Mistakes Novice Queriers Make
Full disclosure: it’s easy to screw up querying. There are a ton of unspoken rules that, unless you’ve done extensive research, you’re probably going to break. I am writing this because I recently tried to explain these rules to someone and thought, HEY, maybe other people can use this! Hence this post. Now, I am not the querying guru. I spent years trudging through the trenches, both alone (armed with only my own research), and with the help and support of friends. This is the culmination of that experience. I will not be right about everything, because there are always exceptions to the rules, but hopefully some of what I have to say is useful.
NOTE: This applies to people attempting to query literary agents in pursuit of traditional publication. I have never attempted to query a small publisher directly, though I expect some of the etiquette will be somewhat similar. I also don’t know anything about querying with nonfiction projects. Proposals and research are not my forte.
Without further ado, here are some of the biggest blunders first-time queriers tend to make. Don’t worry if you’ve already made them, because so have I. That’s the way we learn, friends!
1 - Querying too early
This one will seem obvious to most of you, but hear me out. You finished a book! You’ve edited it! You’ve gotten some feedback from a couple friends, and revised accordingly! You’re ready to query!
Wrong.
At least, probably. Look, there are always those lucky few who have awesome high-concept books, managed to put together a coherent plot on the first attempt, and manage to snag an agent’s attention pretty quickly. Those people are not me. They’re probably not you, either. If they ARE you, then congratulations, you’re leaps ahead of me. I’ve written 8 books now, and I can tell you that with AT LEAST 6 of them, I’ve felt ready to query and been dead wrong. I have no patience. Patience sucks. But here’s the thing — say you finish a book and send it out to a critique partner or a few beta readers for feedback. You get the feedback and implement it. Hooray, you think. You’re ready to go!
Please, for the love of satan, get another round of beta readers for your new draft. There are probably inconsistencies. You might have created a whole new genre of plot problems you haven’t even noticed. If you can get one of your first-round readers to RE-read it, that can be helpful, because they can make comparisons. The rest of your readers should be brand new, with fresh eyes. And look, IT IS DIFFICULT TO WAIT FOR MULTIPLE ROUNDS OF READERS. Some are slow. Some give useless feedback, or just vaguely tell you they liked it. Some are just straight up negative and say your book wasn’t for them. Some don’t ever read it at all. This is fine — shit happens, frankly. But it brings me to the important sub-rule of this first step, which is:
1 a) - Get readers who will be harsh
Or at the very least, honest. Don’t just pick friends who have been doe-eyed over your pretty twitter aesthetics for the last few months. I’m not saying pick people you know will shit on your book — I’m saying pick people you can trust to say, “Hey, what the fuck is going on in this scene?” or, “Wow, this character’s motivations make no sense.” These people are not necessarily right, by the way: you likely already know this, but if an issue comes up with one (1) reader, it’s probably an opinion. If it comes up with more than one reader, you might have a problem. And sometimes the problems people point out are indicative of something else entirely. For example, with my last book, I had a few readers tell me they didn’t like one of my main characters for various reasons. At first I told myself this was because she was a bit more violent and unforgiving than most female characters. People just weren’t accepting of that! But no — I came to realize their feedback had little to do with not liking my character, and more to do with the fact that her actions didn’t align with her motivations. The way she was behaving didn’t lend to what she was trying to accomplish, and that was why people found her grating. Essentially what I’m saying is, sometimes you have to dig to figure out what the root of the problem is, because your readers can’t always do that for you. But in the same vein:
1 b) - Get readers who provide positive reinforcement
You’re going to have a shit time if you only get readers who are harsh. Trust me, you also need those people who ARE doe-eyed over your pretty twitter aesthetics and tell you they love your writing. These are the kind of people who keep your confidence up and give you the energy to keep writing and pursuing success. Sometimes you can get other writers to give you a positivity pass! Either way, don’t ONLY seek out harsh critique. You need that honesty, but you also need to feel good about your work! That’s all I have to say about this. It’s a balance.
