Belletrinsic

Who: Writers struggling to perfect their query letter and synopsis

What: Query and Synopsis Workshop

When: Saturday, June 12, 2010

10 am–12:30 pm

Where: Fire Petal Books

386 North Main

Centerville, UT 84014

Why: To tame those beastly queries

How: Reserve your spot by clicking on the PayPal link at the bottom of this post and paying the $45 workshop fee. Then email michelle .witte @firepetalbooks .com with your contact information.

Questions? Contact Michelle:

michelle .witte @firepetalbooks .com

801.992.3776

Note: Bring multiple (at least 3) copies of your query and your 4–5 page synopsis. We will be discussing and critiquing the queries/synopses you bring.

No question that writing a book can be hard. Even worse is writing the query and synopsis. Without a great query, however will you get an agent or editor to take a further peek at your story?

To help writers with this seemingly daunting task, Fire Petal Books is hosting a Query and Synopsis Workshop, taught by owner Michelle Witte. Seating is limited, so reserve your spot early for the workshop.*

During the first 45 minutes, Michelle will teach the principles for writing a good query followed by a discussion on crafting a synopsis. The rest of the time will be spent workshopping queries and a few synopses.

Learn the art of the query and synopsis. Your book will thank you.

Michelle is the owner of Fire Petal Books, a children’s bookstore opening in Centerville, Utah. She has worked as an editor for the past 6 years, first with the Deseret Morning News and then 3 years with Gibbs Smith, a national nonfiction publisher located in Layton, Utah. In addition to helping writers craft better books and stories, she writes books for young adults. Working in multiple aspects of publishing—from editing, publicity, writing, and sales—has given her a better understanding of the process a book travels before a reader cracks the book open for the first time.

*Depending on demand, we may schedule another class either this week or next.

Save the Prince (sure, easy) from an enemy kingdom (no problem) without them knowing (of course) and before the planned execution (obviously). Oh, and don’t forget, your guards will betray you (that’ll make things more exciting), then lead the foreign army in its hunt for you (time to dodge and roll).

Yes, and the Prince will try to claim you as his next conquest (Wait, what? We said nothing about romantic entanglements. I’ll get in and out, do my job, but there’s no way I’ll let some prick of a prince put his moves on me.)

If you could finish this by next month, it’d be appreciated, as we’ve a war to plan. (Sigh . . . )

I’m excited to announce that Gibbs Smith, the publishing house where I work as an editor, is seeking submissions of children’s activity books. These can include anything from children’s cookbooks, games, doodling, or any other activity that kids would enjoy.

The books should include activities suitable for children ages 6–14 (or a range somewhere in between). Use your imagination. Be creative. Think of the kinds of things that fascinated you as a child (or your children) and build on that.

Though many of those who frequent this blog write fiction, there is still a lot of opportunity here. For children, just about anything is magical and extraordinary. It is wonderful to help kids use their imaginations, whether through fiction or facts and activities.

To give you an idea of what children’s activity books can include, here are some titles we’ve recently published:

Cookbooks

Pink Princess Cookbook

Easy Christmas Cut-Up Cakes for Kids

Doodling

Pocketdoodles for Girls

Pocketdoodles for Boys

Fun(ny) activities

The Pocket Guide to Magic

The Pocket Guide to Mischief

Just for boys/girls

The Big Book of Girl Stuff

The Big Book of Boy Stuff

Or browse other children’s titles on the Gibbs Smith website: http://www.gibbs-smith.com. (Please note that we no longer publish children’s picture books.)

If you would like to submit your book idea for consideration, upload a detailed outline and sample chapters (or sample recipes for cookbooks) using the online submission page. Visit the Gibbs Smith blog for details and further information.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below.

Good luck to all of you! I look forward to seeing some of your books in print.

Bree Despain is a wonderful writer from my home state of Utah whom I met her several weeks ago at a local writers conference. She shared some great insights into getting her agent, which I thought would be a great benefit to all of you. Her debut novel, The Dark Divine, will be released December 22 by Egmont USA. (It’s on my list of books to pre-order. It looks deliciously scary.)

The Dark Divine

How Bree Beat the Odds and Landed an Agent, by Bree Despain

When attending writing conferences, whether as a guest or panelist, I am often asked the same question—how did you get an agent? The quick answer is I sent queries to agents and one of them decided to give me a shot. But that’s not exactly helpful.

The long answer, however, is much more detailed, and I think more of what people are looking for when they ask me this question. So here we go . . . this is how I did it:

*Actually before we begin I want to give a little disclaimer. If you decide to follow the same path I did, please be sure your full manuscript is ready to go out before you start querying agents.  The worst thing that could happen is an agent you queried asks for your full manuscript, and you either don’t have it to give because you are not done with it, or you are in the middle of your own revisions and are not prepared to send it. (Yes, this IS worse than rejection).

Part One: Doing the homework.

