Kickass Queries Series! # 10 - Sharon Biggs Waller

Hey all!

Welcome to the 10th(!!) installment of the Kickass Queries Series! Today, my agency sister, author of A MAD, WICKED FOLLY, and all-around lovely person, Sharon Biggs Waller is here to share the query that helped land our agent, John M. Cusick at Greenhouse Literary!

And, if you haven't heard, Sharon just sold a second novel to Leila Sales at Viking!

Go track her down on Twitter and say congratulations!

Sharon's Query:

I’m writing to seek representation for my 95,000 word YA historical. A Mad, Wicked Folly is a tale of classic teen rebellion, with a twist: the rebellious teenager becomes a suffragette. 

London,1909. When 17-year-old Victoria Darling poses nude for a forbidden art class, she gets dismissed from her posh French boarding school. Her humiliated parents decide to tame their willful daughter by removing what got her into trouble, her beloved art. Vicky is devastated to lose her dream of becoming an artist, but sees a glimmer of hope when her parents arrange a marriage to Edmund Carrick-Humphrey, a wealthy young man.  Marrying Edmund means she can go to her dream school, London’s Royal College of Art; but more importantly, she can finally break free from her father’s control. 

Vicky feels her life is set until she meets a group of militant suffragettes and a handsome young police constable, William Fletcher, who is sympathetic to their cause. When Vicky mistakenly gets arrested in a suffragette riot, she falls into a world where women are willing to sacrifice everything to win the right to vote. Vicky meets fellow artist and American suffragette Lucy Hawkins. Lucy is the woman Vicky wants to become—independent, with a life she’s created. 

Will Vicky decide whether to step out into an unknown world where her opinions and individuality matter or stay in a place where she feels safe but her voice is never heard?

A Mad, Wicked Folly looks into an era that has made such a great impact on women’s lives today. The story is filled with the luxury of Edwardian fashion, the exotic world of Pre-Raphaelite art, the delicious taste of forbidden love, and the bravery of young women during the birth of women’s rights. 

G: How many manuscripts did you query prior to signing with your agent?

S: I’ve been writing fiction since the early 90s so I have a few novels under my bed, which is where they should stay! I think the count is around four, not including A MAD, WICKED FOLLY.

G: How long did it take to write your query, and what things/steps do you think were most important to make it agent-ready?

S: I wrote so many versions!  I actually took a Writer’s Digest webinar on writing queries, which included a free critique.  I also worked with a freelance editor to get it honed perfectly.  The query is so important to get right and you really have to do your homework.  It’s probably the most important thing you’ll ever write because it represents you as a writer and your story. So for me, spending some money and taking extra time was important.  I was a full-time writer in the magazine and non-fiction book world so I was no stranger to queries.  Still, I wanted that extra help, and it certainly paid off.  I’m a dressage rider and when I was training full-time I took a lesson with a top coach once a week.  It was so important for me to have that coaching to help hone my skills and point out problems, so I applied the same theory to writing. 
 G: Tell us about your query style – do you approach your entire list of prospectives at once, or query in small batches and revise in between?

S: Small batches.  I try to make sure my story is very solid before I send it out but I might tweak it here and there based on a comment from an agent.  For instance, I decided to rework the beginning because Vicky’s personality wasn’t shining through enough.  I was getting that “not drawn to the character enough” comment.  Then I realized that I had omitted the inciting incident and was just using it as a short flashback.  I wrote it out as a scene, which really showcased Vicky’s strengths and weaknesses, and once I did that I started getting requests for full manuscripts. 

G: Now the fun part – what was “the call” like? How did you know your agent was the right person to represent your project?

S: Actually I almost didn’t query John! I had been following him on Twitter for a long time and I had read his novel GIRL PARTS.  I didn’t think my writing was good enough to submit to him and I wasn’t sure a guy would relate to my story.  But late one evening I was scrolling through my Twitter feed and saw that John had mentioned wanting a Downton Abbey type YA.  So I thought, this is a sign!  I asked him if I could submit and he sent me the link. At the time, John’s query process was a bit different.  You filled out an online form, so I had to deconstruct my query and answer a few extra questions.  I actually liked that a lot because I had a chance to pitch my story in a more in-depth way. 

