Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Query Questions with Laura Crockett

Writers have copious amounts of imagination. It's what makes their stories so fantastic. But there's a darker side to so much out of the box thinking. When a writer is in the query trenches, their worries go into overdrive. They start pulling out their hair and imagine every possible disaster.

 



Here to relieve some of that endless worrying is a new series of posts called Query Questions. I'll ask the questions which prey on every writer's mind, and hopefully take some of the pain out of querying. These are questions that I've seen tossed around on twitter and writing sites like Agent Query Connect. They are the type of questions that you need answers for the real expert--agents!

If you have your own specific query question, please leave it in the comments and it might show up in future editions of Query Questions as I plan to rotate the questions.


Good things come in pairs. Welcome to Laura Crockett, another new agent from Triada US


Is there a better or worse time of year to query?
It's more like days and times that'll be better or worse. It's best to query Monday through Friday. It gives me an opportunity in the evening to sift through them, and time on the weekends to devote to any manuscripts I may have requested. 

Does one typo or misplaced comma shoot down the entire query?
Not necessarily, though if I find two or more errors I begin to lose faith and interest. The query should reflect your manuscript.

Do you look at sample pages without fail or only if the query is strong?
Only if the query is strong. It's like shopping at a bookstore -- if you like the jacket summary, you open the book and read it, right? That's what I do with a query. Grab my attention and I'll look at the sample pages.

Do you have an assistant or intern go through your queries first or do you check all of them?
I check all of them! 

If the manuscript has a prologue, do you want it included with the sample pages?
Yes. Many times the prologue provides some insight/intrigue. 

Some agencies mention querying only one agent at a time and some say query only one agent period. How often do you pass a query along to a fellow agent who might be more interested?
Query only one agent, period. If I receive a query I think Brent or Uwe might like more (and vice versa), I'll pass it along.   

Do you prefer a little personalized chit-chat in a query letter, or would you rather hear about the manuscript?
I would rather hear about the manuscript. That said, if the manuscript has some sort of connection to a book you know I've read and enjoyed, by all means mention that! It shows me that you've done your research! 

Most agents have said they don’t care whether the word count/genre sentence comes first or last. But is it a red flag if one component is not included?
Definitely a red flag, especially if the genre sentence isn't included. I prefer to know what sort of mindset I should prepare for (historical fiction, fantasy, romance) when reading the query. 

Writers hear a lot about limiting the number of named characters in a query. Do you feel keeping named characters to a certain number makes for a clearer query?
The more named characters in a query makes the query overwhelming. The fewer characters mentioned, the clearer the query and purpose of the manuscript. Find the core of the story and pitch it.  

Should writers sweat the title of their book (and character names) or is that something that is often changed by publishers?
Oh, believe me, titles will be changed by publishers. They know markets! That being said, your title should still be able to catch my attention. Character names are occasionally changed, so prepare for some discussion on that when the time comes.   

How many queries do you receive in a week? How many requests might you make out of those?
Thus far I'm averaging 50 queries, but I'm new in the industry -- this'll change as time goes on and word spreads. As for requests, it will definitely fluctuate, but it looks like at least 2 of the 50 I'll ask to see a manuscript. 

Update: Since the interview this has gone up to 200 per week.

Many agents say they don't care if writers are active online. Could a twitter account or blog presence by a writer tip the scales in getting a request or offer? And do you require writers you sign to start one?
I definitely care. This was something stressed over and over in my graduate program, at AWP, at BEA, and many writer conferences: that an author has an online presence, that they have an active twitter or blog or public Facebook page. It tips the scales slightly in getting an offer, and it really helps (I cannot emphasize just how much this helps!) the marketing team at the publishing house. I would highly suggest a writer starts creating an online presence immediately. Create a following, start conversations with other writers and published authors, make your name known. The publishers can better promote and sell your book if you join them in the process. 

Some writers have asked about including links to their blogs or manuscript-related artwork. I’m sure it’s not appropriate to add those links in a query, but are links in an email signature offensive?
Links in the email signature are perfectly fine. 

If a writer makes changes to their manuscript due to feedback should they resend the query or only if material was requested?
Only if the material was requested. 

