3 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN SENDING QUERY LETTERS

Now that everyone is back from their holiday celebrations, agents will start seeing an increase in their submission stacks.  If you have been working hard to get your manuscript ready, you might want to take a moment to make sure you don't make any of these common mistakes when querying agents...

1. DEAR EDITOR OR TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

Whether you are submitting your manuscript to an agency or directly to a publisher, you want to make sure you address your query to the correct person. Take time to check out the submissions guidelines on their websites. Check out the websites of the authors working with these companies to determine an actual contact name to attach to your query. Statistics show people LOVE hearing their names and taking the time to address your query letter to the right person instead of simply tacking a "to whom it may concern" or a "dear editor" as a header to your query will show the person considering your manuscript that you are a professional who did their homework.

2. I WROTE A YOUNG ADULT, HIGH FANTASY MEDIEVAL HISTORICAL FICTION MYSTERY LOVE STORY ADVENTURE QUEST

There is nothing that will make an editor or publisher's head spin faster than a writer who can't decide what they've actually written. How can you submit to the correct person if you don't know what you wrote? Your manuscript might have elements from different genres, but you need to decide what is the MAIN focus of your story line. There will be people out there who cover a variety of genres but as a writer, your manuscript identification can't be convoluted. If you're not sure, have your critique group or some beta readers help you to identify exactly WHAT you wrote before sending out that query letter.

3.  I KNOW YOU'RE CLOSED TO SUBMISSIONS, BUT YOU'LL WANT TO READ MY BEST SELLING MANUSCRIPT

Agents and publishers LOVE discovering heart stopping, page turning manuscripts. What they DON'T like are writers who try to force their manuscripts on them without having enough respect for the querying process. Make sure to check their guidelines first to see if they are currently accepting submissions. This would also be a good time to make sure you are sending your query to the right individual.

As a writer, you've poured your heart and soul into your story. Now make sure you give it the best chance of being requested by an agent or publisher by avoiding some common mistakes on the road to publication.

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I hope you learned something new today and be sure to check back tomorrow for the next post in my month long celebration!

Blurb:

Addie comes from a long line of readers, or “story catchers,” as her family likes to call themselves. Every time Addie tries to catch a story on her own, though, the words play tricks on her. Addie tries everything she can think of to corral those wiggly letters, but it  will take a little faith to become the next STORY CATCHER.

Buy Links:

Amazon Kindle ¦ Paperback ¦ B&N ¦ Smashwords

 

THE STORY CATCHER FAN CLUB: 

 

Fan club membership includes:

 

Membership Certificate

Bi-monthly Newsletter full of mazes, puzzles, games, news and other goodies

Reading log for earning Story Catcher Award

Short story starring YOU!

http://donasdays.blogspot.com/p/story-catcher-fan-club.html

Book Trailer:

Birth Of A Book

I announced last week I had received my first book contract. It was an exciting time and my feet still haven't touched down yet. But before anyone thinks this is a case of an overnight success I wanted to tell you a story about the birth of a little book...

I have been writing on and off for more than forty years but only considered doing it professionally four years ago. After a twenty year hiatus where I only wrote sporadically, I returned to my writing with a passion and began a middle grade chapter book about three boys. It took me about three months to actually finish the first draft and I thought that was a good start. I was writing on my own and told no one about my dreams of becoming a published author...not even my sister knew. I did this for two years where I wrote and wrote and read everything I could get my hands on about writing. I didn't know at the time a huge writing community was out there waiting to show their love and support for another newbie writer.

Then I stumbled upon a post somewhere...I don't even remember how I discovered it...but I found out about Tara Lazar's PiBoIdMo in the fall of 2011 and decided to join. The excitement of joining that challenge literally changed how I saw the publishing industry and my focus started to shift to writing picture books. I wondered if I was doing the right thing and got my answer through a series of dreams. 

Every night that fall for three weeks I would dream of completed picture book stories in vivid detail. In the morning I would wake up and quickly write down my dreams before I forgot them. There was no denying there were stories clawing their way out of my head and onto paper.

Then I heard about Julie Hedlund's 12 X 12 challenge for 2012 and decided to join. That was about the same time I came across a group of professionals who gave away FREE critiques of picture books stories and rated their potential for publication. Rate Your Story was hosted by Miranda Paul and I began sending my stories to her, eager to hear from the wonderful judges who gave me their professional opinions of my work. 

One of the stories I submitted to Rate Your Story that year had to do with a little girl trying to learn how to read. I thought I had a strong story but RYS returned it to me with a 5 rating. That rating meant I had a good story idea but it still needed work so I continued to revise my story until I finally thought it was ready for submissions in January of 2013. By then I had joined 12 X 12 for another year and wanted to submit this one story to the participating agents Julie had lined up. 

March's agent that year was Tricia Lawrence of Erin Murphy Literary Agency. While I didn't submit this particular story at first, Ms. Lawrence enjoyed the other story I submitted to her and requested three more...one of which I sent was this one. I knew it could take a long time for an agent to let me know if they were offering representation so I continued to submit this story to different agents but never a publisher. My little story about a girl learning to read attracted many, many nice rejection letters from agents saying while they thought it was a cute story, it just wasn't for them.

Fast forward to January 8th, 2014 when I hear about a pitch contest happening on Twitter under the hashtag #Pitmad. I originally wasn't going to participate because I was really busy that day but I finally decided to put up three pitches, including my story about that little girl. Within minutes of posting I received two requests for queries on two of my stories from two different publishers. I couldn't believe my luck!

Later that night I sent off both queries with stories attached and thought it would take awhile before I might hear back from either one of those publishers. Imagine my surprise when I received an acceptance email from a publisher on the 9th stating they wanted to publish my story! And what was even more surprising is that they asked for only ONE word to be changed in the entire manuscript.

I replied to the email and after chatting with the senior editor, I told her I was interested in possibly working with them. I then spent the next two days researching everything I could find on this publisher. All my research continued to give me good vibes about potentially working with them...even though they are a start up digital-first small press publisher. I also sent an updated email to Ms. Lawrence on the 10th advising her of the status of the story she was considering for representation. My book offer now put me at the top of her list to consider.

By the 14th I had the actual book contract in hand and I spent this past weekend going over the wording with a fine-tooth comb. Many of my writer friends have stepped in to give me advice about what should and shouldn't be in this contract and SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators) has an exceptional sample book contract for members to view, along with comments on other things to look out for. THAT alone made my membership fee worth it! After two days of nothing but reading legal jargon, I created a word document listing my questions and issues to be negotiated and returned it to the publisher for their consideration.

While the actual turn around time for this story...from original Twitter pitch to query to submission to acceptance to contract in hand...was only SIX DAYS, the journey to this moment took much, much longer.  Hopefully I will be able to announce soon all concerns were resolved and we have moved on to the next phase in this wonderful journey to becoming a REAL PUBLISHED AUTHOR!!