Great advice, as usual! If I could add one more piece of advice, it would be this: be patient and keep at it. I queried about 30 literary agents before I landed mine, and I know other professional authors who queried even more than that before they landed theirs. It takes time because your project won't be a good match for every agent. Don't give up.. Keep sending out those queries!
I have a question. Do you try sending a letter again to the same agent after some time or you send just one and if it's no go you drop that agent for good? I'm curious to know, does persistence work at all?
@@zograf4572 I'm not sure if you're asking me or Shaelin, but I'll chime in: You can (and should) query the same agent with different books, but not twice with the same book. They've already made their decision about Book 1, but might have a different reaction to Book 2. I hope this helps!
@@NicholasKaufmann Yes it does. Thanks. But what I'm wondering about is, what if I changed something about the book, what if I wrote a bad query letter, what if they dismissed it because of a bad timing etc. Would any of those scenarios be reason enough to send a new letter? Of course not to flood them with emails, but one more revised letter after a while.
@@zograf4572 No, I would recommend moving forward on your list of agents instead with your new, improved query letter/altered book/etc. When an agent looks at a submission for possible representation, they're looking at more than just what's on the page in front of them. They're also looking at whether the book has a hook that they think might help it sell, whether the author has a platform they can exploit to drive sales, etc. An improved query letter and/or a revision isn't likely to be enough to change these other factors they're looking at.
@@NicholasKaufmann Ok. Thanks. It was very helpful. I wouldn't want to bother you, but do you have any personal experience in the publishing? I mean, did you publish your own book or work for publishers?
The process of becoming a published author is so tedious that many of us give up before even trying. I’m 40 years old and a really good writer, but I don’t know the first thing about Twitter and so many things that come with being published today and that, to me, is a travesty. I feel like there are a lot of people in my boat and I just wish that more could be done to help give exposure to authors who will otherwise go unnoticed. Great video though and best of luck in your writing endeavors ✌🏽😃✌🏽
This is where I am in my writing journey, having just started querying agents. Thanks for this video and all the writing assists the channel's given me!
Great advice! I went through a vanity press company for my first novel. They did everything they promised, but their marketing side was weak. I'm looking at using a literary agent for my next novel, and this gives me great information to sort through as I work on completing my first draft. Thank you!
I knew most of this but the few tips i got and references made this very worth while. Much thanks and im always very impressed by the clarity you provide when your explaining things. Its showcases your talent for sure.
Really good information here. Quick question, is it pronounce "Corey" letter or "Kwee-rie" letter. I want to make sure I pronounce it correctly. The author of this video pronounces Query "Corey" letter.
this is a goldmine, however the databases like to find literary agents are too tricky, for poetries who are the reliable agents? also for travel anthologies?
What if your book is a mixed-genre work, e.g., historical romance with a time-travel element like "Outlander." Is that spec fiction? Upmarket fiction? Historical romance? Seems many agents queried don't know where my novel "fits" and they summarily reject it.
On the subject of query letters, I asked this on a video from another channel, but never got a response. This video said that it was advisable to put the title, genre and word count in the subject line when you email an agent your query letter. My question was that's stuff that is usually advised to include in the body of the query letter itself, so if you put that stuff in the subject line, should you still also put it in the body text of the query? I'd think it would be redundant at that point. And if you wouldn't, would that in essence free up some of the word count allotment of the query letter, or should we consider the text of the subject line to be part of that allotment?
Ever think maybe she might have an accent, or the people where she’s from just pronounce things different? Please be more understanding because she did a damn good job at explaining everything, and everyone knew exactly what she meant regardless of how she pronounced that word.