What bio should an author with no publishing credits include?
Any information the writer thinks improves their work and credibility. Tell me your educational background, activities or organizations you're involved in, an event or experience that shows you understand the material you worked with to create the manuscript (ex: historical fiction set on a farm --> you worked at a farm for a summer or studied agriculture for a project, etc).  

What does ‘just not right for me’ mean to you?
Simply that nothing grabbed my attention or stuck out to me personally -- just like when you're reading a book jacket. I can't help you make your book the best thing out there if I cannot muster up enough enthusiasm for it from the very beginning. If I can't think of editors and imprints who would also snatch up the manuscript, then it's not the right manuscript for me to read, enjoy, and share with others. 

What themes are you sick of seeing?
Catty female friendships, female friendships where the only conversations are about males, insta-love, love triangles, protagonists hell-bent on revenge, and...well, dystopian. (What's happening to the rest of the world? Why is it always in the US?) 

Do you consider yourself a hands-on, editorial type of agent?
Oh, yes. I love editing. I love writing/typing all over a manuscript, offering my reactions and insight and comments and suggestions. I'm very detailed. 

What’s the strangest/funniest thing you’ve seen in a query?
I have yet to find something incredibly strange or funny. A part of me wants to challenge you to make that happen...but maybe it's best not to! 

What three things are at the top of your submission wish list?
(In no particular order) Contemporary YA that portrays anxiety or abuse, WWI and WWII adult and YA historical fiction, and YA and adult gothic/Victorian horror (there's gore and there's mood/atmosphere. I'm in the mood/atmosphere camp).

What are some of your favorite movies or books to give us an idea of your tastes? 
Books: Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), Harry Potter (Prisoner of Azkaban specifically), The Likeness (Tana French), One Day (David Nicholls), Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell), Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern), Between Shades of Gray (Ruta Sepetys), The Hallowed Ones (Laura Bickle), Name of the Star (Maureen Johnson), Outlander (Diana Gabaldon), Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen) 
Movies: 2004 BBC North and South, 2013 Belle, 2013 About Time, 2003 Love Actually, 2009 Bright Star
TV Shows: Outlander, Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, Bomb Girls, New Girl, Once Upon a Time, BBC Merlin, BBC Sherlock

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My name is Laura, and I have my M.A. in Publishing and B.S. in Psychology. When I'm not working as an agent or bookseller, I'm reading, researching, and staying up-to-date on a variety of my passions (Victorian culture, Gothic literature, publishing, neuroscience, autism, stress and anxiety, music, books books books). I have a fluffy black cat named Rossetti, I love to knit, tea is my drink of choice, and I’m obsessed with British and Canadian television dramas.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Getting the Call with Tracy Townsend

Patience. This crazy occupation of writing takes plenty of patience. I know that can be in short supply sometimes. Tracy Townsend shares a story that took from the last Nightmare on Query Street nearly a year ago to come to fruition. Congrats, Tracy. Mike, SC and I are so glad to have you as one of our mentors for this year's contest!




In the fall of 2012, I accepted a dare from a colleague in the English department where I teach: to join him and a group of our students in NaNoWriMo.  Since I’m one of the principle teachers of creative writing at our school (this haven for intellectual oddballs and the gifted, sometimes called “Hogwarts for Hackers”), it made sense.  I’d had a loose idea for a world and a story in me for years but never made my own writing – or, really, myself – enough of a priority to write it down. But I knew my characters already, and I knew what was facing them, and the thought of finally getting it out was so appealing.

I could never have predicted how that one, agreeable shrug of my shoulders would lead to such a complicated future.

When Nightmare on Query Street 2013 came around almost a year later, I was a first-time novelist with a complete ms and a fistful of loyal CPs found through the hope and happenstance of AgentQuery Connect (I’m looking at you, Michelle and Pete).  I had a query letter they’d kicked up and down cyberspace for weeks, a synopsis, some spiffy first chapters, and …
          
A word count problem.  Like, to the tune of an adult fantasy manuscript 134K strong.  By the time Michelle, Mike, and S.C. made the all-call NOQS entries, I’d already racked up a month’s worth of rejections and some detailed CP notes, all chorusing “cut this thing down, and maybe it’ll go somewhere.”  Encouraged by my writer-friends to give the contest a go, I wrote my “MC’s greatest fear” paragraph, squinted fussily at my query, spit-shined page one, and sent it all off.
            
