From the "No Duh" Department

Please don't describe your book as a fictional novel, science fiction novel, or autobiographical memoir. Pretty please.

On Email Queries

As you know, I respond to all properly formatted queries sent to me via my website. I fell behind last few weeks, but I believe I've responded to anyone who wrote me before May 1st.

I've recently had some complaints from authors regarding my submission policy. Specifically, some authors don't understand why I won't respond to an email query that is sent to my regular email address. Here are the reasons.

1) You can't send attachments via my submission form, and so it's much harder for me to get a virus.

2) The form limits the word count, which allows me to read it quickly.

3) It goes into a separate inbox specifically for queries, which allows me to read and respond faster while concurrently keeping my regular inbox relatively uncrowded.

My Job Description

My duty as a literary agent is to represent my clients to the best of my ability, and by and large this entails selling the rights to their works.

I do not believe that reading queries and providing feedback is part of my job description (and since I'm my own boss, I'm the final arbitrator of this). I've provided query guidance in the past on this blog, but only as a means so that I get better queries, and I read queries for a single purpose- to get clients in order to sell the rights to their works.

But no matter how irritated I might get over the really, really bad ones (see my post from last Tuesday), I will still respond to every query sent to me through my website, and if rejecting will continue to convey my "this is not for me" response. I do this for three reasons: 1) so that writers will continue to be encouraged to query me in the future; 2) in the hope that writers will treat me with the same professionalism that I treat them; and 3) good karma.

I hope this reassures any aspiring writer out there who thought I might release a tirade of abuse upon them when receiving their query.

Previously Published

I've been getting quite a few queries lately from authors who inform me that they are previously published, but then they don't list their publisher. After a bit of research I then discover that the author was self-published. I'm now annoyed.

I have nothing against self-publishing, but I do not consider someone to be "published" if you've chosen this route. After all, if anyone can do it then why should I be impressed? The only way you'll impress me with a self-published book is if you have good sales figures. But the authors who write me these queries know this, or they would have told me who their publisher was in the first place!

An Update on Queries

I' m still far behind on any queries sent by mail in the past few months, but if you included an SASE I will respond to them all eventually. Again though, please remember that I won't be accepting or responding to mail queries that arrive after the end of the month.

As for queries sent via my electronic submission form, I am up to date on responding through yesterday. If you have not heard from me, and you used the submission form, my best guess is that you filled it out incorrectly or have a spam blocker that prevented my response. Feel free to resubmit if you like.

Finally, a point of clarification. I don't respond to all email queries - I only respond to those queries sent via my website submission form. I delete the rest.

I've had a few people suggest that my new policy is draconian. It may well be, but in return you are guaranteed 100% a response within a week. I think that's a good trade off.

Query 101

So I got this query last night. It was addressed to about ten agents, and the first paragraph read as follows:

Hello. I am looking for an experienced agent, with an outstanding track record of publishing with major presses. Only serious responses, please. I have prepared a book proposal, for those of you who want to read it. I will not pay any fees. I am not interested in self- or electronic publishing.

I don't want to embarrass the author of this query, but I thought it could be used as a good example to provide some guidance on querying. I'm not going to address the substance of his project, nor any grammatical errors.

First, I don't accept e-queries unless they are sent via my agency submission form.

Second, do not address your query to multiple agents at once. It doesn't take much to cut and paste your query in multiple emails and add personalized introductions. Imagine if I wrote an email to a bunch of editors at once about your book!

Third, start off with a sentence that brings us in, not one that turns us off. In addition, there are multiple resources now available to authors, so with a bit of research you could verify in advance whether an agent is experienced and has sold books to major houses.

Fourth, this is not a personal ad. No need to tell us to be serious - this is our job, our livelihood. Of course we're serious.

Fifth, you should only be submitting to agents who have made it clear somewhere that they don't charge fees. This author has done just enough research to know that he shouldn't pay fees, but not enough to know about the Association of Author Representatives, agentquery.com, etc.

Sixth, we're not interested in representing you if you want to self-publish or e-publish your book either.

Question: When should you query?

Writing can be a kind of "hurry up and wait" situation, with a good amount of time between submitting a manuscript and actually seeing it in print. My first book (un-agented, but with a traditional publisher) is due out in Spring 2008. I'd like to start querying agents for my next "big project" but would like your advice on whether I should wait and see what the reception is to the first book (it's a history title) or begin querying in advance.

This is a tough one, and I expect you would get different advice from different agents.

There's no special cachet that might make me look at your query differently if you waited to pitch your book till after it has been published, excepting possible sales and publicity. But this is a double-edged sword - your book may not sell well (no matter how well-written it is), but if you don't wait for publication you could miss an opportunity to cash in on any possible success.

I'd probably suggest querying agents now, unless you're expecting some good reviews or blurbs to come in for the book in the near future, or the publisher intends to spend significant amounts of money on publicity. Also, the querying process is long and ongoing, so it's quite possible that you could still be querying by the time your book has published and you can then alter your query accordingly.

Your Biography

Lately I've noticed a number of queries that were skimpy on a biography. Most agents really do care about your professional and personal history - at least in how it connects to your work. I've listed below the basic areas you should hit.

• Publishing Credentials. Previous books, short stories, etc. Other agents might feel differently, but POD books don't impress me, unless the sales are significant.


• Professional Career. What do you do for a living? How does it affect what you write? Do you have a special knowledge that will be evident in the manuscript?


• Personal Details. List anything that affects your writing. Where do you live? Hobbies? Major events in your childhood? Family?