Hi Courtney, I hope your surgery went really well and that your sleep is already improving! And the webinar was fantastic--thanks so much for such helpful information! My question is: should you reach out to your dream agent(s) in your first round or wait until you get some feedback on how your query letter is landing before you query them? Thank you!
My gut feeling on this has always been to sprinkle one A in with the Bs in each batch...that way if there is feedback forthcoming that could have turned "no's" into "yes's", you still have a chance to incorporate it. That's just my personal feeling and approach though-- I know a lot of people start with their dream agents and work down from there, but to me, that approach just doesn't leave any room for course correction. Good luck out there!
Hi Courtney, thank you for such an informative class.
I previously published two contemporary romance books independently. They are books 1 and 2 of a series. The book I am working on now is the third book in the series, which I plan to query. All the books can be read as stand-alones. Do you recommend that I mention that this book is third in a series in my query letter? I realize alerting a potential agent that a book is first in a series is one of the "don'ts," and it seems like mentioning that this book is third in a series would also be a "don't." But, I want to be transparent, and also want to let potential agents know that I've successfully published two books before.
I appreciate your time and thoughts and wish you a speedy recovery!
I wouldn't mention that until you get representation. My guess is that an agent would be like-- she's already put two books out with these characters, how can we start with the 3rd? then if you get an agent, you can discuss whether there is anyway for those first two books to come along. ;)
I just wanted to jump on here to say I hope you're recovering well, Courtney. Thank you for an incredible class - I feel revitalised in my querying journey! Rest up.
Thank you again for workshopping my query letter live! This is a small question. Is it important to correctly identify your book's sub-genre in a query letter? For example, I'm pitching my book as a "literary" novel but someone in the chat said it sounded more "upmarket" to them. I fully admit to not understanding all of the nuances between these categories. Does it matter? Or is this ultimately something a marketing department will decide?
Hi Courtney, Thanks for a terrific workshop. Three + hours on Zoom--I can't believe you did it, but so helpful! I revised my query for my novel adding a violin sentence and some literary citizenship info as well as some visual details and sent it off to 3 agents. I got a rejection from one of them a few hours later BUT she encouraged me to query others in her agency (she's the principal).
Here's a question. I'm interested in (another) agency that explicitly says it's okay to query more than one agent in their agency simultaneously (which seems unusual) but you should let them know you're doing that. Q) If you've queried one of their agents and got no response after 3 months do you need to tell that when you query one of her colleagues? It seems like a big negative--I probably should have queried all three who I see as possible prospects at once.
And here's another question (last one) about genre. I think my novel could fit into any of these categories: debut, upmarket, bookclub, literary, women's, historical (using Kate Atkinson and Francine Prose as comps). Is it okay to just choose the genre the agent says she/he is looking for?
I'm glad you liked the class! I think near the end of the letter (even after the bio) I think you can say something like "I have also sent this query to your colleague Name Name, thank you for your time and consideration." Regarding genre, if the genre they want fits your book, go for it! Good luck.
Thank you so much for the wonderful class. My question is about comp titles: I've gotten mixed messages about whether it's ok to use titles more than fives years old. Some people have said it's a no-no, that the point is to show you know the current marketplace; others have said older titles are fine. I'd appreciate any insight you can share. Thanks, and sending wishes for a quick recovery from your surgery!
Hi Courtney. Thanks for your excellent class. Quick question: How long should a query letter be? I've heard it shouldn't be longer than 300 words. Thoughts?
Thanks for attending, Frank! Generally it should be 4-5 paragraphs max. I'm not sure how many words that is, but 300 words sounds more or less right? You could do word counts on the two successful query letters that we looked at in class (a PDF was sent). Glad that you were able to join us!