I filled out the online form on Friday, he read it on Monday, and signed me on Tuesday!  It was really fun because he was sort of live tweeting how much he loved this particular story.  I didn’t think it was mine, but when he started following me on Twitter and then emailed to ask if we could talk, I realized he had been talking about me. 

I was so, so nervous before our phone call.  I get really chatty and kind of breathless on the phone when I’m nervous so I was worried I would sound like a moron, but John was so kind and so complimentary that he really put me at ease.  He did most of the talking so I didn’t have to say much, thankfully!  I decided right then that John was the agent for me, so the next morning I wrote rejection letters to the six agents that were considering my novel still (which was so surreal!).  And then John sold FOLLY to Leila Sales at Viking three months later. 

G: Confession: I almost didn't query John, either. Oops! Last question: If you could give one piece of advice to authors seeking publication, what would it be?

S: Make sure you are absolutely ready before you start querying.  It’s hard to know if your manuscript is ready on your own, so I recommend sending it to a freelance editor.  It will cost about $600, depending on your word count, but it’s money well spent.  After all, you are asking the publisher to invest a significant amount of money on your book before they even see a dime of that money, so a little investment on your part is worth it.  By all means, go through your critique partners first, but you really need that professional coach who does not know you and isn’t afraid to tell you the truth.  A bonus to using a freelance editor is that many of them know agents and will often recommend one to you.  It’s a foot in the door.  And find an editor who comes recommended and has been in the industry for a while.

Take rejection on the chin. Everyone gets rejected, and yes, it does sting and it will always sting.  That’s just the nature of this crazy business.  And this is a business.  People must make money and if the market isn’t buying historicals or dystopians, or what have you, right now, wait a little while to submit that story until the market eases a little.  Or try to make yours stand out above the crowd.  Above all, do not reply to rejections.  Try to learn from them, even if you don’t agree.  Maybe you can tweak something and make it even better than it was. Grouse to your friends and family if you must, but never ever make it public.  

Shivers….

Oops, that was two pieces of advice.  : ) 

Thank you for stopping by, and for sharing your work and your insight with us, Sharon! Best of luck with FOLLY, your new deal, and all your writing endeavors!

Sharon lived in the UK for six years, after meeting her own British constable beau and marrying him. She did extensive research on the British suffragettes with the help of the curators of the London Museum—when she wasn’t at her day job as a riding instructor at the Royal Mews in Buckingham Palace. She has three non-fiction books published under her maiden name, Sharon Biggs. You can find her online on Twitter, @sbiggswaller, and at her website, http://sharonbiggswaller.com/ .

LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE: A Guided Tour

Good Morning, All!

So ever since I announced my book deal, I've been getting this question a lot:

"What is your book about?"

For some reason, I find this to be a very difficult question to answer. I'm always afraid I'm going to say something stupid. Or worse, make my story sound stupid.

I promise, it's nothing close to stupid. But this is why I write - because when I'm asked to say things without the help of a backspace key, I'm exponentially more moronic.

So today I thought I'd put together a little show-and-tell combo that would answer this question for me, and hopefully explain why I love this story so much, and why I hope you'll love it, too.

Here goes:

LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE is a book about Kelsey, 

Isn't she love-lyyyy? 

who lived in a small town in Connecticut called Norwood (which doesn't really exist.) The house Kelsey grew up in looked something like this:

A small, boxy split level like all the other homes in her neighborhood. This house, BTW, really *does* exist. And I used to live in it.

Kelsey much prefers the surroundings of her yearly vacations at her uncle's summer home in Newport, Rhode Island, where the houses look like this:

Okay, so maybe these are not actual homes, but some of the preserved Gilded Age mansions that overlook the beach. Still, Newport has a ton to offer compared to Kelsey's hometown, and it also happens to be the place where she meets her best friend the summer before high school starts.

Everyone, say hello to David.

Anyone else hear Pony by Ginuwine playing in their head
right about now? No? So it's just me, then...

