Search Results: query

STATS It’s been awhile since I added up any stats. I didn’t do them for October, so here they are, along with November’s numbers. Total queries received in the two months combined: about 720 Pass letters sent: 358 Request for partials sent: 7 Queries unanswered in my query box: 262 Hard copy queries/proposals sent via…

Several people have commented lately about how their friends and family don’t quite understand the process of publishing. Teri wrote: “If you even mention an agent or editor is looking at a proposal, they want to know when the book is coming out! Or since my family tends to be supportive, they talk about having…

What a month! More queries than ever before, but amazingly, I’m keeping up with them. If you’ve sent me an email query and I haven’t responded, that means I don’t have it, so please try again. If you’ve sent a hardcopy via U.S. mail (in which case you’re probably not reading my blog), I haven’t…

Lisa wrote with this question: When you request a proposal at a writers conference and ask for the first five chapters and a synopsis, is that all you want? Or do you want a market analysis, character sketches, etc.? This is a great question, because it once again points out the need for clear communication.…

The latest issue of Writers Digest included an article called 28 Agents Who Want Your Work and I was included in the 28. A dubious privilege, to be sure. (Thanks, Chuck!) I’ve been receiving a record number of submissions since then, and it really is cool to have such a large pool of writers from…

Earlier this week, a writer sent me this response to a rejection letter: As a first time author I can’t tell you how much I am humbled for the kind and thoughtful responses from you agents. You guys are really nice people out there…and God bless you for the kind words. Wow. It really struck…

Today I thought I’d answer a few recent questions about the process of agenting… When you read a query, can you tell from ten pages or less how much work might be involved in making a manuscript publishable if it’s not already? When I read the sample pages in the query, I’m asking myself more…

First off, I’m still feeling like I need a vacation from my vacation. I’m working like crazy playing “catchup” and hope to be back to normal in the next couple of days. Phew! As for my micro-contest yesterday (yeah, the one with no prize), I asked you to guess how many unsolicited submissions (queries) were…

I’m back! This vacation was… well, fantastic. I can hardly explain it. I had an amazing time. It’s going to be difficult getting back into work mode. But here I am, nose to the grindstone as usual. So, I have a couple of things for you today. First, a teeny-tiny contest. It’s so small, it’s…

I am getting increasingly frustrated with people querying me, acting like they know about me and about our agency, while they’re pitching something we don’t represent. Usually this means projects clearly outside of a Christian worldview, like astrological self-help, or memoirs of drug abuse and debauchery (without redemption), but that doesn’t bother me. The frustrating…

I was going through some old posts and found several questions people have asked that I’ve somehow neglected to answer as of yet. Here are a few random ones. Do more people get a yes or an “I want to read your ms” from sending sample chapters per your website’s guidelines, or by meeting you…

If a writer sends you a query, even a few sample chapters, and you turn it down, but think the writing is good, and then the writer is offered a publishing contract with a large CBA publisher, would you reconsider your rejection? Should a writer reapproach an agent if offered a contract? I don’t think…

Awhile back, someone asked me, “What are the Top Do-This-and-You-are-Dead mistakes people make in pitches, queries, and book proposals?” My answers:a Bore me.a Pitch something I don’t represent.a Pitch something that sounds derivative, been-there done-that, nothing unique.a Show me that your writing isn’t yet up to publishable level.a Approach it with the attitude: What the…

Wow. What a nice, long weekend. BUSY but great! Hope you all had exactly the kind of Fourth you most enjoy. Me, I had a crazy day with the family, starting with the pancake breakfast down at the church, then the big holiday parade, then the street fair. Back in the afternoon for a brief…