Then I sat down to make good on my submission’s claim that the project was actually 125K.

I know what you’re thinking:  “You … lied about your word count?” 

Well, sort of.  No.  Not “sort of.”  Yes, I did. (Not-so-subliminal message:  DO NOT do this!)  I had a strategy planned out:  I would submit with that word count, dive into my CP notes, and start editing down.  By the time I knew if I’d made the contest, the ms would be the promised length, and really, that tightening needed to happen either way.  I had been reluctant to cut for months, insisting I had already taken out as much as could go (it had been 146K, once upon a time – STOP LAUGHING AT ME). Creating this sense of urgency would make me do the job at last.  (Do not do this… Do not do this… Play with fire and you get burned… Look both ways before you cross the street… DO NOT DO THIS.  Please.)
          
Poking about the NOQS forum on AQC, I saw Mike tease about dropping his final pick for another spotted at the last minute – a really interesting adult fantasy he couldn’t pass up.  And then, a day or so later, lo and behold: I – or, my manuscript, THE NINE, rather – was a Monster.  The actual manuscript was only down to 130K at this point, not the advertised 125K, and so, even as I gabbled on Twitter with the other contestants and our growing, cheerful fan bases, I worked furiously behind the scenes to cut, cut, cut. 

By the end, I had one ten page, three fifty page, and one full request.  Twenty-four hours after the contest closed, I was down to 122k and sent my beastie off, praying after its electron trail.

Time passed.  By December, two of those partials became fulls.  The original contest full lingered out there, unanswered. 

In February 2014, still haunting the Twitter pages of two agents from NOQS who hadn’t yet decided on the full, I discovered #MSWL.  There, I found a request tweeted by Agent Overwhelming:  a funny, charming, unfailingly polite personage with an impressive sales streak. I had long since decided that querying there was out of my league, but the #MSWL message sounded just enough like my work…

I gave it a shot.

Three hours after I sent the query, it turned into a request for a full.  Nine days later, I was talking to Agent Overwhelming on the phone, going over ideas and details for an R&R.  I babbled.  Lord knows how I must have sounded.  Agent Overwhelming, though, was completely clear:  these kinds of phone calls are rare, and serious, but not a guarantee.  No promises from Overwhelming that writing the revision meant representation – and so, no expectation that the revised ms would be an exclusive, either. 

That, as it turned out, would prove as important to my eventually getting an agent as NOQS itself.

It was just six months after I’d started querying, and I had an R&R.  I planned it down to the finest detail and set aside my entire upcoming summer break to tackle the job.  In early June, it dawned on me that I really should take advantage of the non-exclusive agreement offered.  I contacted all the agents who had read the previous full or had it in hand then (including a small press who had offered on a prior version) and let them know a new copy would be available soon, if they wanted it.

One of the first agents to respond to that offer was Agent October, the agent whose request – even though it wasn’t a full – had had me the most excited during NOQS.  I’d had a stack of raggedy post-it notes in my desk drawer for months prior to actually beginning querying, written in more or less my fantasyland order of “agents I wish would sign me.”  (These were, naturally, also the agents I was most afraid of querying.)  Agent Overwhelming and Agent October’s names were written side by side, with slashes separating them, top of the list.  Imagine my surprise when Agent October responded to the revision offer, confirming that she actually had just recently finished reading my ms.  She’d had some misgivings about it and thought a re-read was in order.  I described the changes I’d discussed with Agent Overwhelming, and she felt they largely addressed her concerns.  She added two points of her own, which I quickly included in my to-do list.  Then I powered on, completing a first draft, CP rounds and notes, and a final draft all by the first week of August 2014.

I sent the revision – practically a speed-skater at 114K (STOP LAUGHING) – to several interested agents, the small press, and (of course) Agents Overwhelming and October. 

I waited, but not for very long.  When the small press editor came back with yet another offer, I sent the word around and found myself on the phone with Agent Overwhelming again.  Not wanting to endanger the small press as an option by making them wait overlong, Overwhelming vowed to finish reading by the following Monday and get back to me.  Other agents followed suit.  Mercifully, the school year was starting again.  I threw myself into the distraction of class prep. 