As it turns out, not only does David's grandfather own the house next door to the one Kelsey's family vacations in each summer, he is in the process of moving to Kelsey's hometown in CT. The two of them become fast friends, inseparable in either Connecticut or Rhode Island.

Unfortunately, life is about to throw Kelsey some curve balls in the form of old friendships unraveling, health scares, bullying, and worst of all, David turning his attention to Kelsey's sworn enemy, Isabel.

Aren't flawlessly beautiful brunettes just
the most disgusting thing ever?

When Kelsey's father is offered a job just outside of Newport, Rhode Island, she's convinced there's no reason for her to ever want to stay in Connecticut - until the night before she's ready to leave it all behind, and David confesses his love for her.

Furious that David would turn her whole world upside down when she's on the brink of a fresh start - and even more furious at what she sees later that same night - Kelsey runs off. And doesn't look back.

Fast forward to a year later, when Kelsey is living in Rhode Island. She's succeeded in shedding her old life for new friends, a new look, and even a yummy new boyfriend named Ryan:

Someone please tell me they feel
the need to bust out with their best Leighton Meester
impression of Good Girls Go Bad right now.

So imagine Kelsey's surprise when, on the first day of senior year, a piece of her past shows up in the hall at school - David.

Now Kelsey is forced to face the past she thought she wanted to forget, and the reality that her new life may not be as perfect as she once thought. She'll have to decide what's more important - the life she thinks she loves, or the boy who never stopped loving her.

And that's it in a nutshell.

Liked the sound of it? Feel free to add it to your shelf on Goodreads!

Kickass Queries Series! # 9 - Michelle Modesto

Good Morning!

Today we have a double feature of sorts for the Kickass Queries Series. My agent sister, Michelle Modesto, is here - and over at the YA Misfits blog - talking about her novel, MACHINE AND THE WILD, which debuts with Balzer + Bray in 2016.

Michelle's deal was announced the same week as mine, and if you're looking for a 2016 book to be excited about, look no further. Here's why:

Michelle's Query:

It's been several years since seventeen-year-old Westie lost her family and her arm to cannibals while traveling west on the wagon trail, yet the memory still haunts her.

She's on a downward spiral, spending her time in saloons, preferring the warmth of whiskey to the cold hands of everyday life. It's only when fate brings those cannibals to Rogue City where she lives with a brilliant inventor and a band of misfits, she discovers her will to live again. She trades booze and gambling for a stronger drug: vengeance. 

Now, with a powerful mechanical arm, there's nothing to stop her except maybe her own reckless ways. If she’s not careful, the revenge she seeks for those she lost years ago could cost her the family she has now.

G: How many manuscripts did you query prior to signing with your agent?

M: I’d written four other novels, but only queried one other MS prior to Machine and the Wild. The others were more like practice books, a way to strengthen my craft. So, in other words, they sucked.

G: How long did it take to write your query, and what things/steps do you think were most important to make it agent-ready?

M: I started writing my query letter when I started writing the book and it changed as the book changed. Overall, I think it took about six months. When I was done I entered it into a query contest on Twitter where I was able to get it critiqued. That was so much help. I recommend Twitter contests to everyone.

G: Tell us about your query style – do you approach your entire list of prospectives at once, or query in small batches and revise in between?

M: I always queried in small batches, about five at a time. Keeps things clean and focused.

G: Now the fun part – what was “the call” like? How did you know your agent was the right person to represent your project?

M: Yay! This really is the fun part. So, we all have that dream agent, right? The one we’ve had our eye on for some time. John M. Cusick was that agent. It happened after I read Girl Parts a few years ago. That book was weird and wonderful and one of my all-time fave YA novels. When I got the idea for Machine and the Wild, he was the first agent I knew for sure I wanted to work with.

The “call” was equal amounts of excitement and terror. Here was my dream agent and he was interested in my book. I kept thinking, he likes my book, this is awesome, I’ve got this. Then when my phone rang I totally panicked, like, oh my dog this is really happening, what did I get myself into? I felt like an imposter and that somehow he’d made a mistake. But he loved my book and was a super chill dude, easy to talk to. When we started talking about changes for the book and I saw our visions for it align, it was pencils down, the search was over.  

