6 Reasons Your Query Letter was Requested
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- Jessica, Kim and James discuss query blurbs and six details that MAKE a great blurb, one that gets agents to request!
Jessica Faust’s love for books is what first brought her to open BookEnds Literary Agency. It is her desire to be an advocate for all authors that pushed her to create her blog, the BookEnds TH-cam channel and to maintain a vibrant presence on Twitter.
Jessica is proud to have grown BookEnds to an agency that represents authors of all genres for children and adults, allowing her to reach more readers and help more authors and illustrators achieve their dreams.
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Since interning at BookEnds as an undergrad in the summer of 2015, James has (basically) never left. He's just continuously level-up-ed inside of BookEnds. Now he is the Literary Assistant and Social Media Manager for the team. He’s been a reader since his mom gave him the first A Series of Unfortunate Events book and ordered the sequels regularly through Scholastic book orders.
James is currently growing his own list and is actively seeking submissions in adult literary and upmarket fiction, mystery, thrillers, and suspense. He is also accepting submissions in all sub-genres of Young Adult fiction, and is actively looking for Picture Books that make him laugh.
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With a client list including women's fiction, mystery, young adult and romance, Kim enjoys working on a wide range of books. She's currently eager to grow her list in the areas of women's fiction, suspense, and young adult. Most especially, as an Autism mom, she is dedicated to representing the stories and voices of individuals with special needs and their families.
Originally from Pennsylvania, Kim currently resides in New Jersey with her son (knock-knock jokester extraordinaire), daughter (budding Francophile and resident drama queen), husband (80s aficionado and sports trivia master) and Winston the twenty-pound cat.
Connect with BookEnds!
Twitter: bookendslit
Instagram: bookends_literary
Website: www.bookendsliterary.com
Connect with Jessica: bookendsjessica
Connect with James: jmcgowanbks
Connect with Kim: BookEndsKim
First off thank you soooooo much for all your information and valuable advice. I love that you pointed people to read the blurbs of books with a similar theme. This is so true and I personally found it very helpful. As a writer I dislike writing queries because it is so hard not to subplot it to much. A writer has all this STUFF for lack of a better word in their heads that it is often difficult to separate the conflict from ones own personal favorite parts of the book. This is where I think a good deal of us writers get mixed up. I am glad you clarified what an agent/editor actually wants to see in the first glance.
This is extremely helpful for when it comes time for me to send one. Thank you all for sharing with us beginning writers out here. Fantastic advice and recommendations.
Thank you for these videos. They are extremely helpful.
We are so glad to hear that.
Interesting series of videos. Thanks for taking the time to do them.
Thanks for taking time to watch!
Thank you!
Thank you (again!) for all your helpful information! A few questions, if I may:
1) What is a typical good "yield" for a good query? If you are targeting agents in your genre, should you be getting requests 90% of the time? 75%? 50% 20% 5%?
2) If you're getting requests, say, 20% of the time, and 80% say "not for me" or "interesting, but not a good fit for my list," how do you know if this is a good blurb that is truly not a good fit for a lot of agents, or if you need to rework your blurb?
Thank you!!
Commenting a year later, but another author on TH-cam, iWriterly, who is a former literary agent made an entire video giving examples of phrases that agents use when rejecting queries that suggest that you need to rework your book. If you’re still in this boat, I suggest checking that one out.
Another helpful vid! I have my earphones in and honestly I thought the gnawing was MY cat. Good to know you're not sacrificing anything😂 thanks for the tips, I've written my query SO many times but now I have 6 pointers to refer to when I read over my work again. Oh and I like that Kim's joined the vids! Her seriousness is hilarious. It's kinda like watching Friends 😂 James is Phoebe, Jessica is a mix of Rachel and Monica and Kim is Ross 😎😎😎😂
Hahaha! Best comment ever.
@@BookEndsLiterary ahaha thanks!
But I don't wanna be Ross!!!
@@kimlionetti8091 it's a compliment! Ross is underrated comedy gold 😂 but don't mind me, I'm a millennial which means I only think I know what I'm talking about 😂😎
That explanation of a blurb just opened my eyes. I should have looked at the vid earlier. Thanks for the info.
We're so happy to hear that!