Thanks Courtney. With some time on my hands, I went to Andrea Bartz's substack where she has gathered some two dozen successful query letters from a variety of authors --from psychological suspense to science fiction to romance -- and did the word count on eight of them. The lowest was 217 for a science fiction novel by Mike Chen, the highest was 455 was for a family drama by Christina Clancy. Most of the others came in around 300-350 words. Interestingly, Bartz presented her first query for a novel. It was around 480 words. Her later successful query for that debut came in at half that word count.
Hi Courtney! I appreciated your valuable advice on my query letter….but I had already previously sent the original query to a lot of agents…is there anything I can do or is that particular bridge just burnt? I’m assuming you can’t send a retraction
You can't send a retraction, no. You have to wait to either send them something completely new (in terms of a new manuscript) or wait nearly a year and send a heavily revised manuscript and a fresh query letter. But nope- you can't do retractions, unfortunately, hence the importance of a super solid letter. Keep going! It's okay-- we're all learning.
Appreciate that! I am watching the replay of your class now. By any chance is GENEVA JONES & THE SUMMER OF SELF DISCOVERY a killer title? I based it off of a similar book "Elinor Oliphant is completely fine." The book my book reminds me of the most is Garden Spells by Sarah Allen Addison, for its similar blend of luminous elements (magical pastries) and darker themes (domestic violence) Thanks so much!
Ditto to what everyone has said so far about it being an excellent class! What I would love to know is how to handle query applications who may ask for additional content that is already contained in the query letter.
For instance, I've noticed a decent amount of agents use Query Tracker/Manager and ask for the query letter in one section, but then a bio, synopsis, the proposal (or first 10 pages), pitch, comps, target audience etc as individual sections. Is it OK to have redundancy here? For instance, in my proposal I have the comps, target audience; I have a bio and the pitch in the query letter etc. Or should I have two bios, two pitches etc etc? Is this just a way for the agent to get to the meat and potatoes quickly (or rice and beans for veg/vegan folks) without having to go through the whole proposal/pages?
Thanks so much (for everything!) and best of luck with your surgery and recovery! Will be thinking of you :)
Isn't that the worst when you have to fill out all that extra stuff? It's okay to have redundancies, just make sure they read as standalone answers or paragraphs in their text fields-- that they don't feel unfinished or out of place or anything! Good luck.
Hello, Courtney, everyone. I greatly appreciated the thoughtfulness that went into every query letter review, and the dos and don'ts are fantastic. I have a question about the "hybrid memoir." I've been describing my book as such, but wondering if it's better described as cross/mixed genre. In my case, memoir meets quasi-fiction. Half is told from the POV of a horse and though I know his story from a certain point, there were missing details from his earliest years that are "fiction" (though not fantasy). Alas, my question (finalement): Since memoir is so difficult to pitch at this time and my book is a "hybrid" (or is it?), how would you suggest pitching or choosing agents to pitch to? Thank you! And best of luck with your big-ass surgery. I'm sure absolutely terrifying, but so is not being able to breathe! You've got this.
Ooh this is a tough one. You might get in hot water if you use the word memoir because of the fictive element...you can't really say "autobiographical" memoir because of the horse POV (by the way, I would read the heck out of the horse POV!) and "hybrid" isn't appropriate. You could use a playful subtitle like "a mostly true memoir" ? I think that's how I would go about it if I were querying, and then you'd work out the specifics with your agent. "Mixed genre memoir" would be appropriate as a term, but it sounds so clinical!
Oddly, the memoir bit came after the horse story... but that's a long story. Thank you. This is helpful and certainly something I needed to hear. Now, decisions, decisions. Have a great weekend.
Hello Courtney. You mentioned in the class about having an editor. Do you look for the agent first and then they hook you up with an editor? Or do you get an agent, and then look for an editor? What's the process/steps. Which comes first?
