Your Book is Ready to Query… Now What?

Posted bysecretwritersPosted inUncategorized
A Guide to Starting the Traditional Query Process

By: Mariah Prouse

Your book is ready to query! Congratulations! Beta readers and critique partners have read through your manuscript. You can’t remember how many times you’ve read it, edited it, analyzed or agonized over the world building, characters arcs and all those little (or big) plot holes. That is a great accomplishment. Make sure to celebrate!

So, what is the next step? If you are choosing to go the traditional query route, this can be a moment of utter overwhelming anxiety. Or maybe you are ready to jump right in feet first and will come up for air later. Either way, here are some tips to help you get ready to take that next step. 

First off, make sure you have everything you will need to submit a query package. Some agents want different things than others and it’s best to be prepared for everything so you aren’t on hold to query an agent. 

What does that mean exactly? Besides having a finished book, you need the query written, a synopsis done, a one sentence pitch for your book, maybe some pitches for twitter pitch events, and a short little biography. The bio can be a sentence or two about yourself and your writing experience and is usually within the query letter itself. It’s also beneficial to have in a paragraph by itself for those moments that it is a separate field within the query form. That’s right—there are query forms. Not only might you just email the query letter and pages, but some agents have an entire form you fill out and submit. 

I like to organize separate files for myself since some prefer the pages in an uploaded document, while others prefer them copy and pasted. In a file folder on my computer, I have everything I could need ready to go in their own separate documents so it is either an easy upload, or as simple as copy and paste. The most common requests from agents when querying is the first ten pages or the first three chapters of your book, a query letter, and a synopsis. But honestly, don’t be surprised for some agents to only want the first five pages while others might want an elevator pitch (i.e. sentence pitch).  

Now you have everything organized to actually query the agents. The next question is: Who are you going to query? 

Here are a few helpful resources to start you out:

This site gives you information for agents and allows you to record your queries, see response rates, and also connects you to other very helpful graph and informational statistics. Some of this information requires a paid account but it is a huge benefit—even if it becomes an obsession (yes, I am speaking from experience). 

Publishers Marketplace gives you information about agents and the agencies they work for. A paid account allows you to see past sales and authors they’ve worked with. This can be very helpful not only to see what their experience level is, but also if you recognize some other author names or books. 

This is the site to check out to see what agents are posting on their wish list (MSWL). You will have free access to agent information and what they may be looking for right now. It is important to check to see how often they update their wish list. 

  • Twitter and other Social Media

I know, not everyone loves it and that is understandable! Many agents use social media to share their blogs, update their MSWL, or other information. For example, you can search #MSWL and other hashtags to find specific genres or subject matter on Twitter.

What you are looking for when you are researching the different agents could include any of the following:

  • Past book sales
  • Experience level
  • Interests
  • Their Manuscript Wish List 
  • What they do not want in their inbox or trigger warnings
  • Response time
  • Any specific information regarding the agent themselves
  • If they are currently closed to queries

Instead of using Query Tracker, many also create an excel spreadsheet with information regarding the agents they are either querying or plan to query. The information on such spreadsheets can include any of the following:

  • Agent Name
  • Agency
  • Preferred contact (form or email)
  • MSWL
  • Appropriate nudge or close/no reply time period
  • If you can query another agent at their agency
  • Date query was sent
  • Date response was given

Also, it is never a bad idea to talk to your fellow aspiring authors and get insight from them on news regarding specific agents. Especially right now when so many are being called up, or out, to improve their practices.

Hope that this is helpful and informative. Good luck in this next step! Do you have any recommendations of how you prepare to enter the query trenches? 

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