I'm in the second draft and will be starting the third here soon. I'm a bit concerned for a few reasons. One I still have no title (yes I've tried key words but to no avail). Two...though I'm pushing off writing the query until after I've typed a final draft I still can't help but feel a sense of dread when I do eventually have to write it. Lastly finding the right agent because I write adult fantasy so obviously there is cursing, violence,etc. From what I'm getting from the many bookends videos that I have watched these agents don't seem to be the type to like such things (that is the "vibe" I'm getting anyway). So I doubt I'd ever submit to bookends.
My biggest concern in creating a blurb and keeping the plot twists out of it... I throw in a plot twist every 50 pages.
What's the major plot twist? focus on that.
Can’t get enough
I couldnt think of a comp title, so I used books that were a similar tone. What do you think of mentioning that?
That's okay most of the time, but try to make sure they're in the same genre
I enjoy your channel.
You define the blurb but not the hook.
Is my query letter and blurb combined? I ask this because I wrote my letter and my blurb on separate pages.
It is my understanding that they are. The query should only be about a page long.
How do you "request" a Query letter?
We use query manager, so once we request a submission by asking for more (full manuscript, partial manuscript, or additional picture book manuscripts, synopsis) then you would get an email from Query Manager with our letter. You can then use the links in that email to upload your work.
Why call it a hook? Why not call it the "bait"?
I read blurb as a verb at first 😂
How can I find more information about genre? I am having a hard time fitting my novel (very humorous with aspects of adventure, mystery, fantasy and a bit of romance) into a specific genre.
Jeanette, it may not be a genre novel. I'm serious. You may have to promote it outside the publishing genres or sell it independently on your own.
Just from your comment it’s likely between mystery and fantasy. I’d say fantasy may be more prominent but it comes down to the audience you’re looking on selling most to. There’s a lot of romance and mystery within fantasy novels so think about what main component is in your book. I hope that helped!
From what I have seen so far, I like the videos this channel puts out, but, in some way, I think this video highlights the main problem with literary agent gatekeeping and author queries. Authors are maybe not the best marketers, and it seems that (from viewing many literary agents give their take on author queries) many literary agents look for any excuse to reject a query.
Some of this channel's videos seem under-produced. This particular video seems more disjointed than others. Maybe it's the dog. Maybe not. One example is when James pitches over to Kim to explain WHAT a hook is. Kim then goes on to explain WHY a hook is important - and she does so more in a rambling of words, rather than by use of a concise and coherent thought.
Another example is reason number four: comp titles. My understanding is that comp titles are part of the query letter, not the blurb. In other words, each the blurb and the list of comp titles are separate parts of the query letter, along with other distinct parts. But, the video here is about the blurb alone, not about query letters in general.
When Kim says, "That was my very good point that I needed to make," it seems clear that this is the only thing she wanted to contribute to the video - and by that, the viewer is given the sense that she does not want to be in the video at all, just that her point about the blurb grabbing her attention is made.
Overall, I get the impression that Kim is one of those gatekeeping-type literary agents - especially how her "I do" response contrasted against Jessica's "I don't care about comp titles" comment. Kim strikes me as the type of literary agent that would tell some hopeful author that they better have their queries perfected to the nth degree, else she will not give them the time of day. And, I bet she is the type that thinks nothing of giving silence as rejection in response to most of the queries that come across her desk. That's just my impression.
And therein, as they said, lies the rub. Just as these literary agents are not perfect videographers, commentators, hosts, etc., neither are all authors perfect query letter writers. This is why high-production studio shows, e.g., local news, tech news shows, comedy shows, SNL, etc., have separate roles. They have writers and they have talent. And, many times the talent also write. Next-level quality is often best achieved through the division of such labor, because individuals are able to specialize.
That is also why single-person YT channels who properly prepare (acting as the writing and editorial staff) before they press record can do so well. Audiences recognize the quality. And, that quality needs to be well-placed. There are many examples where production quality is high, but the content quality is low. IMO, this is because audiences prefer content quality over production quality. (Reference the old adage about lipstick and pigs.) It's better to focus on content first.
And, here you have some under-produced literary agents overall giving fairly good, on-topic content, but with one of them delivering that content with the demeanor of someone who would rather sit in judgment over the production quality of a query letter, in order to justify ignoring the content quality of that query letter - unlike those who ignored the lower production quality of this video in order to appreciate and consume the video's content quality.
Cool.
audiobrew my thoughts exactly, especially the parts about Kim! Thank you for stating it so eloquently!
Yes, employer and employees rambling, and giggling, and self-consciously "admiring" each other.
I thought you were sharpening pencils...
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This is so sad. People have such short attention spans. I don't think you want uniqueness, you want well crafted mediocrity.