G: If you could give one piece of advice to authors seeking publication, what would it be?

M: My advice for authors seeking publication is, get on Twitter and follow agents and editors. They are always tweeting their wish lists and other helpful advice.

Thanks, Michelle! To learn more about MACHINE AND THE WILD, head over to today's YA Misfits post and check out our interview!

Kickass Queries Series! # 8 - Summer Heacock

Hey Peeps!

We're back with another edition of the Kickass Queries Series! This time, Summer Heacock (who you might recognize as @Fizzygrrl from Twitter) is sharing the query that won her offer of rep from Sarah LaPolla with Bradford Literary!

Summer's Query:

I am seeking representation for WITH A SHAKE OF HER HAIR, a women’s fiction manuscript complete at 81,000 words.

Ellie Donahue is drowning in Suburbia.  She is driving a beige mini-van and wondering where the twenty-year-old version of herself disappeared to.   The version that didn’t give a crap about high-fructose corn syrup and thought ramen noodles and beer was a balanced dinner.

Stuck in a predictable rut of routine Sunday night sex and Thursday night chicken, Ellie’s biggest concerns are running into meddlesome Sancti-mommies at the grocery store, or being forced by her nudist mother-in-law to listen to an AC/DC cover by her band, ‘The Noody Blues’ and trying to ignore the fact that they are indeed naked while singing it.

When confronted by her husband's infidelity with a coworker, Ellie is forced out of her rut and into a reality where she is torn between the temptation of an affair of her own with her daughter's delicious soccer coach or fighting for her rapidly crumbling marriage. With her life upside down, Ellie struggles to determine her next step, and finds herself longing for the predictability of Thursday night chicken.

G: How many manuscripts did you query prior to signing with your agent?

S: I queried three manuscripts before signing with my agent. Oddly enough, the MS I was signed with was the first MS I’d ever queried. It had been sitting all lonely on my laptop for a few years when I dusted it off, revised a bit, and ran with it.

G: How long did it take to write your query, and what things/steps do you think were most important to make it agent-ready?

S: My first query? Like, fifteen minutes because I was an actual idiot and had no idea what I was doing. My functional query that worked years later? I’m not entirely sure. I’d gone through maybe a dozen drafts of that query before I landed on what I thought would work.

When I look back on how this last version came about, the most important things to me were research and CPs. I spent a lot of time searching through “How To” query sites, and sent a loooot of variations to fellow queriers.

I can’t say it enough, in writing, you need people who will be honest with you. Someone who will tell you what is good, but also when you suck.

G: Tell us about your query style – do you approach your entire list of prospectives at once, or query in small batches and revise in between?

S: I like to think of my querying self as two different people. There was early on, excitable puppy Summer who wanted to get her book out into the world, and four years later Summer who, as such, did not have her head lodged securely up her ‘tocks.

I find that going in small batches works best. Especially at first. If you have a fairly high request rate, carry on. If you aren’t getting requests, revise.

I’ve done the “all in” all at once thing, and it was not what I would call my best choice.

G: Now the fun part – what was “the call” like? How did you know your agent was the right person to represent your project?

S: I’d had a list of agents that had my work at the time, and I knew I was getting close to The Call. I had my favorites, ones that I would have sold a kidney to get an offer from. I was doing R&R’s for seven of them by the end.

But I swooned for Sarah when she sent me her notes requesting an R&R. I quite literally bounced up and down squealing as I read those notes. “OH MY GOSH SHE GETS MEEEEEEEEE!” is what my poor husband heard from across the house.

When we had The Call, I was already pretty smitten kitten for her. I tried to play it all cool like, “Thank you, this is wonderful. I’ll have my answer to you in 24 hours.”

Exactly 26 minutes later I called her back and accepted. Because I am a smooth mofo.

G: If you could give one piece of advice to authors seeking publication, what would it be?

S: Wear a helmet.

Okay, perhaps something a little less ominous.

Surround yourself with people who are doing what you do, either in real life or online. Going through the fresh hell that is the road to publishing sucks a lot less when someone is walking that brimstone sidewalk with you. You will learn more, experience more, and come out a stronger writer in the end.