Agent always comes before editor. Sometimes, with micro presses and some university presses, you go directly to the editor stage, but for most people (especially those on traditional publication paths) you get an agent, they accept your book because 1) they think they can sell it 2) have an idea of what house/editor they think they can try to sell it to, and then they go out and try to sell it. It's very very similar to hiring a real estate broker-- they are going to try and find the right buyers for your apartment/house. Sometimes they do-- sometimes they don't! Agents don't make money unless you, the author, does. They get 15% commission off nearly anything-- book deal, film rights, foreign rights, movie options, etc. But a good agent will always be worth their commission and then some!
Thank you for such an informative class! It was really helpful. My question is: I have an acquaintance who is an agent in a mid-size firm and I think she would be a good fit for my MS. Her firm has a general submission mailbox. Do you recommend also emailing my acquaintance (I have her contact info) and alerting her to my submission or just submitting and assuming she will see it?
Having an "in" somewhere is always a leg up-- get in touch with your acquaintance first and see if there is anything special she recommends in terms of submissions. You want to see if there is some kind of VIP route that you a take or if she'll possibly put in a good word for you. Hopefully she'll understand that by you casually checking in with her so you don't have to state it bluntly.... Good luck!
Hi Courtney, I hope your surgery went really well and that your sleep is already improving! And the webinar was fantastic--thanks so much for such helpful information! My question is: should you reach out to your dream agent(s) in your first round or wait until you get some feedback on how your query letter is landing before you query them? Thank you!
My gut feeling on this has always been to sprinkle one A in with the Bs in each batch...that way if there is feedback forthcoming that could have turned "no's" into "yes's", you still have a chance to incorporate it. That's just my personal feeling and approach though-- I know a lot of people start with their dream agents and work down from there, but to me, that approach just doesn't leave any room for course correction. Good luck out there!
Thank you very much!
Hi Courtney, thank you for such an informative class.
I previously published two contemporary romance books independently. They are books 1 and 2 of a series. The book I am working on now is the third book in the series, which I plan to query. All the books can be read as stand-alones. Do you recommend that I mention that this book is third in a series in my query letter? I realize alerting a potential agent that a book is first in a series is one of the "don'ts," and it seems like mentioning that this book is third in a series would also be a "don't." But, I want to be transparent, and also want to let potential agents know that I've successfully published two books before.
I appreciate your time and thoughts and wish you a speedy recovery!
I wouldn't mention that until you get representation. My guess is that an agent would be like-- she's already put two books out with these characters, how can we start with the 3rd? then if you get an agent, you can discuss whether there is anyway for those first two books to come along. ;)
thank you Courtney!
I just wanted to jump on here to say I hope you're recovering well, Courtney. Thank you for an incredible class - I feel revitalised in my querying journey! Rest up.
Thank you Sarah!
Thanks for your class Courtney! Best of luck with your surgery & looking forward to familiarizing myself with more of your work. 💛
Courtney, thanks for mentioning the feedback group! For anyone who wants to post their query letter and get feedback (or just give feedback!) this is the place to do it https://open.substack.com/pub/dmclemens/p/query-letter-feedback
Thank you again for workshopping my query letter live! This is a small question. Is it important to correctly identify your book's sub-genre in a query letter? For example, I'm pitching my book as a "literary" novel but someone in the chat said it sounded more "upmarket" to them. I fully admit to not understanding all of the nuances between these categories. Does it matter? Or is this ultimately something a marketing department will decide?
Honestly, I'm someone who thinks the market decides. I'd go with "literary fiction" in your case. Good luck!
Hi Courtney, Thanks for a terrific workshop. Three + hours on Zoom--I can't believe you did it, but so helpful! I revised my query for my novel adding a violin sentence and some literary citizenship info as well as some visual details and sent it off to 3 agents. I got a rejection from one of them a few hours later BUT she encouraged me to query others in her agency (she's the principal).
Here's a question. I'm interested in (another) agency that explicitly says it's okay to query more than one agent in their agency simultaneously (which seems unusual) but you should let them know you're doing that. Q) If you've queried one of their agents and got no response after 3 months do you need to tell that when you query one of her colleagues? It seems like a big negative--I probably should have queried all three who I see as possible prospects at once.