Monday came, bringing no news with it.  By lunchtime Tuesday, I felt the small press deadline closing in and nudged Agent Overwhelming for a status report.

The response came less than one minute later.

Agent Overwhelming had not been overwhelmed.  The email was polite, professional, encouraging.  Sympathetic.  It ended with an invitation to share future work, and best wishes.  None of that stopped me from sitting slack-jawed at my desk, staring at the screen as if I could will the message away.  It wasn’t that I assumed I was already in.  I am extraordinarily good, actually, at not getting my hopes up.  I had written the revision, telling myself all the while that the reason to do it was because I believed the advice given would make a better book.  Everything beyond that was hope – less than hope, it was a guess, a stab in the dark.  It was that dream-list on a raggedy post-it note.
          
That well-ordered, rational thinking didn’t console me much. 

I wondered how I could have fooled myself into thinking I was in anybody’s league.  Anything other than bush-league.  I was a first-time novelist, a lifelong writer with a career of putting my own ideas aside in favor of teaching others how to excel.  I was a living embodiment of that horrible adage about how those who can do, and those who can’t, teach.  I remembered the small press offer, but now, as I researched the costs associated with a good publishing attorney to review documents, it seemed the billable hours would equal or exceed my probable earnings.  Whatever THE NINE earned would be almost entirely through my own marketing, something I knew nothing about.  I was in over my head and had been from the start.  I was finally getting my cosmic punishment for my word-count gamble.  I had dared, and gotten close, and it was just that I should get my smack-down now.  Simple as that.

My sadness gave way to a dull sense of foreboding – an absolute conviction that the next 24 hours would be parade of “no”s from the remaining agents.  Instead, at 3:30 that same afternoon, my email winked with a message from Bridget Smith.  Agent October, the first agent to ever request my full manuscript based on reading a partial.  The first agent to want more of my work, knowing what it was really like.  The first name, side-by-side with Agent Overwhelming’s, to have made my dream list. 

She was glad to have read the revision, because she really liked it.  She felt more confident about it, reading it slowly, carefully, taking time to “admire [my] skillful writing”!  Could we talk tonight?

Yes.  Let’s talk now.

A half hour later, my phone rang, and the whole world changed.  I told myself not to listen with rebound-ears.  There was a chance this might not be a fit.  I shouldn’t jump at acceptance because I was still stinging from rejection. 

But it was a fit – a perfect fit.  Bridget had noticed things about the manuscript, details of character and world-building that I had put in almost as Easter eggs.  I’d never counted on a reader finding them, but she had and she got them.  She had insights into the culture of my world, daring suggestions about shoring up storyline, and authentic curiosity. She was the perfect blend of enthusiastic and genuine – never gushing or putting on a show.  And she didn’t shrink from my toughest questions.  She had some editors in mind for submission and felt that the book could go bigger than the small press who had offered to me.  She was ready to really work her experience in the sf/f market.  As the conversation wound to a close, I told her I needed to let the other agents know of the offer – and she asked about Agent Overwhelming.
          
Was it just my imagination that she didn’t sound terribly disappointed about Overwhelming’s decision to pass?
   
When my cursor hovered over “send” on my first query back in August 2013, to predict where I’d be in a year, I would never have mapped out this strange, winding road.  I certainly wouldn’t have imagined it would lead right back to the beginning – to my first and fondest hope.

People tell you patience is key to querying, and they’re right.  October 2013 to August 2014 kind of patience.  Luck is part of it, too.  The luck of finding amazing CPs, for one:  Michelle, and Pete, and eventually Maura.  The luck that opens the doors to opportunity:  Mike’s taking a second look at my entry and swapping it in.  There’s an absolute, full-frontal nudity of the ego when querying, and entering contests, and being rejected.  You can’t know when you start if or how you’ll reach your goal, or how many expectations will be broken along the way.  You can’t predict which gambles will pay off and what paths will cross, or how they’ll all suddenly come together, as if it were meant to be.   As if you’d written the end of the story on a scrap of paper before you even began.

You can’t know.  That’s why we try. 