But like, seriously though on the helmet.

Thank you for sharing your hilarious query and story with us, Summer! Best of luck with SHAKE and all your writing endeavors!

Summer has been writing for fifteen years, and for the last eight years has been featured in her local paper, "Our Home Town", as the head writer for the Reviews and Opinions column. Her training is in Psychology and Creative Writing, and she also has a strong background in Theater and Stand-Up Comedy, a combination of experiences that I have been very helpful when writing. She is a stay-at-home-mother of two and is in the process of writing her next novel. You can follow her journey on her blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

You Never Know. No, Really. You Don't: My Pub Story

Today is the day, peeps! The day I get to tell you all that my baby, my beloved novel, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE, is going to be published by Simon Pulse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To say I'm ecstatic is an understatement. Being a published author has been my lifelong goal - I'm pretty sure I came out of the womb looking for a good book and a quiet corner to curl up in with it. It might explain why I screamed so much as an infant. My point: I have waited a LONG time for this, and I am so thrilled that my book found a home with a publisher and an editor who love it as much as I do.

My story is not exactly typical. I found my agent, or maybe it's more accurate to say we found each other, in 2012 when I entered LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE in Brenda Drake's Pitch Madness contest. Naturally, there was much happy dancing.

You can read the interview about it here.

LYM went on sub not long after. And if you think waiting to hear back on a query is torture, let me just tell you that time literally STOPS MOVING when you're waiting to hear whether or not your book is going to become a real book. And a couple of times, it seemed like it just might happen. There were a handful of editors who had nothing but complimentary things to say about the manuscript, but in the end, it didn't pan out.

Talk about heartbreak. I don't even think I need to elaborate.

Fast forward to almost two years later. I had put LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE on the shelf, put it out of my mind, and powered ahead on some new projects. I was literally in the process of putting the finishing touches on my newest when I got an email from John titled An Interesting Email On A Snowy Valentine's Day.

It was interesting, all right.

Sara Sargent, one of the editors who'd read and loved LYM when it was on sub, had emailed him to say she'd been re-reading it on her morning commute and remembering how much she'd enjoyed it, and would he like to re-sub it to her in new position at Simon Pulse?

My reaction was basically this:

She'd remembered my manuscript. Remembered it, and was still thinking about it. And wanted to publish it.

I can't even.

So, LYM came off the shelf for sub resurrection. My intestines went into immediate knots. This was the story of my heart, and I'd long since put it out of my mind. Sure, the occasional wistful memory still crept in every now and again, but for the most part, I'd accepted that LYM would not be my publishing debut, and had even allowed myself to get excited about my other manuscripts instead. Now it was back on the table, and every person I wrung my hands and fretted in front of kept telling me the same thing: don't think about it.

And of course, when you're not supposed to think about something, we all know what happens:

IT IS THE ONLY THING YOU THINK ABOUT.

And for 34 long, agonizing, ENDLESS days, it was all I thought about. No amount of house cleaning or child rearing or new projects helped. I drove myself crazy until I reached a point where I thought, okay, it's been way too long. I guess the answer is no. Again. 

Then I got an email from John asking if I had time for a quick phone call, because he had some news to share. And....

I missed it.

I missed the email because my son had kept me up all night, and when he went down for his afternoon nap, I crashed like a ton of bricks. That's right, I SLEPT THROUGH THE MOST IMPORTANT EMAIL EVER.

Luckily John is persistent, and followed up with a phone call a little while later. AND I SLEPT THROUGH THAT, TOO.

I almost died of a heart attack when I wandered into my kitchen, bleary-eyed and messy-haired and looked at my phone. I wanted to smack myself.

But then I called him back, and finally, FINALLY, I had the news I'd been dying for since, oh, second grade: The folks at Simon Pulse loved LYM as much as Sara did, and they wanted to publish it.

Despite the fact that I was incapable of forming coherent sentences, I wanted to hug John. He's lucky that he didn't deliver the news in person, or it probably would've looked something like this:

In summer 2015, my book will be a real book. My dream will come true. Then, in 2016, it will come true again when my second book is published. That's right. A 2-book deal.

