How I Read Your Queries

Four writing conferences in five weeks is a mistake I will not make again. WAY too much fun of course, and way too much undone work. I have fulls that have been sitting here unread for a couple weeks and there are more on the way.

One of the reasons I haven't been reading fulls is that I've been reading a deluge of queries.

Just for fun, let's review HOW the submission pile works:

First, most of them come electronically.

That means a query letter and (for me at least) the first 3-5 pages of the manuscript pasted in the body of an email. NO attachments unless I've asked for them. I won't open them. I'm also not going to tell you that in a rejection letter. I'm just going to reject it.

So, first, remember you're sending a letter in email form. You don't start with your physical address, or mine. You don't start with the date or your email address because of course, I have both of those on my email program.

You start with Yo babycakes, or whatever salutation you choose. HINT: Dear agent when you're sending to Janet @ is pretty much the default description of "I'm too cool to pay attention to the niceties".

Then you write your usual paragraphs. HINT: use white space in an email. If you break a complete paragraph into two or three smaller blocks of text on the screen, it's MUCH easier to read.

When you include your pages it's better to use white space there too. You can't doublespace easily in an email, but you can use whitespace effectively. Don't worry about whether I think you can't write a paragraph, just make it easy to read.

People who send big blocks of text get a skim.
People who send easier-to-read-material get a closer read.

That's just a fact of how email works these days. Don't spend a lot of time moaning about how it shouldn't be like that. It is. Use the info to your advantage.

I read my query letters twice a day; first thing in the morning and late at night. I'm going to give you about ten seconds to catch and hold my attention. If you do that, I'll give you more time. If you don't, I'm sending you a form rejection.

Sure fire ways you lose my attention are listed in posts tagged "annoy me" and "query pitfalls".

Step two: if I'm interested in reading more of your work I'm going to email you a request for pages. I'm going to ask for them in a word .doc format.

If you don't have a way to save your work in .doc format, time to figure it out before you query. I don't care what program you use to write or store your material. I only care how you send it to me. Word .doc, not .rtf, not .pdf, and certainly not embedded in the email. And not by mail. I don't ask for pages in the mail anymore unless it's a very unusual circumstance OR it's a graphic novel. Even then, it's mostly via electrons.

When I email you I'd like to hear back from you pretty quickly, if only so I know you got the email and you're sending stuff. If you don't reply for any reason, I hold onto your email for a week, and then email again. If I don't hear from you a second time, I toss the query. That's one of the ways I manage the volume of mail here. Again, don't complain, just know that's how it is.

When you send pages as a word .doc I download them, and create a file for you. I try to respond quickly to partials and mostly I get back to people in a week. (mostly. I'm really behind now)

If I'm not going to read more, I send you a form letter. Some of you are getting non-form letters. Generally that's cause you met me at a conference and I do try to be more specific about what doesn't work (in my opinion) when you've invested time and money in going to a conference.

Wait at least a day before you reply (and believe me, I'd rather you didn't reply even if you're just saying thank you) in case you're not as happy to get a non-form letter as I think you should be. One quick way to make sure I remember you is to reply in anger to a rejection. Like all of my ilk (naked mole rat-like creatures that we are) we run and hide from the heated outpourings of unhappy would-be clients.

If I ask for a full, I'm going to ask for it by email like I did the partial.

Some hints on how to format a ms for electrons.

DON'T hit return at the end of a line. Let your word processing program do the work.

DON'T use auto format for ANYTHING, particularly not in a NF proposal. I spend half an hour a day cleaning formats for NF proposals and it irks me to no end, but it's easier to do it myself than send it back and have you do it.

DO put your headers in as headers. Don't type them in on each page. When I read your pages, I'm going to convert it to TNR, bump the font to 12 point and read it at 125% on the screen. You start typing in 'return' at the end of lines, or individual headers and your ms is going to look like an ee cummings poem. I do not represent poetry. Not even good poetry.


With EVERY query include your name, your phone number, your email and your address.
Put it at the bottom under your signature.

Make SURE it's in black "ink", not gray.

I've had a spate of people who've queried me sans phone number or email, and I will track people down, but there are days I'm tired and cranky and say "oh the hell with it." Don't miss out cause you hit me on a cranky day (5:7 to be totally honest).

Just as matter of course, remember to start your novel when something is happening. Not description. Not dreaming, driving, sitting on a river gazing into the murk. Not thinking. DOING. Of the 50 partials I've read this week, at least half got some sort of comment about "your story really starts on page 29".

I'm looking for good work, and I'll hunt down people who have it but we'll get to the good part--selling, a lot faster if you make it easy to find you, easy to read, and easy to transmit.

Now, back to work.