 -----------------------------------------

Tracy Townsend lives in Bolingbrook, Illinois and teaches English at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy.  She has studied at DePauw University, the National University of Ireland (Galway), and DePaul University, where she obtained degrees in English, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric.  She is a member of the Science Fiction Research Association and other academic organizations, which has allowed her to write very long things and read them aloud to people who are obliged to behave politely.  Her background as a lapsed Catholic, an assistant martial arts instructor, a comic book fangirl (Make Mine Marvel!), a tabletop role-player, and an obsessive hound for obscure mythologies inspired her writing of The Nine.  Inexplicably, other uses for that resume have yet to present themselves.  She is represented by the strikingly elegant and classy Bridget Smith of Dunham Lit. 

Tracy devotes time she doesn’t have to cooking, gardening, writing, and seriously pondering the treadmill in her basement.  She is married to her high school sweetheart, with whom she shares two remarkable children.  They are – naturally – named after characters from books.

You can find Tracy on Twitter (@TheStorymatic) more often than she really ought to be.



Friday, September 26, 2014

Getting the Call with Leatrice McKinney

Sometimes things don't work out the way you plan. Sometimes you think you've reached the happy ending, only to have to start over. I shared Leatrice's happy ending some time back. Then through no one's fault, life sent a knock out blow and she was back in the query trenches. (See that post here.) 

When things get tough ... the tough keep writing. Congrats, El, on your comeback! 

And she is also the creator and host of the pitch contest Pitchslam, coming in early October.





It’s somewhat surreal, writing this post a second time. Okay, here goes...

If anyone claims to know me at all, they know I love pitch/writing contests. I love entering them, I love judging them, I love hosting them, I love absolutely every aspect of the online contest circuit (sounds so official doesn’t it). Some would say I have a problem. I like to say I’m enthusiastic. But even with my love of contests—and my luck in a handful—it was my query that won over my agent.

There’s a website called Query Drill that simulates the querying process while offering feedback on submitted letters. It’s kinda of neat. You submit a query and get a yes or a no as to if a request would be made. The person offering the critique is the one who says yes or no, so subjectivity still plays a part. You also get a reason for why or why not said request was or wasn’t made. And feedback. Mustn’t forget the feedback.

This one time, the website hosted an event where an actual agent perused the queries as well. It wasn’t exactly a contest, but the agent was from an agency that specializes in what I write (YA), so I entered. A couple of weeks later, I received a request for a full and happily replied. The agent sounded excited about what she’d read so far. While I basked in the possibility of “what if,” I tried not to get my hopes too high. Like many writers I’ve had plenty of requests for fulls end in some of the nicest, most heartfelt rejections based on subjectivity, but a no is still a no. I sent out my story and turned my attention to drafting my current WIP. Oh, and entering more contests.

Told you, enthusiasm.

Fast-forward another few weeks to my return from lunch one Tuesday afternoon to find an email waiting in my inbox. I try not to open my writing email at work—especially responses to queries or submissions—since I can’t exercise my prescribed remedy for rejection of binging on chocolate and Supernatural episodes as needed. But something made me pull up this email.

I stared at the brief paragraph where the agent said they’d finished reading my manuscript minutes before, loved it, wanted to represent me, and we needed to set up a time to chat. I gave some excited noise that was more than a squeal but not quite a scream. The looks my coworkers gave me: priceless.

Barely containing myself, I quickly responded that I would be thrilled to set up a time to discuss things further. I spent the rest of the workday in a giddy haze. It was hard to concentrate on anything but that email. After work I rushed home to send out emails to other agents who had my work, letting them know I’d received an offer of representation.

One almost immediate response was another agent throwing her hat into the ring. She loved my story and wanted to set up a meeting as well. Two agents. Two calls. I couldn’t tell you what was going through my mind other than random snatches of “phone…story good…dial phone? Yes call…story good?” That, that right there, was how my brain handled this. Way to go me…

Once I managed to calm the frick’n’frack down, I prepared for for The Call and The Call Reloaded. I did my research, laid out questions I should ask, so on and so forth. Then the phone rang.

And I panicked.

Mind you’ve I’ve done The Call before, but for some reason, this time, my brain said eff it and abandoned me completely. I forgot my notes, all of my research, I even forgot how to speak a couple of times during BOTH calls! Needless to say, I felt like a spaz. Both agents were awesome and very easy to talk to. I walked away with all the feels about everything, and a very hard decision looming on the horizon.

