And the next one...

Fresh from my in-box...
 

Many thanks for your letter of inquiry.  I'm sorry to say that your book just doesn't sound right for me.  As I am sure you understand I have a fairly large number of submissions coming in each week so I cannot look at all of them.  Perhaps another agent will have more enthusiasm for your idea.  Do keep up the hard work of submitting, as you never know where you'll make the connection that makes your book happen.

Best of luck,
Assistant to JG


I will try, try again in the new year. Although thinking of exploring the world of e-books... becoming more and more intrigued by the possibilities. 

And the first one has arrived...

I heard back today from the Bent Agency today...


Dear Heather,

Thanks so much for being in touch. I’m flattered that you thought of
me for this, but it just didn’t quite strike a chord. I do admire the
quality of the writing and the execution and I’m sorry it wasn’t a fit
for me.

Very best,
Jenny

The Bent Agency


I do appreciate the promptness and kind way this was executed. And doesn't make me feel like it's a form letter (even if it is). 

Well, here's the first for the blog. Must get my butt in gear to send out the next query.

Next Victim Please

Now that I have a submission for Sunk out in the wind (probably to be blown back, but I won't get ahead of myself), I decided to go back to the AAR site and try to find a suitable victim to submit Such Beautiful Deadly Things.

This manuscript has more elements of a cozy mystery. The agency I found has a client list that seems to have a healthy representation of both traditional mystery and romance novels. And so the next submission will be off to the Richard Henshaw Group.

For this submission they want the the first 50-pages and a synopsis. A synopsis is a fresh kind of hell and one I will face tomorrow.

For tips on synopsis writing - which you will almost certainly need at some point for a submission - Nathan Bransford has some great info. He is an author and an agent so he has great insight from both sides of the desk. A link to his very helpful blog is to the right.

Attempt #1

Query letter for Sunk to the Bent Agency

Kat McGovern has daddy issues. Her father died before she was born, but his death has defined much of her life. Her father, Grayson, a famous leading man of his day (think Tom Cruise in the Top Gun years) was one of the original followers of L. Ron Hubbard (so, yes, really think of Tom Cruise). As he sailed with the Scientology fleet in the 1970's, Grayson's yacht disappeared off the Moroccan coast. His disappearance
caused a public sensation. Kat grew up behind the walls of her mother's Hollywood estate, protected from the prying, curious eyes of the press. As an adult Kat created a quiet life as the owner of a vintage clothing shop in New Hope, Pennsylvania. But when the wreck of her father's ship is discovered, not only do Grayson's secrets rise to the surface, so do Kat's.

Once proof emerges that Grayson's ship was deliberately sabotaged, the press find Kat and turn her quiet existence into chaos. Then an enigmatic Scientologist turns up demanding a file he is sure Kat's mother hid away thirty-years ago. And a retired FBI agent seeks out Kat to tell her the real reason why her father was out at sea all those years ago. But that secret proves to be deadly when the FBI agent is found murdered in his hotel room. With the help of her closest friends, Kat searches for the truth behind her father's murder while trying to avoid becoming a suspect in the one that just landed on her doorstep.

Sunk is an 87,000-word mystery with a touch of romance that stands alone, although I have ideas for a series. As a winner of Oak Tree Press's Timeless Romance writing contest, I have had one romantic-suspense novel titled Lake Meade published in 2008. I am the author of a blog on writing and attempts at publication at http://queenrejectionletter.blogspot.com/

Please find the following 10-pages of Sunk for your consideration.



Query sent via email (they are OK with email submissions) on 11/08/2012

Who and Where?

I sat down to begin writing a fresh query letter for my romantic-suspense novel Sunk, but changed my mind. Mostly because I am in a procrastinating kind of mood. The process of trying to be concise, yet detailed, witty, yet professional and all those wonderful things that make up the three to four crucial paragraphs of your query, felt daunting on this Sunday evening.

So that will be tomorrow.
Today, I decided to look for who and where I will direct this perfectly crafted missive (once it's perfectly crafted).

The resource I like to use to find agents is AAR - Association of Author's Representatives. This is the professional organization for literary agents. They have extensive guidelines to become a member, and that is good for you. If they are on this list, you should feel good about sending your work to them. Plus, when you go on their website and look at the list, you will see that each agent states the types of books they represent (non-fiction, fiction, mysteries, romance, etc).

If I find the name of an agent that indicates they are interested in my genre, I go to their agency's website to get a better feel if we are a good fit. Checking out what other books they have represented in the past is a great way to see if your book would be of interest to them. There is no sense in wasting your time or theirs if they do not represent your type of work.

So after checking out a few different agents on the AAR website, I decided to look more closely at Jenny Bent from the Bent Agency. She states she represents mystery, romance and paranormal. Sunk is primarily a mystery but has some romance and a touch of the paranormal, as well. Next, I looked to see what her submission requirements are from her website. Everyone has their own, you want to be very careful here and give each agent exactly what they want. In this case, it is a query letter and the first 10-pages.

So now I know the who and where. Tomorrow I will work on the what.

P.S. Look to the right for the link to AAR's website

P.S.S. Joining organizations like Romance Writers of America (if you are a romance writer) and attending writer's conferences are great ways to make contacts and meet agents face-to-face.

There Are No Rejection Trolls

You have written the most awesome mystery novel, screenplay, memoir or children’s book. Now it’s time to send it out to an agent or publisher.

Yeah! You know they are going to love it! You wonder how you will decide which publisher to go with because they all are going to want it.

But what is this in your mail box? Oh, my God. It’s not even a letter. It’s a freakin’ post card.

“Dear Ms. Onceselfconfident,
Thank you for your submission. We regret to inform you that your manuscript is not of the slightest bit of interest to us.
Sincerely,
The Editor of Stomp on Your Dreams Press”

Years of work cast aside with a post card. And not even a thick post card with a picture of the Grand Canyon on it. It’s a thin, mass-produced, impersonal, light green post card.

But please don’t despair. The agents and publishers are not really trolls sitting hunched over a desk, gleefully cranking out little green post cards of death. When they receive your submission, they too are actually hoping they like it.

But the chances are, they probably won’t. It is just a reality. They are receiving massive amounts of submissions each day and they have to weed through them. And yours has a high percentage of being a weed and not a flower.

An agent once told me that out of about 100 submissions she received each week, she chose around three to request a full manuscript from the author. Then, out of these dozen or so in a month’s time, she only picked two or three to represent. Odds…not in your favor.

So in this blog I will take you on my journey to try and “up my odds” by improving my craft, writing the best query letter I can and making my submission as strong as I can. I will share with you the resources I find to help me along the way.

And yes, I will share with you the rejection letters I collect. My goal is to send at least one submission a week, so there will probably be plenty to show you.

Hopefully, I will learn how to get a little closer to the elusive letter that says,”Please send your full manuscript to…”