Querying for the First Time? Watch This Now
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
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Beginning the querying process - especially for the first time - can be overwhelming. There is a whole set of industry standards and expectations that authors are expected to follow if they want their queries to be taken seriously, and learning them all can be intimidating. As a professional book editor who used to work at a high-profile literary agency reviewing queries, I’m sharing my top tips for authors who are querying for the first time, so you can come across as a professional and give yourself and your book a fair shot at catching a literary agent’s attention.
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GREAT BOOKS ABOUT WRITING/PUBLISHING:
Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer / amzn.to/3VE8dtt
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody / amzn.to/3Vyk2Bn
Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum / amzn.to/3Z4at03
SOME OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS:
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones / amzn.to/3vvWItt
Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips / amzn.to/3CFz4Pt
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid / amzn.to/3CjFFi5
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MORE WRITING AND PUBLISHING ADVICE:
What Are the Differences Between Beta Readers and Book Editors?: • What Are the Differenc...
5 Tips for Overcoming Rejection as a Writer: • 5 Tips for Overcoming ...
Strategic Tips for Querying Literary Agents: • Strategic Tips for Que...
5 TIPS FOR QUERYING LITERARY AGENTS:
01:42 - Follow agents’ instructions
03:38 - Polish your manuscript
07:06 - Expect and accept rejection
08:48 - Be patient
10:20 - Get feedback
ABOUT ME:
My name is Alyssa Matesic, and I’m a professional book editor with nearly a decade of book publishing and editorial experience. Throughout my career, I’ve held editorial roles across both sides of the publishing industry: Big Five publishing houses and literary agencies. The goal of this channel is to help writers throughout the book writing journey-whether you're working on your manuscript or you're looking for publishing advice.
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Some of the links above are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I may earn a commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. - Jak na to + styl
My advice is to plug away, send multiple queries and don't give up. You will probably get 60-70 rejections before you get someone who says yes. Good luck. I use a tool called Grammarly to check my spelling and grammar after I do the spellcheck.
Thanks. I needed to read this somewhere. I just passed 20 rejections and, man, it is tiring!
I think it would be beneficial to get examples of what a successful query letter looks like. So there's my request, please and thanks. 😊
I hope to start querying next year and am already dreading it😂
Perfect timing for me. I have sent my ms sample and query Letter to 3 literary agents so far, and will be sending more over the next few weeks. The only thing I'm finding a bit difficult is the one or two paragraphs they want. How do I cram 70000 words of my book into a paragraph or two?😂 I know there will be many rejections, so I am working on my second novel instead of waiting and stressing myself out. I will continue to query more until I hopefully get an agent. If that fails, then I'll self publish on Amazon. 😊
I'm nearing the end of the 3rd draft of my novel. Been incorporating my beta readers feedback, and making my grammar and pros stronger. Planning to start the querying process in the next couple of months. Thanks for all of your advice, and tips on your channel. It has been very helpful.
In terms of rejections, Stephen King had a wall full of rejection letters before his first acceptance. Brandon Sanderson didn't get an acceptance until his 13th novel. These guys turned out to have ok careers...
Alyssa, I wanted to say that I took your advice and had an editor go over my query letter. I'll let you know how it works out. Bless you for your always positive and well-informed advice.
Feel the same. Four or five books and all have been rejected. Although with the last two I have done rewrites and even rewrote my letter too.
As long as you know how many times the philosophers stone was rejected you know that there are no such thing as rules or norms
@@arzabael I do not, but I guess a fair amount of rejections. All I can do is keep trying until I exhausted every available agent.
Yeah, but their career got started in a time when the publishing industry cared about things such as a well written story, interesting characters and dialogue. Now, it's about checking off the boxes. It's about pushing ideology.
@@homelessjesse9453 Very true. I skipped several agents because they clearly state they only want such books and authors.
Still remember in a book group on FB, how someone was excited to share she got represented by an agent. Stating that it represents these typical ideologies. No mention about character or story.
Exactly the same agent i queried and he outright rejected me within 3 hours of querying.
Thanks for this, Alyssa. There's a sci-fi publisher I'm thinking of submitting to. They ask for the manuscript plus a synopsis. I was thinking of skipping the synopsis part, but you've helped me see how that would be shooting myself in the foot.
