Hi Courtney, thanks for such a useful class. Quick question: Any thoughts/tips for subject lines, for those queries that are emailed directly to an agent? (Besides nothing whacky.) For example, is it best to state your genre here, or drop an xyz comp reference?
I loved how you workshopped Allison’s memoir! I wasn’t planning to write a hybrid memoir myself but an editor told me I’d have a better chance of getting an agent than I would with a straight-up memoir. I have a manuscript but haven’t yet weaved reporting into it. Should I state that in the query and include the name of an expert who has committed to being interviewed or just say it’s going to be a hybrid memoir? Thank you and best of luck on your big-ass surgery!
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!
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?
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?
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 :)
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?
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?
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
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?
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!
Hi Courtney, thanks for such a useful class. Quick question: Any thoughts/tips for subject lines, for those queries that are emailed directly to an agent? (Besides nothing whacky.) For example, is it best to state your genre here, or drop an xyz comp reference?
I loved how you workshopped Allison’s memoir! I wasn’t planning to write a hybrid memoir myself but an editor told me I’d have a better chance of getting an agent than I would with a straight-up memoir. I have a manuscript but haven’t yet weaved reporting into it. Should I state that in the query and include the name of an expert who has committed to being interviewed or just say it’s going to be a hybrid memoir? Thank you and best of luck on your big-ass surgery!
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
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!
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
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
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?
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.
Thanks for your class Courtney! Best of luck with your surgery & looking forward to familiarizing myself with more of your work. 💛
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!
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 :)
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?
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.
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
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?
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!