the one who came up behind you and rubbed your shoulders, whispering, 'Great talk in there. Real great stuff. Here's a copy of my manuscript. I'll peel your skin off later.'"

Or: "I saw on Twitter that you recently fell down two flights of stairs. I'm so sorry and I hope that they were able to pick out all of the cactus needles in the end." Keep what's on social media out of your query unless it has to do with bookish things.

So you've finished your intro and you've made your chosen agent feel the love (without having to file harassment charges). Next, at least for U.S. agents, is the pitch. The hook. This is perhaps the hardest part to get just right. This is boiling your book's essential core down to two enticing sentences. I'm still not great at this part myself. In fact, having to write a tiny blurb in a tiny box on the Books page of this website for my MG novel was a revelation that I am about to apply to my own query letter before sending it out next week. Yay for website building, I guess.

In these two sentences, agents want to hear four things: who is your main character, what do they want, what is standing in their way of getting it, and (the hardest part to cram in) what will happen if they don't get it.

And it doesn't matter how small your stakes are. Take, for example, my dog's morning: "Clover the bernedoodle (WHO) is hell-bent on owning every plushie in the house (WANT), but the children insist upon having a stash of their own (OBSTACLE). Clover must collect them all before they return from school, or be doomed to play with her own toys until the end of time (CONSEQUENCE)."

Voila. Instant blockbuster. ...Okay, maybe not. But the point is, the stakes are clear.

Next, you need a paragraph or two that goes deeper into the premise of your book. This is also a place where many writers go wrong. Us fantasy writers often wax poetic about our worldbuilding, writers of any stripe often go on about the themes in the story or why they wrote the book. And while this is interesting fodder for your totally inevitable eventual interviews and The Making Of documentaries that you totally practice out loud when no one else is home (you know you do it), it will not land you an agent. I have heard the occasional agent mention that they like to hear about themes or whether you have an idea where your book can be placed in the market, but it's important to tread lightly here. When you only have one page of space to work with, real estate is tight.

Agents are tired, coffee-powered, overworked, underpaid, and have read 87 queries this morning before opening yours (including one in which Gary told them that all agents are worthless hacks, and one in which Steve has this totally "instant best-seller" that they can get in on the ground floor for if they just bid money per word to read his query. And yes, that is a real-life example.) They just want to know what the story is in as clear and concise a way as possible.

Without getting too fully into that, I can tell you that this part should not read like a synopsis, it should not give away the ending or cover more than the first third to half of the story, it should not mention more than 3 or 4 names (and yes, that includes even place names. We're going for easy comprehension on a 10-second skim read. If they have to start over to understand, you've lost them already.) Think blurby book jacket description. When you pick up a book at the store and read the back and it leaves you intrigued and enticed with just the right amount of questions to want to open the book. Am I myself good at this? Probably not yet. This is tough stuff, people!

After this comes your meta paragraph, which is really more like two sentences. (Pro tip: If you are querying a UK agent, this paragraph usually comes right after the query intro!) This is going to give your book's title, age group, genre, word count, and 2 or 3 comp titles.

Ah, comp titles. We could have a whole separate blog post on those alone. That's not the goal of this post, but suffice it to say, you want to choose two recent (in the last 2-3 years) books, or one book and a movie/show, that you can cross together to equal the vibe of your book. For example, my MG novel is Nevermoor meets Stranger Things. Don't pick something that is considered The God Of Books. For example, your fantasy is not the next Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, etc. Choose something somewhat popular that is not ginormous in the industry. If you comp to a major heavy-hitter like one of these two, it makes you appear naive and shows that you haven't done your research. Worse, they may think that you haven't read any recent literature in your genre. (Read recent works in your genre, people! Super important!)

Okay, kicking comp titles back under a dusty rug somewhere until a later blog post, let us move on to the final paragraph of your query. This is the paragraph that's all about you. If you have writing credentials, if your writing has won contests, if you have been to retreats or are a part of any writing organizations, here is the place to mention it. If you have none of those things -- and I cannot stress this enough -- that is okay. While it helps, it's ultimately your storytelling that will get you an agent.