Living proof that you just never know.

No, really. You don't.

Join me in some more happy dancing, won't you?

THROW YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!
MY MOM HAS A BOOK DEAL!!!

Kickass Queries Series! # 7 - Carla Luna Cullen

Hi Peeps!

Today we're highlighting something a little different on the KAQ series - a Kickass *Pitch.*

That's right. Carla Luna Cullen is here to share the pitch that scored an offer of rep from her agent, Erin Niumata at Folio Literary Management.

Carla's Pitch:

Bridget Jones meets Indiana Jones when an awkward 21yo travels to Cyprus to work on her first archaeological dig and finds romance. NA. #Adpit

G: How many manuscripts did you query prior to signing with your agent?

C: I queried two manuscripts before FIELD RULES—a young adult fantasy and a young adult fairytale retelling. Both times, when I gave up, it wasn’t because I’d exhausted all the agents on my list, but because I realized the books might be difficult to sell.

G: How long did it take to write your pitch, and what things/steps do you think were most important to make it agent/contest-ready?

C: For the longer, 35-word pitch that I used for Pitch Wars, I worked with my mentor, Karma Brown. She helped me distill the pitch down to the essence of the story, yet keep the unique elements. The idea for my Twitter pitch came to me on a whim—I wanted to do an “X meets Y” pitch and use Indiana Jones, since it makes people think of archaeology. “Indiana Jones meets Bridget Jones” sounded catchy, plus it was appropriate for the tone of the story, since my heroine is awkward and lacks self-esteem.

G: Tell us about your query style – do you approach your entire list of prospectives at once, or query in small batches and revise in between?

C: I always query in small batches—between five and eight per round—and then revise as needed. With my last young adult manuscript, I had sent out about ten queries when I got an R & R from an agent. I made a lot of revisions based on the R & R, so I’m glad I hadn’t queried dozens of agents with the earlier version.

G: Now the fun part – what was “the call” like? How did you know your agent was the right person to represent your project?

C:The call was really exciting. I was jittery and nervous, and I’d barely slept the night before, but Erin was easy to talk to. It helped that she offered representation right away. I loved her agenting game plan and the way she spoke about representing my career, rather than just one book. 

G: If you could give one piece of advice to authors seeking publication, what would it be?

C: What has helped me the most is the support of other writers. Whether it’s a local or online critique group, a chapter of RWA or SCBWI, or a group of Twitter friends, I suggest finding writers to bond with. No one else will understand the highs and the lows of writing in the same way. These are the people who will kick you into gear when you lose momentum or keep encouraging you when you feel like giving up. 

Thanks for stopping by, Carla! Can't wait to see where your publishing journey takes you next!

You can learn more about Carla and her work by following her on Twitter (@casacullen) or visiting her blog at http://carlalunacullen.com/. You can also find her on Tumblr.

Kickass Queries Series! # 6 - Seabrooke Leckie

Happy Friday, Peeps!

Seabrooke Leckie is with us today for the 6th installment of the Kickass Queries Series, sharing the query that nabbed her agent, Rachael Dugas of Talcott Notch Literary Services.

Seabrooke's Query:

Seventeen-year-old Talon is one of the New York Assassins’ Guild’s most talented journeymen – and she knows it. She has no doubt that eventually she’ll make guildmaster, where she’ll be able to do the most good for her plague-worn city, helping to clean up crime. The first step is to pass her trials and be promoted to the guild’s elite, though for Talon it’s mostly a formality.

But the trials reveal a different – and darker – side to the guild, and Talon finds herself questioning the morality of what they do. When she’s tasked with eliminating a rogue assassin who’s returned to the city and killed some of her guildmates, she's shattered by the secret she learns about her guildmaster. With a foot on each side, she has to choose between the guild she loves and calls home, or the rogue who wants to destroy it. Dozens will die if she makes the wrong choice... but the right choice might cost even more.

STARS AT MIDNIGHT is a quick-paced light sci-fi YA set in a future post-plague New York City, and is complete at 96,000 words. I envision it as being the first in a series. I have included the first ten pages below for your review.

