The Pitch-Perfect Query

 

Christina Hamlett

My Guest Blogger today is Christina Hamlett whose long experience in the writing world brings us some good advice about the art of querying. 

THE PITCH-PERFECT QUERY

By Christina Hamlett

As we ease into a new year, thoughts often turn to dusting off pitch letters or composing fresh ones to agents and publishers. How can you make yours stand out from the competition and garner a green light to submit your work? Consider the following tips.

PRELIMINARIES

Is your book actually finished? When agents and editors get excited about the promise of your pitch, the last thing they want to hear is that you haven’t finished writing it. Their needs and interests may change six months from now. Don’t give them a teaser you’re not prepared to deliver now. 

Do you have a website? It’s not too early to start thinking about one. It demonstrates you’re not just a hobbyist but that you take your writing career seriously. Your website should contain a professional headshot, brief bio, links to published writing samples, mention of any awards you’ve won, an excerpt from your book and—if you feel especially ambitious—a weekly/monthly blog reflecting your interests and expertise.

Do you have a professional email address? Hottie247, willworkforchocolate, myexesregret may work fine for your personal account but is this really how you want to be known in the business world?

What is your marketing platform? This is a question you can expect to be asked prior to being offered a contract. Do you plan to do interviews, book speaking engagements, participate in writers conferences, offer workshops, have a social media presence?

THE SUBMISSION

Agents and publishers are quite specific in how much or little they want to see in an unsolicited inquiry. Follow these instructions to the letter. If they request only the first 10 pages, do not send them 11…or the entire manuscript. The sample size isn’t just to assess your skill as a storyteller; it’s also to test how well you can follow instructions.

A query letter should be no more than a single page and preferably comprised of three paragraphs. The first paragraph is the hook to entice them to read on. (If written well, it could easily be the back cover blurbage to persuade someone in a bookstore to buy it.) The second paragraph addresses the commercial appeal of the book and why you believe it’s a smart fit for their agency or house. (You’ve done your homework on this, right?) The third paragraph focuses on why you’re the best qualified person to have written this book. If, for example, the setting of your story is Alexandria, Virginia and your family has lived there for five generations, you’re pretty likely to know what you’re talking about. Likewise if your protagonist is a nurse, a prison warden, a horticulturist, a model, an attorney or a cruise ship director and you have personal experience with these professions, a rep will appreciate you didn’t glean all your research from watching bad television.

If a separate synopsis is requested, it should be a through-line which demonstrates how the theme is carried out from start to finish, identifies all of the main characters, and highlights the major plot points.

Be sure to include your contact information along with your phone number. Add your website as part of your signature.

RED FLAGS

While many reps and publishers now utilize email as part of their submission process, this should never translate to sloppiness or informality on your part. Not only should your email be as thoroughly proofread as the manuscript you plan to submit but you must also eschew the temptation to address anyone by their first name unless/until you’re invited to do so. And please leave off the smiley faces and LOLs.

If you’re younger than 20 or older than 65, do not admit your age. For that matter, why is your age relevant at all? Ageism is alive and well in today’s publishing industry. Unless you have several projects already in the works, agents and publishers are reluctant to take on a newbie they perceive (however wrongly) to be past their prime. Conversely, an aspiring author who declares, “I may only be a teenager but—” is broadcasting his/her fledgling work needn’t be taken as seriously as someone "mature.” If a business relationship subsequently develops, let them find out all in good time how young/old you are.

Never reveal how long it took to write your novel; i.e., “I started this back when I was in college but, well, life got in the way.” There seems to be an inverse expectation that the more time one has invested in a project, the quicker it should be grabbed up. Nope. A book which has been in gestation for decades carries a likelihood of already being stale. Secondly, if it has taken this long to complete the project being pitched, how long would an agent or publisher have to wait for the next one? It’s hard to successfully “grow” an author’s career if s/he has only one book that was years in development.

Unless you’re already well known, have acquired the rights to someone else’s story, or have survived an experience which can be profoundly inspirational to others, do not boast that your book is based on true events. Just because something actually happened doesn’t automatically make it commercially viable. Some of the worst offenders are first-time novelists who allude to their plots being “semi-autobiographical.” Catharsis may be good for the soul in these passion projects but if there’s not a sustainable storyline and excellent writing, agents and editors can’t be guilted into reading it, much less getting it published.

Do not disclose this is your first book. Why? If literary reps are impressed with your wordsmithing, they can easily look you up to see what else you’ve done. Informing them outright that this is your first effort is akin to someone on an operating table being told by the doctor, “This is my first brain surgery but, hey, I’m feeling optimistic.”

Bio:  Former actress and director Christina Hamlett is an award-winning author whose credits to date include 44 books, 256 stage plays and squillions of articles. She is also a script consultant for stage and screen and a professional ghostwriter. www.authorhamlett.com.