Q: I heard about your blog at a writer's conference this weekend. I'd like to send you a query but I absolutely do not want it posted. Can you guarantee that?
A: This blog does not post queries that come to my agency. Ever.
I do post on a blog called Query Shark. The queries that are posted there are NOT queries to the agency. They are queries sent to the Shark for the purposes of getting critiqued.
The queries to the Shark are acknowledged upon receipt and filed separately from other queries. To be considered for Query Shark, the query must actually say "Query Shark" in the subject line so no query can be posted in error.
Any questions?
9 comments:
Ah, but do you ever treat Query Shark submissions as real queries?
no.
no. but you'd probably rip me a new hole. so yeah I don't think I'm ever gonna submit to Query Shark. HAHAHAHA
Ah, but if your query needs a new one ripped, better to do it on a dry run than the real thing. N'est-ce pas?
Besides, what is writing, but ripping yourself a new one?
What if you have written a first novel but don't have any credentials or relevant education for your bio? What should you put in that section of your query?
Thanks,
Mya
Mya - I don't know about Janet, but it doesn't bother me if there is no credentials paragraph. Just go straight to "Thank you for your time and consideration."
No worries!
Thank you Joanna. I feel better.
-Mya
Mya, my credentials are the same as yours. What I have read in several "how-to" books are that your bio should include something stating your qualifications for writing the book - and that can include general life experience, like "as a long-time member of the Antique Flush Handle Collectors of America and a life-long mystery reader, writing a plumber protagonist was a natural progression." (from query for "Down the Drain" by Edna Loo)
Feedback I received in a couple of practice pitch sessions seemed to support this statement - if you have relevant details to share, they will help.
And you are, after all, uniquely qualified to write the book you wrote - that's why you wrote it!
Best of luck with your query.
Thanks Jonathan, The setting for my novel is a little cottage by the sea. How would the following sound for my query bio?
This first novel was written by a free spirit in love with the sea.
Is it too quirky?
-Mya
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