I often frequented the blue boards on Verla Kay writers forum to connect with other writers and authors trying to get published. While there I came across a post telling me about a website called AgentQuery.com, which is basically a database of all the different literary agents. I used this site to do a targeted search for literary agents that would be a good fit for my manuscript. I searched for agents that were actively looking to build their client list, accepted online queries, specialized in YA fiction, and had a fondness for paranormal romance.

The search brought up small blurbs on each of the agents that fit my criteria with links to their agency websites, articles written by or about them, and additional info about their submission requirements. After sifting through the results I compiled a list of my top 15 or so, and started my research by reading all the articles linked to their profiles. I was then able to narrow it down to my top 8 agents that I thought would be a good fit for my book and a good fit for me. Then I double checked all of their websites for submissions guidelines to make sure they hadn’t changed from what AgentQuery.com reported. Now I knew who I wanted to query and how to query them . . . but I still needed the query letter.

Part Two: Writing the query.

Writing a query letter always freaked me out. I still don’t think  I’m really much of an expert at writing one. So, I turned to the experts and everyone else I could for help. After writing my first draft, I realized it was waaaaaay too long. So I had my husband (who had read my manuscript) help me revise it. Then I sent that version to my two writers groups (who had also read the manuscript) seeking their input and guidance. This really helped me eliminate details that were not necessary.

I also relied heavily on other resources. I especially liked agent Nathan Bransford’s blog (http://blog.nathanbransford.com). He has a section called “The Essentials” where he outlines the basic formula for a good query letter as well as other helpful tips on formatting, etc. He has also posted some examples of good query letters with explanations of why they are good. Very helpful. Also good for a laugh.

Part Three: The process.

(Ok, so this part might go on for a bit, so I apologize in advance if it gets long.) Right, so I’d done my homework, found my top choice agents, and written/revised/revised/revised/revised a query letter, and now it was time to start sending my queries. I set a goal of sending out at least one query a day for seven days before taking a break and moving on to my second round of submissions.  Here’s how it went:

The top 10 worst times and places to pitch an editor or agent:

10. On Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any other social networking site.

9.  Any time the agent’s information or profile has a place for comments.

8. Pitching someone who is not actually an agent or editor.

7.  Telling the agent they rejected you and then explaining why they were wrong.

6.  Sliding your ms under the stall door while the agent is, um, busy.

5.  Repeatedly sending the same query every week to every agent in the world. Also called Queryspammer.

4.  Arriving at the agent/editor offices and demanding to get a book deal.

3.  Finding out the editor’s home phone number and calling late at night or on Sunday.

2.  Cornering them at a relative’s funeral. Don’t even think about it.

1.  Stalking the agent and watching her children play in a park, then sending her messages about it.

Agents and editors, feel free to add your own examples to the list of when writers shouldn’t pitch their book.

And writers: take note. These things will not earn you brownie points.

*Disclaimer: All of these are real incidents that have happened to various agents and editors at one time or another.

It looks like Lea Ann McCombs was the only brave soul to post her short synopsis. Way to go, Lea Ann!

So here’s the critique. Comments are in blue.

The Legacy…………..
Abandoned at birth, Sara Purvis determines to find the mother who refused to be a part of her life. Use more more exciting verbs and words here. Determines, find aren’t the strongest choices. But her search leads her to a group of people who do not wish to be invaded. What is the group of people called? Would they kill to keep her from finding out more? Are they evil? Also, stronger verbs here as well. “Do not wish to be invaded” doesn’t sound terribly exciting. Add a few details. She must ask herself: Is her mother a victim or a villain? And does she really want to know? In general, avoid rhetorical questions, especially in queries. You can rephrase to something like: Sara must discover whether her mother is the victim—or the villain.

Good job, and good luck!

What is your book about? Seriously, I want to know. But here’s the thing, I need a succinct description. Me, I’m a busy person. When I want to decide what to read, I need to know quickly if I’ll be interested.

Agents are the same way. They need a quick, efficient description of a book that will make them sit up and say, “Send me the whole thing! Now!”

So let’s practice. In the comments, post your elevator pitch, as they’re called. You get 50 words or less to hook me into wanting to read more. And, if you’d like, in your comment say that you want your pitch critiqued and I’ll post critiques and edits of the pitches on Thursday.

Consider it practice for writing queries.

Please step away from the keyboard!

I understand, ma’am, that you’ve got a book you think it ready to start querying agents with.

Yes, yes. Just take it slow now. Move your finger off of that mouse and we can talk. Nice and easy.

How long ago did you finish writing it? Hmm. Yes, three months to write a book is excellent. And two months of editing? Good job, you.

Hold it! Don’t move a finger toward that send button!

So, five months since you first started working on the book, is that correct? That makes me ask the question: did you set the book aside at all? A week in between edits to “clear your head”?

Put the query down and no one gets hurt.

And during that week, did you think about the book at all? All the time? Really? So did the week actually “clear your head” or just make you irritated you couldn’t start querying already?

