I love that they're human enough to leave in stuff like the yawn and reaction. I've binge watched all their vids these last couple days. Great channel.
WOW! I wish I had this information 12 years ago. I am a self-published author. I queried for my first two novels (which will NEVER see the light of day). I had the gusto to keep querying and writing until a not-so-nice local author took the wind out of my sails. I turned to self-publishing, have learned so much, and found a beautiful community through that process. I am working on my next book, a literary stand-alone, and I am thinking of querying again. This video is so encouraging and empowering. I wish I had found your videos (that they existed) a decade ago. I might have let that mean author get my glare and not given up. So glad for my journey and looking forward to traveling the traditional/querying route again. Thank you for your approachable and informative videos!
Oh my goodness! I laughed my way through this. Thank you for bringing the joy and camaraderie during these trying times. Also, the list was helpful. Almost ready to start!
I love your channel. I'm addicted to it, for someone that is looking for an agent in the near future, you are handing out so much amazing information. Great job. And yes, Nr. 3 is scary as hell.
This was so good. Lots of helpful information, fun and encouraging. Have a query into your agency right now, just waiting to hear, with fingers crossed.
Great tips. Thank you so much, you both, for them. I'm in that stage of the process where I've 'finished' writing the manuscript, but really, through past experience, know it's a place of beginning in a way. There's much to still do, and as I gear into the querying process, hopefully, the second time I fare much better than I did with my first attempt. Best wishes to everyone, and happy living! :)
Thanks for the tips and suggestions. I have written a lot of books (57 novels finished and being edited and three book series. ) but never thought about actually publishing my work. Until one of my kids took a copy i printed off for them to school and I started getting requests from other kids and teachers. Now I am re editing my books and polishing them for submission. I write fantasy fiction and science fiction. Now I have to do something I never planned on doing, writing a query letter and finding an agent. I get that it is a business and I have a lot to learn about the publishing side. Tough love is good. guess i had better get to work.
Not only do you two offer excellent advice, you are also hysterically funny! So entertaining to watch your interactions with one another - even when you're working out of different offices!!!
I love your videos. You both work well together and give out priceless information to help us. I'm not even finished my query and I've already started on my new book. It's about a killer bunny. Another one I started over a year ago is going to be called, The Asparagus Field; a murder mystery. I will never give up. I've come a long way baby, and I don't mean with smoking. I have come through traveling, culture shocks, 2 abusive husbands, the cult religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, and my own demons of depression and anxiety. I'm a tough cookie. Thanks for the 10 tips.
Super excited to start on my query letter this week. Better strap your boots in because I’ll be sending your way ;) Thank you for the great tips and absolutely love watching you both. It’s a lot of fun and very informative
My friends and I formed a writers club. It is similar to a book club but we read each others' work and bounce ideas off each other. Even if we never get published it is fun to get together with creative minds. (Granted we get really creative when discussing the fantasy of all of us becoming published and finding our novels on shelves.)
I hate querying with the heat of a large sun being stuffed up the central orifice of a particularly unhappy black hole. This channel made me just very slightly better about it
y'all especially charming and hilarious in this one :3 I've waited for Jessica to finally comment on James' repeating 'good one' all over again and wasn't disappointed :D
So GOOD! Such tremendous insight 🙌🙌🙌 . Although I cursed at RU-vid after the 3rd commercial interrupted you both AGAIN in less than 10 minutes. That's crazy excessive! Gonna have to subscribe to RU-vid just so I can get through ten fricking minutes of content without some horrible advertisement 😄😄😄...grrr!! Understand this is free content, but come on 😤 . But you two are HILARIOUS and real and speak truth and for this, I am grateful 🙏 . Thanks again for your MANNNNY pearls of wisdom ✌ !
I think I missed #8. I'm writing these down because I think I'm ready to begin the query process. I heard #7 "Understand it's a business..." then #9 "Persistence is key..." but no #8. I could be having a moment though.
I just found you guys today as I research. Your interaction is fantastic! I do have a question though - What happened to #8? Is the fact that you skipped it a "to do" in itself? Like - Pay attention, but don't sweat the small stuff, or - Be Kind to your agents, they're working hard too! I'm excited to binge watch all your content. Thanks for putting yourself and all the valuable insight you have out there!
