Questions: Is it to my advantage to mention that this is the first book of a five book series? (1)Or is this boastful, and ultimately harmful to my yet to be established reputation, since this is my first novel? (2) Also, I realize my email address is extremely peculiar. Should I make a professional email account so people take me seriously? (3) Or is it good to stand out?(4)
Ok, youze guyz. It's becoming clear that you're just firing off questions here and not reading the questions already posted. I'm pretty sure I've answered all of these before.
If you don't know HOW to find all the other posts here's what to do:
Go to the main page of the blog.
See the blogroll on the right hand side?
That number after *query pitfalls? 266? That's the number of posts I've written on ways to fuck up your query. Click on that link and ALL the posts turn up for your viewing pleasure.
I like getting questions.
I don't like repeating myself.
Here are the answers to the questions above:
(1) No
(2) That's not the reason it's a bad idea, but it's still a bad idea
(3) Yes
(4) The only thing that should stand out is your writing.
16 comments:
Yep, tons of info on the site here, and entertaining too. A while back - a.k.a. as BA(before agent) I spent a lot of time reading your posts...and reading....and reading. Then I went to QS, and read some more.
Two years later... I resurfaced.
Well, maybe not quite that long. Either way, one could seriously learn a lot and be entertained, all at the same time by reading your previous posted (and brilliant) content.
Is it too early for lavishing and fawning?
Sloth! *toocuteforwords*
But then you answered the questions anyway! Tsk tsk. I think you must have looked at some kitten pictures before finishing up this post. ;)
I think we all should take a lesson from tech forums where users flay others for asking a question that is clearly searchable within the same forum and subsequently answered.
Well, maybe we can be nicer - I mean there's a reason why people are scared of IT people and don't like them - but even so, "do the research". :)
Quickest way to get logged under "annoy me" or perhaps "Argh:"
Ask the same question over and over.
I remembered a discussion on page numbering back in the Liz Norris contest. It took a while, but I found it.
I remember a forum where a poster could not figure out why everyone was treating her dismissively. It got pretty rude. Finally someone came right out and said that when you log into a pro forum as:
pinkpanties@whatever.com
The odds of being taken seriously plummet.
Terri
"I like getting questions.
I don't like repeating myself."
You sound like my mother.
When I read the query question, it reminded me of my last trip to Ikea. It was suppose to be an 8 minute ride by scooter. One hour 40 minutes later, I was having massive déjà-vu! The same stores, the same street signs, the same streets...kept passing before my eyes!
Ms. Reid,
Yep, seen that, read that before.
I think this speaks to your longevity in the blog-o-sphere and society's desire for instant gratification. It's too easy to shoot off an email than to do research.
Not everyone knows how lucky they are.
Writers who are unable or unwilling to do research are-- well, shall we say, not ready for prime time.
I'm thinking about when I was still educating myself about traditional publishing, and how I wanted agents to tell me WHAT agents to query, if they weren't interested. In the book I had not finished.
No - wait - that was a friend of mine.
For reals.
Dear Agent,
If my query is in Cyrillic, from a foreign email address which reveals that I'm old, is that bad?
Sincerely,
SeniorCitizenWhoWritesYA@hotpants.com
you guys crack me up.
But seriously, Mizz Shark: who do you recommend I should hit up? Who'll make me millions? Surely this is what you do, right?
you guys crack me up.
We who are regulars, aim to please :)
*knuckle bumps all around*
"My yet to be established reputation." That sort of disposition sort of nixes a reputation from the get-go.
If I may, I'd also like to point out that you can even use Google to find specific entries if you have a specific question. If you type a website followed by a colon into the search bar before your search, it will search only that website. For instance, I wondered Janet had ever written about Thank You notes, so I googled thusly:
jetreidliterary.blogspot.com: "thank you notes"
And voila! All three posts from some years ago that had the exact phrase "Thank you notes" in the subject. Question answered!
Just don't type "Google" into Google. I have it on good authority that if you do so, you can break the internet.
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