Like I said, both were amaze-sauce, but there was this feeling I got while speaking with one agent in particular or while looking over the notes I’d taken during our conversations. In the end the feeling won. It was a gut reaction I had to follow, even when another interested party asked about setting up a call.

That’s when I freaked right on out, but that’s a story for another time. I made a fool of myself. In public. It was grand.

I’d made up my mind and had said yes to the brilliant Melissa Nasson of Rubin Pfeffer Content!
Melissa adored my manuscript and we connected in a major way. She’s rooting for my heroin, fangurling over the love interest, and cannot wait to see where the story goes. She’s well prepared to deal with my enthusiasm by matching it with her own. When she received my email about receiving an offer of rep, her reaction had people asking if she was okay or if someone had died. That, that right there? I’ll take it.

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Leatrice McKinney (writing as L. L. McKinney) is a freelance writer, a published poet, and a core member of Novel Clique. She’s also the creator and host of the bi-annual Pitch Slam contest via her blog. Living the single life in Kansas City, surrounded by more nieces and nephews than she knows what to do with, she writes for the joy of it and knows when it’s time for her voice to be heard, God will provide the means. He always has.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Cover Reveal for REBELLION, book 3 of Elysium Chronicles

REBELLION HTML Today J.A. Souders and Rockstar Book Tours are revealing the cover for REBELLION, book 3 in the Elysium Chronicles releasing in June 9, 2015! Check out the gorgeous cover and enter to win the books!




On to the reveal! 





Title: REBELLION
Author: J.A. Souders
Publisher: TOR Teen
Pub. Date: June 9, 2015
Find it: Goodreads


About J.A. Souders 
J.A. SOUDERS is the author of the Elysium Chronicles and lives in the land of sunshine and palm trees with her husband and two children where she spends her time writing about the monsters under the bed, day dreaming about living in an underwater colony, and failing miserably at playing video games.


Giveaway Details:
1 winner will receive physical copies of RENEGADE AND REVELATIONS plus the eNovellas. And ASK AGAIN LATER by Liz Czukas. If you have J.A.s books already, she will do an amazon or book depository gift card of the same value. International.


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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Free Pass into Nightmare on Query Street

Last year I had you name the frogs living on my deck to win a free pass. They were awfully cute. But sadly the frogs are not like swallows. They didn't come back this year. That means a whole new contest!




This year we finally got visitors to our hummingbird feeder. My cousins in Iowa had feeders on their porch and they were swarming with the little birdies. Like dozens at a time, waiting in line. We are not quite so lucky, or maybe as beginners we haven't earned such a flock.

This is our second feeder this year. The first one got stolen by raccoons.




We have a single Mr. and Mrs. Hummingbird, but they need names before they leave for the winter! So name the hummingbirds and try to win a spot in Nightmare on Query Street.



My free pass allows you to bypass the slush and go directly to a spot on Team Minion in Nightmare on Query Street. At this time we have a total of TEN  ELEVEN Twelve! Thirteen! agents signed up!

Nothing could be simpler. Comment with your hummingbird name and fill out the rafflecopter. You have until October 10th.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Monday, September 22, 2014

Query Questions with Brent Taylor

Writers have copious amounts of imagination. It's what makes their stories so fantastic. But there's a darker side to so much out of the box thinking. When a writer is in the query trenches, their worries go into overdrive. They start pulling out their hair and imagine every possible disaster.

 



Here to relieve some of that endless worrying is a new series of posts called Query Questions. I'll ask the questions which prey on every writer's mind, and hopefully take some of the pain out of querying. These are questions that I've seen tossed around on twitter and writing sites like Agent Query Connect. They are the type of questions that you need answers for the real expert--agents!

If you have your own specific query question, please leave it in the comments and it might show up in future editions of Query Questions as I plan to rotate the questions.


Brent Taylor was a Pitchwars mentor when I met him. Suddenly, he pulled out of the contest. Shortly after, we found out why. Brent has become an associate agent with Triada US. Congrats, Brent. I'm so happy to offer you a spotlight.