Hi again! I'll be beginning to query at the start of May (yes, you should expect a query from me haha) but while I've been researching agents, I've had a bit of a dilemma pop up. Right now I'm writing a YA paranormal novel however, I do plan on delving into other genres in the future such as women's/contemporary fiction. I've noticed a few agents don't seem to be seeking out both genres. Should I not query them or should I just focus on querying this book alone?
Oop! I am paying someone to CRITIQUE my WIP, someone who’s a big Booktube name so I trust her opinion. I think it’s more about when I booked her and how that is a fixed deadline for me, than even the critique itself! I hope it helps! Thanks for this! And thank you James for making me yawn about 7 times.
I love how people talk about betas and CPs like we can just pick them up at Beta Read'R'Us. Finding really good, dedicated betas and CPs is actually almost as hard as finding an agent.
I (James) have been down this road many times. You're right-- it is hard to find good, dedicated CP's. But, if you're immersed in the writing community online, you'll find writers interested in doing exactly that. There are also a few CP matching databases. Good luck.
I have a question about “genre.” My book fits three of the genres most query manager list: Humor/satire, Memoire, and Family Saga. Which would I choose so as to not get an instant “Not looking for that…” response? Thanks for your help….
This is the second video today I have watched of your tips and "tricks," if you will, and once again I am inspired by this. Admittedly, I can't •completely• watch the video(s) right now, because, a). Frankly, with all due respect, there is a •ton• of information to take in, and I might need some time to process and digest it, which is normally how I am as a person, plus, b). I am a little busy with a few other things at this moment, so I can't get •too• "distracted," hahaha, right now, but, if it's all the same to you, I •will• save these for some sort of later date where I can better absorb/process these after I've regrouped a bit, plus have a little more time to spare with little or no distractions. Nevertheless, I wanted to make some time to watch-plus learn from-your videos, James and Jessica, and at least try to keep up on them somehow (which, again I admit, I am a little lackadaisical on so far) little by little, and once again try to see what else I can learn, absorb and some way l, somehow possibly use in the future somewhere. You guys take excellent care and check back in with you two soon enough. 👍
Hello :) how many agents is appropriate to query at a time, from the same agency? Also, do agents bring queries to their co workers who may like that query? --thanks!
Hi there! Great question! It depends on the agency's policies. For BookEnds, the answer is one at a time at our agency, but once one agent passes, you can query another agent at BookEnds. At other agencies you can only query one agent at a time, and if that agent says no, you aren't supposed to query other agents at that agency. That might be dependent on whether they pass queries around internally or not. At BookEnds, it's pretty rare that we pass queries around - it would have to be that something is a perfect fit for someone else and they express interest in seeing it.
I am not sure if anyone has asked this, but if you are querying the first book in a series should you start on the second? Or should you start something completely new?
In a previous video you said to have a synopsis written before you query so that when asked for it you have it ready. Is there a reason you didn't include this? Is this not really a requirement? It's what has me in procrastination mode.
Here's a great list (some are free, some are paid -- we always suggest the free options primarily) find-a-critique-partner -- you can always connect with people through FB and Twitter writing groups. If you're a part of any writing organizations, you can start there, too
Once you start to yawn you can't stop. I get it. And I know when James' nostrils flare, he is holding back a yawn. Happens all the time in other videos.
I have no problems rewriting if the comments are ones I can incorporate into my way of thinking, but to rewrite to please someone else, then the book gets out of my control; it loses focus. I don't get the feeling when watching your videos that you two are of a literary mind, but of a marketing mind, the book is a product, which it is, but with an understanding, in my case, of a reader who has literary sensibilities, in writing style, location, character.
People love to say they are OCD as they think it makes them seem special. One look at the stuff on that guys wall and the haphazard way the books are arranged on his book case shows that the dude is not OCD.
This is great, but there is a huge disparity in the mic output volume between you two. Jessica is much, much louder. Making watching this at night and trying to hear James without waking my kids kinda hard. James’ output volume needs to go up, and Jessica’s needs to go down; hers peaks as she laughs making it crackle.
@@vanessammiller3436 ~ According to J. K. Rowling in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, she states the first book, The Sorcerer's Stone, was rejected 12 times.