G: How many manuscripts did you query prior to signing with your agent?

S: The novel that Rachael signed me for was the third one I queried, but the sixth one I’d written. The two books I queried before this one were both good, and I did get requests from agents for them, but I grew so much as a writer from one to the next that in retrospect I’m glad no one took them on.

G: How long did it take to write your query, and what things/steps do you think were most important to make it agent-ready?

S: By the time I was querying this book, I’d had a lot of practice! So it didn’t actually take me that long to write this winning query, in absolute terms. However, all that practice from the two un-signed novels (easily more than a dozen versions) was applied when I came up with this one, so in the grand scheme of things, it actually took a lot of time and work to get here.

The number one thing you can do to help make your query ready is have your critique partner read it and help you with it (and if you don’t have a critique partner, you should absolutely find one! A good one is worth her weight in gold). They can objectively look at your story and your query and help identify where it needs tightening.

The other bit of query advice I’d offer to queriers is to figure out what the backbone conflict arc is of your story, the arc that results in the final climax, and center your query on that. After lots of trial and error, I learned to set my queries up with four parts in two or three paragraphs: background/set-up, inciting incident, character’s options/decision, stakes if s/he fails. The latter two items should reflect the book’s climax. Your critique partner can let you know if you’ve identified the right plot points to lay your query out around.

A final comment – I’m actually a little more vague in this query than I think is ideal. I did this deliberately because the points I’m concealing with my vagueness are huge plot twists that I still wanted the reading agent to have the surprise of discovering as they read… but if that’s not the case with your novel, I think most agents would prefer a bit more detail than I’ve provided.

G: Tell us about your query style – do you approach your entire list of prospectives at once, or query in small batches and revise in between?

S: For my first two queried novels, I followed the commonly-shared wisdom of querying in batches of about 6-10 agents at a time. After each round I would tweak my query letter before trying again. I did notice an increase in requests as my query grew stronger, though I think ultimately what really affected my request rates was the strength of my attached pages, which improved with each book, and the central concept/conflict of the particular novel I was querying. In retrospect, the first two books I queried were probably started in the wrong spot, and could have benefitted from a rewrite/removal of that first chapter or two.

For the third queried book, the one that I signed with Rachael with, I actually entered it in a couple of contests before I ever sent out a query to agents. In those two contests I got seven agent requests, and that prompted me to send queries to an additional six agents who I also would’ve been really interested in working with. I used the same query I had in the contest, plus a closing line with the genre and word count (which had been in the header of the contest entries). Four of those six queried agents requested.

G: Now the fun part – what was “the call” like? How did you know your agent was the right person to represent your project?

S: I was so nervous when Rachael called! (I suspect: what writer isn’t?) But she was really friendly and easy-going and quickly put me at ease. I think that was part of how I knew she’d be the right one. She also seemed to really “get” my story, and didn’t have a lot of suggested changes for it; the suggestions she did have were all things that made total sense to me; I didn’t feel any reservations about any of them. Knowing that she had the same vision as I did for my story was the clinching factor, but I also came away from the conversation trusting that she would be really good at her job and a really good match for me and the things I needed from an agent. (And she has been!)

G: If you could give one piece of advice to authors seeking publication, what would it be?

S: Persevere! As it turns out, publication is a long game. There’s a lot of waiting. I mean, a lot. At every stage. There’s a lot of rejection. At every stage. Stuff that you think will go quickly or will be a slam dunk often isn’t either. It’s a very humbling experience. But the successful writers are the ones who don’t give up. If this book doesn’t get picked up, write another. In fact, while you’re waiting for this book to get picked up, write another anyway. That way, if it doesn’t, you’ve already got another option in the wings, and if it does, you’ve got a head start on your second published title.

Thanks for sharing your story with us, Seabrooke! Best of luck with STARS AT MIDNIGHT and all your writing endeavors!

You can learn more about Seabrooke and her work by following her on Twitter (@SeabrookeN) and checking out her blog and Tumblr. She is also a contributor to the Ink and Angst blog.