18. Publishing 201: The Anatomy Of A Query Letter

This week Kelly and JJ go into a little more detail about how to write a query: what works, what doesn't work, the who, the what, the where, and the whys. Also, have a query you want to have critiqued? Email us!

Show Notes

• Browse all of PubCrawl's posts on querying: Query Tips, Querying, and Querypalooza!

• Our previous podcast episode about Querying and Representation

• JJ has laid out "formulas" for copy before

• More about Inciting Incidents (which we also discussed in our first NaNoWriMo episode)

• JJ's query for Wintersong (then called The Goblin King)

• Our episode about the High Concept Pitch

Tips for Best Query Practices

• Emotional distance from your work is best (we know this is hard!)

• Don't go too broad; the more specific the better

• You don't need to include absolutely everything about your book in your query—just enough to entice the agent into wanting more

• The shorter, the better: sweet spot is 250 to 400 words

• Let your story speak for itself; don't talk about your book (show, don't tell!)

• Try to limit the number of characters you're naming in your query (they generally say no more than 3): the protagonist, the antagonist, major ancillary character

• Also, you may write a flawless query, but the agent may still pass because it's simply not their taste

The "Formula"

SETUP: A brief "laying of the scene": setting, premise, etc. The "status quo", as it were. INCITING INCIDENT: A disruption of the status quo (e.g. a stranger comes to town) CONSEQUENCES OF INCITING INCIDENT: How the world has changed after the Inciting Incident THE MOMENT THE PROTAGONIST BECOMES PERSONALLY INVOLVED: What it says on the tin

The SETUP but when INCITING INCIDENT happens CONSEQUENCES OF INCITING INCIDENT occur, so then THE PROTAGONIST BECOMES PERSONALLY INVOLVED.

All of this together gets across what the stakes are, and that's what generates tension and interest in a story.

What We're Reading/Books Discussed

• Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

• Salvage and Sound by Alexandra Duncan

• Morning Star by Pierce Brown

• Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

• Assassin's Heart by Sarah Ahiers

• Scripted by Maya Rock

Off Menu Recommendations

Lots of other podcasts this week!

• Limetown

• Lore by Aaron Mahnke

• The first season of Serial

Oh, and this is the DVD box set of Hart to Hart with JJ's high school on the cover. And if you have not seen Legally Blonde, we suggest you rectify that immediately.

What We're Working On

• Kelly has been giving classes at The Loft about contracts, so if you're in the Twin Cities area, you should check it out!

• JJ is still working on mental health, but still thinking about writing

That's all for this week! Next week, in continuation of our Publishing 201 series, we will giving an overview of SUBRIGHTS.