TLDR; Even when you think you’re ready, you’re not. Go through MULTIPLE rounds of readers. Different sets of eyes will find different problems. Get people you know will be hard on you as well as those you know will hype you up. Remember that agents will likely do SOME revisions with you, but they generally don’t want to take on anything they have to put a ton of editing time into. While you’re editing, neither of you are making money, and at the end of the day publishing is a business (sad emoji). Which brings me to the second thing:
2 - Your query is a sales pitch
It is not about you or why you were inspired to write your book. It is not about all the things you hope your book will teach people. And even though a query is a sales pitch, it is NOT A CHANCE for you to tell a prospective agent why you think your book is better than all the other books out there. The query is about your book. You’re trying to entice people into wanting to read it. An agent does not care if your cousin’s work colleague read it and told you it would be the next Hunger Games. An agent does not care if you think your book will revolutionize the science fantasy market. You’re probably wrong, anyway.
I’m not going to go into depth about how to write a query in this post, but the general elements are 1) hook, 2) housekeeping, 3) bio. The hook tells the agent what your book is about and why they want to read it. Use specifics and make it snappy. The housekeeping tells the agent your title, genre, word count, and comps. Now they know where this story would stand in the market. Your bio tells the agent who you are, in a short — SHORT!!! — few sentences. This is a good place to mention if your work is #ownvoices, or if you have some kind of experience that directly connects to what you’re writing about. You don’t have to go into detail about your job or interests. For example, my bio included something along the lines of, “I am a recent policy graduate working for the government.” That’s all you need. One of the biggest blunders people make with queries is thinking they need to sell themselves as a person. Only include the facts about you that are RELEVANT, if there are any. This is not your resume. You are selling your book through the pitch. Do not tell an agent all the reasons you think your story is good. You will just sound like an asshole. That’s a determination they will make for themselves.
Here is my query for a previous book. It’s not perfect, and it didn’t get me representation, but it got more than 20 full requests:
Dear X,
I am currently seeking representation for my YA Historical Fantasy THE IRON ARCHER. I understand you enjoy morally grey characters and historical elements, so I thought you might be interested in this high-concept reimagining of London’s 1851 Exhibition. [Brief, BRIEF explanation of why you’re querying them, if there’s a specific reason or you looked into their MSWL. I’ve also included my genre up here; the rest of my housekeeping is at the end. People have different ideas about where to put the housekeeping — if an agent doesn’t specify a preference, it probably doesn’t matter, but always beginning or end.]
When the Great Exhibition comes to 1851 London, the only invention Zaria Mendoza wants to see displayed in the Crystal Palace is her own. Life in the slums is tough, and the number of clients keen to buy her wares is dwindling. If she can sneak her life-like mechanical bird into the Exhibition, though, it might garner enough attention to put her back in business. [What the character wants / what their problem is + what they’re going to do to get what they want and resolve the problem.]
Eighteen-year-old con man Kane Durante has his own plans for the Exhibition. Stealing an ancient brooch isn’t the kind of job he usually takes on, but when the order comes from a murderous gang leader, it’s hard to say no. The catch? He has less than a week to get it. [This story was dual-POV, so I did the above twice]
When Exhibition committee member Lord Saville takes credit for Zaria’s invention, she helps Kane steal the brooch as a means to revenge. But Saville isn’t the fraud he appears. Not only does he have a mechanical creature of his own — he has a whole army of them. And he plans to use it to destroy the London slums. [The twist: what happens to stop the character(s) from achieving their goals / solving the problem]
Desperate to save their homes, Zaria and Kane must set aside their animosity and combine their skills. But as their good intentions morph into a murderous plot that quickly goes astray, they just might have to choose between saving the city — or saving themselves. [The stakes - end on a snappy note if possible. I probably could have been even more specific here, but alas.]
The Gilded Wolves meets Peaky Blinders, THE IRON ARCHER is complete at 97,000 words. I am a recent politics graduate who works for the Canadian government. I am also an Author Mentor Match (AMM) round 6 mentee. [The rest of the housekeeping and my very, VERY brief bio. I didn’t have much to say that was relevant. If I did, say, a thesis on 1850s London or something, that would obviously be different.]
I have included the first chapter as requested. Thank you for your time and consideration! [Make sure you provided the materials they asked for, then wrap it up politely]
Sincerely,
M.K. Lobb
Like I said, it’s not perfect, and it’s probably even a little over-long. But, TLDR; get your plot points across in a way that makes agents want to read more, and I let the book sell itself. Generally, this is all they are looking for. Don’t try to tell them about the market. Remember this is not your personal resume, and nobody cares why you would be an amazing client. Be professional. Which leads me to the next point!
