Holiday Query Blog Hop

The link is now closed. People at the beginning and end of the list can now critique each other!



It's time for the Holiday Query Blog Hop! Everyone is welcome to join if you have a blog and a query letter. Your manuscript does not have to be finished or polished in order to join. The query can be for a work in progress, but please note that status in the query letter where the word count would go. 

Here's how it will work:

Post your query letter onto your blog. It can be any genre or age category, but please list this crucial information somewhere in the query letter. Keep your query to 250 - 350 words, give or take a few. No indents and put line space between paragraphs. Include everything you would send an agent: bio, greeting, closing. 

Example:

Dear Brilliant Agent:

Tom, the classroom hamster, wants to escape from the h-e double hockey sticks otherwise known as school. His old military pet shop days didn't include playing house or being sentenced to a boot camp of never-ending show ‘n tell, math facts rap, and story time. But he’s learned a lot behind the bars of his cage. For example, if you want to keep breathing, never trust a pygmy who has earned the nickname Squeezer. Somehow he has to get away before the pygmies dress him as Strawberry Shortcake again or worse.

When a “subspatoot” fills in, Tom sees his chance to put Operation Escape the Pygmies into action. He makes a run for the border, hamster style. Bad news. The principal says Tom is a distraction to learning and better off flushed. The way out is turned into a battlefield of snapping mousetraps, sticky snares, and poisoned pellets.

Tom seems doomed until the friendless Squeezer lends an over-excited hand. She quickly goes from supervillain to super sidekick. Now, the greatest obstacle to his freedom may be Tom’s soft spot for this lonely pygmy.

PYGMY HAZARDS is a MG fantasy complete at 34,000 words. I've worked with special needs children at an elementary school for ten years, giving me lots of experience with pygmies. My epic fantasy Kindar's Cure is published by Divertir Publishing. My short stories Frost and Fog and The Unfinished Task is published by Elephants Bookshelf Press.  

Thanks for your consideration.

Take the url link from your post and add it to the linky list below. (Click on the button in the post, not in the comments.) Use the list to critique the five people above and below your listing. If you are number 6 then you would feedback numbers 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11 on the list. Please leave constructive criticism, but also say what you like about the query. Don't worry if it's not your genre, just do your best to give your thoughts. 

If your entry falls at the beginning or ending of the linky list, wait for the list to close and then give feedback to the other end of the list. For example if you are number 1, you would critique 2 through 6 then the last five links at the very end of the list once the hop closes. 

Of course you may also get super enthused and critique more than ten queries. Feel free to jump around and help out as much as you can!

Bonus: I will randomly choose entries from the linky list to feedback on my blog. (A few a week.)  Please watch for these entries and leave additional feedback here. 

And special treat! For the Holiday Query Blog Hop I'll be bringing in surprise guests to critique. This can be anyone from a published author to an agent. 

You are welcome to update your query letter with revisions. The linky list will remain open through December 14th. After that time, you may not join. The bonus critiques will not include everyone. I will do as many as I can while still having time for my own writing.

If you fail to critique the five entries above and below your spot, well... that's sad and I'm sure karma will know.

Need more critiques? Advertise your willingness to give to get feedback on twitter under the hashtag #HolidayQuery

The fun starts immediately!