Good pep talk lol I'm deep in the query trenches and it is just as brutal as everybody told me it would be. I have a list of five specific agents I think would be a good fit, but I'm scared to query them because I don't want to blow my chances.
Thank you Alyssa your videos are fantasticly informative.
Good evening Alyssa, I am still on my journey. I am about 45 pgs into my novel. I look forward to sending you the complete draft. Anyways, I enjoy your channel. I'll keep you informed. Take care. 👋
Is it a bad thing that when I am polishing a chapter the words "Wax on. Wax off" keep running through my head?
Thank goodness for this video. I've seen suggestions that within your first 5-10 queries you should see 25% requests. I am so happy to hear you say that this is not the norm because I was starting to get discouraged at 20 rejections. I did get my first personalized rejection though, so that's not nothing. 😅
Definitely try not to be discouraged - you're just getting started! Best of luck with the querying process!
Yes X5000 to polish, polish, polish! We can’t expect our editors to do our all of our work for us when ours is only one of many manuscripts. The quality of our work is our own responsibility!
More great tips. Thank you so much!!! Everything you say matches up with what I've learned over the last year or two through my writing coach as well as my writing community. But then I always catch something from your videos I haven't heard yet or thought of. I just started querying and have subscribed to your channel.
Thanks for subscribing! I'm so glad you find my videos helpful. :) Good luck with querying!
I love your videos and timely advice. Thank you
So glad you like them - thank you for the kind comment!
Thank you for this timely video. I’ve just started polishing my manuscript and beginning to research LA’s.
Glad you found it helpful! Good luck with querying!
The day I hope will come. Now after some rewrites to my books and letter, my chances may be a bit higher.
This is really helpful! Thanks! I'm three drafts into my first novel and looking into querying soon, so I'm thankful for any resources and advice.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for commenting and good luck as you start querying!
I believe you've talked about what happens if multiple publishers want your book (essentially an auction). What would happen if you queried multiple agents and you have several who want you? What are factors that would help you make a decision on which to choose (especially if your goal is to get a top publisher and best offer)?
Hi Alyssa! I’ve been following your channel. Thanks for the great advice. I’ve completed a two part children’s picture book. My question is when querying should I query the first book by itself? Or both books together as the second book is a sequel with a plot twist?
Thanks for your excellent videos. My question is this: what is the best way to find literary agents who might be interested in an 😅epic Orwellian satirical and allegorical science fiction novel set 70 years in the future. The orientation is from a modern day conservative perspective (which is equivalent to a 1970s liberal-moderate perspective). 😅It is not yet completed. It is a first novel although I have published non-fiction articles in professional law and philosophy journals if that matters. What concerns me most is that only a limited group of literary agents might be interested in the political orientation I adopt.
I have a problem with rejection so I've spent the last 25 years writing/editing my series of books without letting anyone read any of them, as I want to polish them so much into perfection that I'll get accepted on the first try, lol. I wish there was some kind of service where you could get an agent with the job of finding an agent for you.
"Following each Agent's query guidelines" means we authors are treating them as individuals. EXACTLY how we want them to treat us - with respect, and as an individual.
I'm published by a small press publisher, but it doesn't does wide distribution. I'd love to see my name on a bookstore shelf, but I have to debate if it's worth the hassle and lag. But definitely follow instructions - I have a friend who works in trad publishing, and says a lot of manuscripts get passed because the writer didn't follow submission guidelines.
that is so odd that the easiest part of the process is to just following the submission guidelines and people don't do it
Can anyone give advise on the best ways to determine chapter placement please?
I'm not sure the best way to break my manuscript up. 😅
Can you make a video on how to query if you want to stay anonymous?
Awesome advice as usual, thank you! I do have a question though... (having just added a [yes it's necessary] prologue to one of my books) if the agent wants the first chapter, is that the first chapter of the BODY or would that then be the prologue? I think I know the answer but don't want to assume..
Hi there, great question! I touched on this in a previous Q&A video: czcams.com/video/tdtIf8PP774/video.htmlsi=BPs_XS0rMHwLGsyh I hope that helps!