3 - Querying is (usually) not a dialogue
Agents sometimes read hundreds of queries a day. Nobody LIKES rejecting others, but they have to weed out the things that don’t grab them. Like I said above, be professional. If you receive a form rejection, this is not a chance for you to respond and ask what the problem was. Don’t take it personally. Again, THIS IS ABOUT YOUR BOOK. NOT YOU. You have to understand that unless an agent replies with feedback that is CLEARLY not a form letter, you need to let it go. They don’t have time to tell you all the reasons they passed. Don’t burn bridges and ruin your chances at querying them with a new project.
I know I said querying wasn’t like sending out your resume, but in terms of the way you respond, it kind of is: your query is the job application. If they request materials, it’s like being granted an interview. If they reject you at any stage, it’s like not getting the job. That’s how business works. Don’t make an ass of yourself.
*UNLESS you’re being rejected in a way that is clearly unprofessional or somehow marginalizing. This is a different circumstance altogether and the publishing industry is not immune. My advice here is directed mainly at (let’s face it, privileged white) people who think agents owe them something. Newsflash: they don’t.
Now, if an agent DOES open a dialogue, by all means take it! Talk about possible revisions or thank them for taking the time to send along their notes. Just don’t expect too much. I don’t say this to let them off the hook — I say this to let you know to keep your expectations low. I once exchanged a half dozen emails with an agent about revisions only for them to reject me with a form response after I sent the revised version. It happens. You grit your teeth, scream into your group chat, and move along. I know it’s hard to continue after setbacks like this, but that doesn’t mean you should lower your standards, because:
4 - No agent is better than a bad agent
You’ve seen it before, and you’ll see it again. Say it with me: NO AGENT IS BETTER THAN A BAD AGENT. When I first started querying, I had no idea what I was doing. I was desperate for an “in” and sent to every agency I could find a website for. DO NOT DO THIS! I REPEAT, DO NOT DO THIS. Some agents are BLATANT schmagents who will try to charge you reading fees or make you jump through a number of hoops. Some of them are only schmagents in the sense that they probably mean well, but sure as hell don’t have the ability to actually sell your book. And then there’s the toughest ones: some agencies have a twitter presence, multiple agents, tons of clients, appear to be legit and reputable, and yet DO NOT DESERVE YOUR BOOK. Sales matter. Where an agent started sometimes matters. What doesn’t matter is how nice they are, or how many twitter followers they have. If they ask YOU how many followers you have, RUN, by the way. Looking at you, C.Y.L.E. What the fuck is up with that?
Screams into the void yet again: THIS IS A BUSINESS!! You are going to be BUSINESS PARTNERS! I know it seems like the agent/agency holds all the cards, but it’s your work. Don’t get sucked in by the people who can’t actually help you with your career.
I know the painful, urgent desire to get someone to represent you. Just saying you have an agent sounds great, right? But if you get the wrong agent, all your hard work might as well be yeeted out the fucking window. Do your research. See what books are on the agency website, when they were sold, and who they were sold to. If all their books are only published by Amazon, take a flying leap in the other direction. If they’re all small presses, that might not be what you want. If it is, fine! But you don’t always even need an agent to sub to those, so be aware of that. They can definitely help you with contracts etc., but you’ll have to do an evaluation to see if it’s worth it. I won’t say much about this, because I am by no means an expert on submitting directly to small presses. Like I said, I haven’t done it.
Heading in the opposite direction: just because an agent doesn’t have sales doesn’t mean they’re not reputable, either. If you can, see what agency they’re at, and who they’ve been mentored by. That’s often a good indicator of how their career is going to go.
Consider how you feel about having an agent who’s also an author in their own right — many of them are, which can be fine, but some people don’t like that. Others don’t care. Take a look at their sales to make sure they’re still selling their clients’ work.
BUT, and this is a big but — do your own research. Talk to your friends and acquaintances. Do NOT slide unsolicited into any random author’s DMs to ask them about their agent unless you have an offer or an R&R (revise and resubmit). There are other resources you can access. Personally, I am happy to provide anyone my thoughts on ANY agent as well as my own, but not everyone has the bandwidth to do that. There’s no reason for you to go bother people about agents before you’ve even actually queried them. Unless, of course, they’ve specifically stated otherwise (can you tell there are a lot of caveats when it comes to querying advice? Yeah. Shit is tough. Everyone is different. You don’t even have to listen to me, FYI).
ANYWAY. These are the main things that come to mind.
For more resources, check out Queryshark, literaryrambles.com, Querytracker, Publisher’s Marketplace, manuscriptwishlist.com, and WRITER BEWARE.
