Interview With Agent And Author John M. Cusick

Hey all!

Just a heads up that I'm interviewing my agent over at the YA Misfits blog today - AND we're giving away a signed ARC of his new book, CHERRY MONEY BABY! Click here to check it out!

http://www.yamisfits.com/2013/06/casual-friday-interview-and-arc.html

On Querying and Re-Querying

So it's no secret that when I first started querying my current project, it wasn't going well. Agents who I thought were a shoe-in for requests kept shutting me down with form rejections, and the first time I entered my query/first 250 in a contest, my entry got completely ignored.

When my first ten or fifteen queries didn't result in any requests, I had a sinking feeling that I needed to revise my letter, and stat.

At the same time, I realized my first 250 could probably use a little work, too. So I did an experiment and chopped a good 4 pages off my opening before entering Brenda Drake's Pitch Madness contest - and was floored when 5 different agents bid on my entry, including 2 who had already rejected my query.

So I got to thinking - what if I were to re-query some of the agents who'd previously passed, but using my revised letter and my new opening?

I know agents are divided on this topic. Some say they welcome a re-query as long as you've made significant improvements.

Others say that revisions don't matter - that if they rejected once, they'll probably reject again, and that the onus is on the author to get it right the first time.

Well, I chose to ingore that second group of people. I'm a little stubborn, and I refused to believe that agents remember every single query they reject. I was positive that my letter and/or my opening had been the problem in the first go-round, and with my spit-polished versions, I could reclaim any chances they'd cost me.

So, a few months after my initial wave of rejections, I re-queried about six or seven of the agents who'd passed. I didn't tell them it was a re-query, I just sent the letter as if it were the first time.

Now just as a disclaimer, I did not land my agent through a re-query.

But out of those six or seven agents, three who'd previously rejected came back with a request for material. One of them I had to decline, because it arrived about 4 hours after I'd accepted my offer of rep.

Honestly, what I'm trying to say here is never deny yourself a second chance. The general consensus may be that re-queries are a no-no, but I believe agents will take notice of a query that shines rather than hold a grudge against - or even remember - its dull predecesor.

What about you, peeps? What are your experiences/thoughts on re-querying agents who initially passed?

On Coming Off the Query High

After Monday's post, and all the wonderful encouragement I received, I was pumped about querying.

Now, I've crashed from my query high. Hard.

I'd forgotten one of my CP's had offered to let her crit group have a go at my query, and I'd said yes. And while they agreed my premise intrigued them and the novel sounded like something they'd like to read, the query itself was torn up, down and sideways (in a very constructive, unoffensive manner, just as an aside).

I panicked instantly, now terrifed that I'd sent out a subpar query this weekend.  Add to that the fact that I received my first rejection within 24 hours of hitting send, and you can see why I'm back in Query Hell.

The rejection was brief, stating that while the agent was happy for my support of her clients (I'd mentioned admiring the work of one in particular), she is only taking "few new clients" and must pass.

Is that really supposed to make me feel better?  "Few" new clients is not "no" new clients. So she's obviously taking on SOME new projects, just not mine. Another nice way of saying, "It's not me, it's you."

Add to that the absolute craziness that is my job right now, my ongoing failure to have a child, and the fact that the day simply isn't long enough to do everything I need to do, and what you get is me apologizing for not having a very uplifting blog post for y'all today.

Guess I needed to vent.  Sorry, all.

But yes, I do plan to muster up the energy from somewhere to make more tweaks to my query. And no, I'm not giving up. Yet.

You tell me, though - how do I know if it really IS me, and not them?

G is for Great Posts, Gray Hair, and Giveaways! (And Gina, of Course!)

I'm not officially participating in the A-Z Challenge, but since I'm partial to the letter G, for obvious reasons, I decided to ride the blogfest's G-themed coattails.

First, I've been meaning to link to some great posts that stood out in my mind, and hadn't really had the chance to work them in.  Well, here's my chance.  First, a fantastic post from the Chocolate and Spice blog about why we love YA romance.  Tracy took the words right out of my mouth - I couldn't have said it better myself.

Also, agent Vicki  Motter did a succinct, informative post on common errors to avoid.  I love agents who elaborate on their pet peeves rather than make you guess.  Or worse, give off the impression that you're expected to be walking-textbook perfect on the first try.  Because, as agent Kristen Nelson proved the other day, even agents make grammatical errors.

Kristen did a post entitled Whose Got Problems?  Dorchester Has Problems.  An anonymous commentator remarked, Uh, don't you mean "Who's Got Problems?" As in "Who Has?"  Kristen didn't respond to the comment, she simply corrected the error.  Let it be a lesson to agents to not skewer us poor, nervous queriers when we show our fallability! 