Is there a better or worse time of year to query?
I don’t believe so. I’m looking for great stories 365 days a year.


Does one typo or misplaced comma shoot down the entire query?
If the concept and writing otherwise enticed me, no. If I felt on the fence about it, the typo would show me that you didn’t spend enough time “sweating” over the materials you sent me.


Do you look at sample pages without fail or only if the query is strong?
I almost always jump straight to the pages. There are too many incredible fiction writers that are bad at query letters (the same way I struggle sometimes with writing pitches). I usually skim the query for word count, category, genre, and to see if there are high enough stakes. Once I feel confident I want to request the full, I go back and read the query letter.


Do you have an assistant or intern go through your queries first or do you check all of them?
Although I spent years as the intern that did this on behalf of other agents and value interns greatly, I’m so new in my role at TriadaUS that I’ll be reading my own submissions for quite a while.


If the manuscript has a prologue, do you want it included with the sample pages?
Despite the fact that I am not a fan of prologues, and think they’re nearly always unnecessary, I still consider them as part of the first ten pages, which is what I request.


Some agencies mention querying only one agent at a time and some say query only one agent period. How often do you pass a query along to a fellow agent who might be more interested?
We often share and discuss projects with each other at TriadaUS.


Do you prefer a little personalized chit-chat in a query letter, or would you rather hear about the manuscript?
I prefer queries that jump straight into the story, but personalization at the end is always nice.


Most agents have said they don’t care whether the word count/genre sentence comes first or last. But is it a red flag if one component is not included?
Yes, these are important in determining whether or not a project is of interest to me.


Writers hear a lot about limiting the number of named characters in a query. Do you feel keeping named characters to a certain number makes for a clearer query?
I recommend writing the most concise query letter possible, which means you should probably refrain from mentioning secondary characters. All I want to know from your query letter is:
  • Who your protagonist is
  • What they want more than anything in the world
  • What (or who) is stopping them
  • And what’s going to happen if they don’t get what they want
Should writers sweat the title of their book (and character names) or is that something that is often changed by publishers?
The title or characters names have never been, and probably never will be, a reason for me rejecting a novel.


Many agents say they don't care if writers are active online. Could a twitter account or blog presence by a writer tip the scales in getting a request or offer? And do you require writers you sign to start one?
It depends on the project—is it nonfiction, a memoir? I primarily work with fiction, and the number of twitter and blog followers a writer has does nothing for me either way.
I would advise my clients to have a website and social media presence, but the only thing I would ever require is great fiction writing. That’s what matters to me.


Some writers have asked about including links to their blogs or manuscript-related artwork. I’m sure it’s not appropriate to add those links in a query, but are links in an email signature offensive?
Absolutely not. I often google search potential clients anyway and find their blogs that way, so I appreciate being able to skip a step.


If a writer makes changes to their manuscript due to feedback should they resend the query or only if material was requested?
Only if I specifically requested the project be revised and resubmitted.


What bio should an author with no publishing credits include?
I don’t care as much at all about this part of the query letter, but starting with your day job is fine. If you’re querying me for a police procedural thriller and I see you’re an FBI agent, I’ll be particularly intrigued.


What does ‘just not right mean for me’ mean to you?
It means that I can’t fall in love with the project enough to believe that I would be the best agent for it.


Do you consider yourself a hands-on, editorial type of agent?
I can be, yes, but some clients don’t require it. I’m a flexible agent constantly molding myself to fit the tailored needs of my clients, and if a project needs an intensive edit before going out on submission, I am willing and delighted, even, to provide the necessary editorial guidance. 


What three things are at the top of your submission wish list?
I would love a middle grade fantasy, a young adult thriller, and a new adult romantic suspense.


What are some of your favorite movies or books to give us an idea of your tastes?
My favorite shows at the moment are Revenge (Gossip Girl meets Person of Interest in the Hamptons) and The Following (fast-paced, hard-boiled, edge-of-your-seat thriller). I would love to find someone that writes high-stakes books similar to those of Cecily Von Ziegesar and my good friend Michelle Madow.


My recent favorites have included CARTWHEEL by Jennifer Dubois, A SNICKER IN MAGIC by Natalie Lloyd, and BELZHAR by Meg Wolitzer.

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