I said, let it be. You’re only hurting yourself by doing this.

And all those agents who blog. You didn’t think they were talking to you when they gave their advice? Are you too good for their help? It’s not like that? Really. So you’re just the exception. You don’t need to set your book aside for a few months and come back to it fresh. You, as a new writer, can just edit away. You know exactly what you’re doing. Is that how it is?

Don’t ruin your chance. You’ve only got one shot with this agent. Are you sure you’re ready?

I don’t think you are the exception. Sure you’ve been to writers conferences and you’ve done your homework. And you graduated from college as an English/journalism major? That’s great. But has it taught you how to write an entire book and then edit it? I didn’t think so. You’ve had to learn that on your own, haven’t you. You’ve taught yourself most of what you know about writing. But you haven’t taught yourself how to be patient, have you? You want to be the first-time author who hits it big without putting in the hours of work and tears first. I’m sorry to tell you this, but it’s probably not going to happen like that for you.

Aw, don’t cry. Just put the laptop down and we can help you. It’s not too late.

We want you to succeed, and so listening to all that advice about leaving the book alone for three, four months is good advice. Really. Why don’t we go get you a bag of chocolate and put this little manuscript in the freezer for a few months. Then, when you’ve nearly forgotten about it, you can come back and make it even better. I promise.

This dramatization is brought to you as part of a public service to first-time writers. Anything you write in a query letter can and will be used against you while looking for an agent. Make sure you get it right the first time.

Yes, I do think of blog titles in song. It’s often the first thing that comes to me.

Anyway, this week has been momentous (for me at least) in that I’ve decided my book is about as ready as I can get it. This means QUERYING! Yep, I’ve started again, and it’s such an exciting feeling. Even those first few rejections have a power to them, knowing that I’m out there doing what I need to be doing.

I won’t bore you with query stats this time around, but just know that I’m busy doing everything I can to get Jessamine published. And the reason for that, my friends, can be found in last week’s post. I want to get Jessamine published so she can be read, so the story can really come to life. I love it to much to let it sit in a box.

So watch out world, I’m coming!

As most of you know, I’m a nonfiction editor, but I also write YA novels in the off hours. This gives me an interesting perspective on the publishing world. One of the most interesting aspects is that I frequently go through the slush pile at work, handling the children’s book manuscripts that come to us. As an editor, it’s just part of the job. But as a writer, it has given me invaluable insight into the whole process, some of which I’d like to share with you.

1) I know the majority of writers will never have the chance to go through slush, but the opportunity presented by Nathan Bransford during Agent for a Day was really eye-opening for many. Reading what other people are doing and evaluating it critically teaches so much about the writing craft.

By the same token, participating in writing groups and online writers forums are excellent ways to develop those necessary critiquing skills. Once we learn how to evaluate others’ writing in a professional, objective manner, we can start to look at our own writing in the same way. I know we’ll never be completely distanced from the words we birth, but learning to see your manuscript as an editor or agent will see it will offer you that needed perspective to make your writing that much better.

2) In going through the slush, you see everything, from good to bad to laughable. Especially with children’s books, you find that people sit at home, type out a story in a few minutes, and think it’s ready for publication. It’s not that easy. Writing is a business, and if you really want to succeed at it, you have to think of it that way.

For me, writing is my second full-time job. I have time to devote to it since I’m single without children, so for many others it might be a part-time job. But you must think of it as a career, and not a hobby. Of course you need to think creatively if you are to write, but you must structure your writing time like any businessman would. In addition, rewriting and revising are essential, but many writers don’t think of it that way. Grammar is necessary, as are following established writing rules. Treat your writing like a creatively based business, and see how your thoughts on it will change.

3) #Queryday on Twitter offered so much advice on writing queries that I’m not going to rehash the things said here. But I will say that if I guessed, about 90% of the queries I receive do not follow the established rules. As I said above, most of the queries I see for children’s manuscripts consider it a hobby, and so they don’t put forth the time and research necessary to write a query properly.

Present yourself as a writing professional. If you do that, many of the query fatal errors that are committed wouldn’t happen. Do your homework and you’ll have a far greater chance at success than otherwise.

4) The last thing I want to mention is that going through the slush can be humorous. You wouldn’t believe some of the things people write. (You really wouldn’t.) But more than that, it has taught me to respect writers and editors and agents. It is work to write a good, well-crafted, interesting story. Even more than that, it takes effort to turn those stories into salable products, which is what books are when it comes down to it.

So please, if you participate in any way in the publishing industry, learn respect for the others who are working in the same industry. Opinions and ways of doing things vary, but we all have the same essential goal: to make the best books possible. That’s really what it’s all about. So the next time you get frustrated at agents who reject your manuscript, editors who want to slash and hack their way through your words, or writers who make basic mistakes, remember that they have the same goal in mind. And each of them pours in blood, sweat, and tears to get it there, so respect that and the person behind the effort.