And here's another question (last one) about genre. I think my novel could fit into any of these categories: debut, upmarket, bookclub, literary, women's, historical (using Kate Atkinson and Francine Prose as comps). Is it okay to just choose the genre the agent says she/he is looking for?
Thanks again.
I'm glad you liked the class! I think near the end of the letter (even after the bio) I think you can say something like "I have also sent this query to your colleague Name Name, thank you for your time and consideration." Regarding genre, if the genre they want fits your book, go for it! Good luck.
Hi Courtney,
Thank you so much for the wonderful class. My question is about comp titles: I've gotten mixed messages about whether it's ok to use titles more than fives years old. Some people have said it's a no-no, that the point is to show you know the current marketplace; others have said older titles are fine. I'd appreciate any insight you can share. Thanks, and sending wishes for a quick recovery from your surgery!
Thanks for taking the class! I think a title from 5 years ago is just fine as long as you have another one that's a tad more recent.
thank you!
Hi, Courtney! My question has already been asked, so I'm just here to send you all the best juju for your surgery and recovery. <3
Awww, Katrina, that's so kind! Thank you!
Hi Courtney. Thanks for your excellent class. Quick question: How long should a query letter be? I've heard it shouldn't be longer than 300 words. Thoughts?
Thanks for attending, Frank! Generally it should be 4-5 paragraphs max. I'm not sure how many words that is, but 300 words sounds more or less right? You could do word counts on the two successful query letters that we looked at in class (a PDF was sent). Glad that you were able to join us!
Thanks Courtney. With some time on my hands, I went to Andrea Bartz's substack where she has gathered some two dozen successful query letters from a variety of authors --from psychological suspense to science fiction to romance -- and did the word count on eight of them. The lowest was 217 for a science fiction novel by Mike Chen, the highest was 455 was for a family drama by Christina Clancy. Most of the others came in around 300-350 words. Interestingly, Bartz presented her first query for a novel. It was around 480 words. Her later successful query for that debut came in at half that word count.
Hi Frank! Do you have the link to the Substack? I’m still getting acquainted with this website and hope I can find the right thing. 😹
Here you go: https://andibartz.substack.com/p/how-to-pitch-your-book
Thanks for sharing your research, Frank. So interesting and helpful!
Hi Courtney! I appreciated your valuable advice on my query letter….but I had already previously sent the original query to a lot of agents…is there anything I can do or is that particular bridge just burnt? I’m assuming you can’t send a retraction
You can't send a retraction, no. You have to wait to either send them something completely new (in terms of a new manuscript) or wait nearly a year and send a heavily revised manuscript and a fresh query letter. But nope- you can't do retractions, unfortunately, hence the importance of a super solid letter. Keep going! It's okay-- we're all learning.
Appreciate that! I am watching the replay of your class now. By any chance is GENEVA JONES & THE SUMMER OF SELF DISCOVERY a killer title? I based it off of a similar book "Elinor Oliphant is completely fine." The book my book reminds me of the most is Garden Spells by Sarah Allen Addison, for its similar blend of luminous elements (magical pastries) and darker themes (domestic violence) Thanks so much!
Hi Courtney!
Ditto to what everyone has said so far about it being an excellent class! What I would love to know is how to handle query applications who may ask for additional content that is already contained in the query letter.
For instance, I've noticed a decent amount of agents use Query Tracker/Manager and ask for the query letter in one section, but then a bio, synopsis, the proposal (or first 10 pages), pitch, comps, target audience etc as individual sections. Is it OK to have redundancy here? For instance, in my proposal I have the comps, target audience; I have a bio and the pitch in the query letter etc. Or should I have two bios, two pitches etc etc? Is this just a way for the agent to get to the meat and potatoes quickly (or rice and beans for veg/vegan folks) without having to go through the whole proposal/pages?