You could tell them where you grew up, where you live now, or any expertise or experiences you have that makes you uniquely positioned to tell the story you've written. You can mention a hobby or two and whether you have kids, etc. Some agents prefer you stick to writing or story-related info only, while some love to get to know you a bit beyond your writing life. After all, if they do sign you as a client, they're going to be communicating with you on a regular basis hopefully for the next several decades, so it's good to get to know a person. And no agent is going to reject you for including one too many details in your bio. So while you should keep it short and sweet, don't feel like you have to agonize here.

Okay, now that we've talked way too long about queries, here is the promised list of writer resources I mentioned at the beginning of this post. If you are starting your own research or getting ready to query, these are absolutely invaluable in helping you along the way.

Podcasts:

• Writing Excuses --launched by Brandon Sanderson and his writer friends, this podcast has run weekly for 18 seasons and counting, and has a treasure trove of an episode archive to dive into. The newest season is hosted by writers Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Taylor, Erin Roberts, and agent Dongwon Song. With topics ranging from how to build tension in a novel to the important parts of a book contract, this podcast is like an MFA in your back pocket.

• 88 Cups of Tea --hosted by writer and actress Yin Chang, this stellar (and sadly now on indefinite hiatus ever since 2020) podcast has an enormous archive of top-notch interviews with NYT best-selling authors and industry-leading agents. Yin is amazing at getting down to real talk about the business. There's even an episode that details exactly how author advance payment schedules work. She also talks with countless authors about craft, business, and how they got from unknown writer to debut author.

• Print Run --hosted by agents Laura Zats and Erik Hane, this podcast is a great way to keep an ear to the ground on publishing news, how the industry is changing, and how it needs to change. It's a good dose of real talk about the business of making books in today's world, mixed with fun musings and bookish chat.

Websites:

• Manuscript Academy --the brainchild of writing instructor Julie True Kingsley and agent Jessica Sinsheimer, this amazing website now boasts countless awesome staff who are there to help members and non-members alike achieve their dreams of publication. They really do live up to their tagline of being "The Happiest Place In Publishing." I can't say enough wonderful things about Manuscript Academy. From virtual classes on craft and the business side of things, online workshops, and virtual one-on-one critique meetings with agents of your choice, there is so much offered here, and so much to learn. I owe them a debt of gratitude for the past several years.

• Manuscript Wishlist --If you are an aspiring author and have not checked out this site yet, you are doing yourself a major disservice. This site was also created by the lovely team at Manuscript Academy, and it has become an industry staple in just a handful of years. Agents from all over the world post their wishlists here so you can find the perfect agents to query who are looking for a story just like yours. I've spent countless hours scouring this site over the years, and it just got a major facelift, too. Definitely check it out!

• Publisher's Marketplace --This is a brand new one for me and I am already hooked. I would recommend waiting until shortly before you query to subscribe to this one, as it does cost $25/month. And if you can't afford it, it's certainly not essential. BUT... it is super helpful. Here is the insider's look at exactly what's going down in the publishing industry daily. The agents you're querying read it, the publishers you're selling to read it, and I like to be informed. But the MOST IMPORTANT part of this site for querying authors is being able to look up the agents you want to query and see what kind of deals they're making for their clients. Are they all nice deals? Are they making some significant deals? And yes, those adjectives have actual monetary values attached to them. It's the publishing world's version of secret code. I like to be in the know, and this is the site for that.

• QueryTracker --Ready to get down and dirty and send those queries? Get a free account here! This is an essential tool for those of us who love to keep track of the queries we've sent and lovingly stalk our inboxes for months at a time. On QueryTracker, you can not only look up agents to see how long it usually takes them to respond to queries, but you can also see what percentage of their responses end in form rejections or full requests. You can view how many other queries are in their inbox before they get to yours, what genre those queries are, and check the wordcounts for the manuscripts that got full or partial requests. You can even see when the agent has opened your query. Most importantly, you can see how long its been since you sent your query and whether you may have been skipped over or lost in the agent's spam box by accident. A free and awesome tool for the querying author.

Well, that's it for today, writers! This post has already gone on about fifty miles longer than I thought it would! I hope it helped. Check back soon for more writing tips and updates! Until then, may your pages never be blank.

Oh, and Clover would like to say hello and introduce herself to you all...

--Trudy