Thank you! I'm making my way through your vids, This will help a loohhhht ! :D @@AlyssaMatesic
First 🥳
👏
Bit late now. I've already been querying.
another chance to improve your query letter then!
@@UncleBuck3t The silver lining.
So I have to go through a literary agent and not the press or publishing house even if my idea for a book is published by a specific publishing house?
Most traditional publishing houses do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. So, you would need an agent to represent you. Some small publishing houses MAY accept direct/unsolicited manuscripts. Also, even some imprints in the big five accepted unsolicited manuscripts for certain genres a couple times a year during a small timeframe.
@@Lorna-JWB Newbie here. Thanks so much for answering this.
This isn't an SQL video?
Hi Alyssa, I have a UNIQUE QUESTION that I would really value your opinion on!😥I am an editor and writer for a reputable politic-based print magazine (1 million circ.). I want to include these credentials in my queries (for my Romantic Suspense novel), as these are my ONLY writing credentials (I have been with this company since college). HOWEVER, I fear the politics of this company do not align with the general politics of the publishing industry. All my written materials are bi-partisan (lifestyle/wellness), but I am still apprehensive about including the company's name in my queries. I was thinking of leaving the company's name out of my query and just focusing on my editor title, but now I fear it makes me seem illegitimate. Do you have any advice? How likely is an agent to google this company? Am I overthinking this? P.S. Thank you SO MUCH for all the excellent content you post! I've been watching your videos since the start of my project over a year ago & now I'm finally at the query mark!😇
Alyssa Matesic, say your name at the top of your videos! "Hi, everybody. I'm Alyssa Matesic and . . . " Otherwise perfect.
I have a question for anybody. I had a certain title in mind for my novel. But after doing a search I found the same title for a poem by Patience Strong. I never knew about her until I made that search. I am guessing that my title will need changing. Am I correct? I am only asking because the poem in question encapsulates the heart and soul of my novel perfectly and beautifully. Would it be possible to use that poem in the book somehow? I figure would have to float the idea to the agent and go from there. Or, would a quote from that poem, properly attributed of course, be helpful to add to a query?
In my opinion for the title you would probably have to change, bc there is a book I’ve read that had the same title as another book but in the UK and they had to change it. So there is a chance of you decide to get an agent that they might make you change it.
If agents want 'first three chapters or first 50 pages', which one is it if the first three chapters are, let's say, 25 pages in total?
I would say 3 chapters takes precedent. I think 50 pages is more of a cut off than a recommendation
First 10 pages, first 3 chapters, or first 10,000 words is normally what is asked for.
Hello Alyssa! Question? My first book went through a self publishing company, and I own all rights to the book that is now on Amazon for sale. If I want to go the traditional route, can I take the first book and redo the editing and formatting to fit the agent's standards, or would that not work? Reason why I ask is that if I make any changes to the book the copy write becomes Null and void, so I heard.
obv im not alyssa so the only reason im commenting is because i happened to see this discussed in submission rules on some agents sites. it seems to depend on the agent and publishing house, but it doesn't seem like something they're generally opposed to. just keep an eye for that in their submission guidelines.
Oh, ok! Thank you for the heads up.
I'll keep a look out and see if I find one that has no issues with it, and go from there.
Just an fyi, it's NULL and void... but if you went through the library of congress for your copyright (in the USA), the format should not be an issue just the content. You can also re-edit to "clean it up" or polish so long as you don't CHANGE the story. your copyright should be still be intact..Sending you best wishes for success!
Thank you ladyjat for the typo correction. But if I add more to the story to bring up the word count and pages. Wouldn't that affect it? And yes, I did purchase the copyright from the library or Congress.
@@benkeafer6869normally, agents do not take self-published works unless it has done incredibly well. Your question may be the same as mine. If you add to the story and edited out some things and changed the title, does that make it a new/separate manuscript that an agent might consider?
You didn't say hey hey hey, I'm sad 😭
Agents with different query requirements is insensitive to writers at best and disrespectful at the worst. Having some empathy for the scores of writers by accepting at least a “standard” query package shouldn’t result in disqualification it’s a Dick move.