Thanks so much (for everything!) and best of luck with your surgery and recovery! Will be thinking of you :)
Isn't that the worst when you have to fill out all that extra stuff? It's okay to have redundancies, just make sure they read as standalone answers or paragraphs in their text fields-- that they don't feel unfinished or out of place or anything! Good luck.
Hello, Courtney, everyone. I greatly appreciated the thoughtfulness that went into every query letter review, and the dos and don'ts are fantastic. I have a question about the "hybrid memoir." I've been describing my book as such, but wondering if it's better described as cross/mixed genre. In my case, memoir meets quasi-fiction. Half is told from the POV of a horse and though I know his story from a certain point, there were missing details from his earliest years that are "fiction" (though not fantasy). Alas, my question (finalement): Since memoir is so difficult to pitch at this time and my book is a "hybrid" (or is it?), how would you suggest pitching or choosing agents to pitch to? Thank you! And best of luck with your big-ass surgery. I'm sure absolutely terrifying, but so is not being able to breathe! You've got this.
Whoops! Just noticed one of my sentences got cut off below. I edited but should have read "by the way, I would read the heck out of the horse POV!"
Love love love this! Thanks so much for adding!!
Ooh this is a tough one. You might get in hot water if you use the word memoir because of the fictive element...you can't really say "autobiographical" memoir because of the horse POV (by the way, I would read the heck out of the horse POV!) and "hybrid" isn't appropriate. You could use a playful subtitle like "a mostly true memoir" ? I think that's how I would go about it if I were querying, and then you'd work out the specifics with your agent. "Mixed genre memoir" would be appropriate as a term, but it sounds so clinical!
Oddly, the memoir bit came after the horse story... but that's a long story. Thank you. This is helpful and certainly something I needed to hear. Now, decisions, decisions. Have a great weekend.
The workshop was terrific. And, I'm going to check out the hybrid memoir link you sent below. And, of course, good luck on your b-a surgery. Nancy
Thank you Nancy! I'm so glad you could join us and dearly appreciate your kind thoughts.
Hello Courtney. You mentioned in the class about having an editor. Do you look for the agent first and then they hook you up with an editor? Or do you get an agent, and then look for an editor? What's the process/steps. Which comes first?
Agent always comes before editor. Sometimes, with micro presses and some university presses, you go directly to the editor stage, but for most people (especially those on traditional publication paths) you get an agent, they accept your book because 1) they think they can sell it 2) have an idea of what house/editor they think they can try to sell it to, and then they go out and try to sell it. It's very very similar to hiring a real estate broker-- they are going to try and find the right buyers for your apartment/house. Sometimes they do-- sometimes they don't! Agents don't make money unless you, the author, does. They get 15% commission off nearly anything-- book deal, film rights, foreign rights, movie options, etc. But a good agent will always be worth their commission and then some!
Thanks Courtney. You answered the question I didn't ask was about money/cost etc. All good info for us newbies. Good luck with your surgery next week.
P.S. I just picked up your memoir from the library. Looking forward to reading it!
Oh hooray! I hope you like it! If you do, tell everyone! It's hard out here for us memoirists with backlist titles LOL
Hi Courtney,
Thank you for such an informative class! It was really helpful. My question is: I have an acquaintance who is an agent in a mid-size firm and I think she would be a good fit for my MS. Her firm has a general submission mailbox. Do you recommend also emailing my acquaintance (I have her contact info) and alerting her to my submission or just submitting and assuming she will see it?
Having an "in" somewhere is always a leg up-- get in touch with your acquaintance first and see if there is anything special she recommends in terms of submissions. You want to see if there is some kind of VIP route that you a take or if she'll possibly put in a good word for you. Hopefully she'll understand that by you casually checking in with her so you don't have to state it bluntly.... Good luck!
Thank you so much! That’s very helpful. Wishing you all the best with your surgery!