Speaking of fallability, the one thing we all succumb to in life is age.  Sure, some go down kicking and screaming with whatever muscle movement is left after their Botox treatments, but in the end, age gets all of us.  And it ain't pretty.

The idea of morphing into a faded, wrinkled version of yourself is terrifying to most people, myself included.  I started taking vitamin supplements in college, when I read vitamin A was essential to youthful skin, and lack of vitamin B and D could actually cause premature gray hair.  Gray hair?!  I shuddered at the thought.

Three years ago, my sister and I shared a hotel room on a trip to California, and upon seeing me popping my B-complex tabs, she questioned me about my vitamin regimine.  I explained the gray hair theory, and that was that. 

Unfortunately, the day after we returned from that trip, our Uncle Frank passed away.  At lunch after the funeral, my sister casually remarked, "Oh, by the way, Tod (her husband) and I saw a gray hair on your head at the wake last night."

Pffffff.  That was my actual reaction.  I thought she was busting on me for taking the vitamins and being paranoid.  But when her face remained totally serious, and she started sifting through my hair, I felt panic set in.  Sure enough, seconds later I was staring at a completely colorless piece of hair in my hand, one that had just come from my carefully vitamin-supplemented head.  I was devastated. 

I was only twenty-seven, and I'd never felt so old.  All my illusions came tumbling down around me.  I had to face what I already knew: there is no eternal youth, and there is no eternal life.  Eventually, we'll all shrivel and fade until we meet the same end- another "G" known as the Great Equalizer.

So what do we do in the meantime?  Enjoy every minute of it, gray hair and all.  And you can start by adding some great books to your life through my final G- my Name Game Giveaway!  There's still time to play for some great YA titles.  Here's a synopsis of what's available.  Go now!

An ARC of ABANDON by Meg Cabot.  (First in a trilogy!  Pub date April 26th)

Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.



But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.


Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.


But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

FEVER CRUMB by Philip Reeve

Fever Crumb is a girl who has been adopted and raised by Dr. Crumb, a member of the order of Engineers, where she serves as apprentice. In a time and place where women are not seen as reasonable creatures, Fever is an anomaly, the only female to serve in the order. Soon though, she must say goodbye to Dr. Crumb-nearly the only person she's ever known-to assist archeologist Kit Solent on a top-secret project.

As her work begins, Fever is plagued by memories that are not her own and Kit seems to have a particular interest in finding out what they are. Fever has also been singled out by city-dwellers who declare her part Scriven. The Scriveners, not human, ruled the city some years ago but were hunted down and killed in a victorious uprising by the people. If there are any remaining Scriven, they are to be eliminated. All Fever knows is what she's been told: that she is an orphan. Is Fever a Scriven? Whose memories does she hold? Is the mystery of Fever, adopted daughter of Dr. Crumb, the key to the secret that lies at the heart of London?

WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED by Judy Blundell:

When Evie's father returned home from World War II, the family fell back into its normal life pretty quickly. But Joe Spooner brought more back with him than just good war stories. When movie-star handsome Peter Coleridge, a young ex-GI who served in Joe's company in postwar Austria, shows up, Evie is suddenly caught in a complicated web of lies that she only slowly recognizes. She finds herself falling for Peter, ignoring the secrets that surround him . . . until a tragedy occurs that shatters her family and breaks her life in two. As she begins to realize that almost everything she believed to be a truth was really a lie, Evie must get to the heart of the deceptions and choose between her loyalty to her parents and her feelings for the man she loves. Someone will have to be betrayed. The question is . . . who?

An ARC of THE ELEVENTH PLAGUE by Jeff Hirsch (Pub date September 1st):

The wars that followed The Collapse nearly destroyed civilization. Now, twenty years later, the world is faced with a choice—rebuild what was or make something new.


Stephen Quinn, a quiet and dutiful fifteen-year-old scavenger, travels Post-Collapse America with his Dad and stern ex-Marine Grandfather. They travel light. They keep to themselves. Nothing ever changes. But when his Grandfather passes suddenly and Stephen and his Dad decide to risk it all to save the lives of two strangers, Stephen's life is turned upside down. With his father terribly injured, Stephen is left alone to make his own choices for the first time.


Stephen’s choices lead him to Settler's Landing, a lost slice of the Pre-Collapse world where he encounters a seemingly benign world of barbecues, baseball games and days spent in a one-room schoolhouse. Distrustful of such tranquility, Stephen quickly falls in with Jenny Tan, the beautiful town outcast. As his relationship with Jenny grows it brings him into violent conflict with the leaders of Settler's Landing who are determined to remake the world they grew up in, no matter what the cost.