belief in the afterlife. The idea and author sounded intriguing in the query letter, but it is immediately apparent that you will not be interested in representing this author. There is no short synopsis of the book, no author bio, no table of contents, no chapter summaries. You are immediately thrown into reading a manuscript that screams “academic.” The first sentence is so long you can’t remember where it began when you get to the end. But you could, maybe, overlook this if you were fascinated by what you are reading. The real issue for you is that the manuscript doesn’t deliver on the promise of the initial query letter. It is not a tightly constructed argument from someone you immediately trust, nor is it a brilliant if tangential look inside a great mind. Rather it is just the boring thoughts of one more person, albeit a college professor, who has a lot to say on a subject with which he is clearly obsessed. But why should you care? Why should the world care? Why should a publisher risk a lot of money and many hours of employees’ work on this professor’s ideas? And ultimately the author should be thinking about the potential reader—someone who will be expected to shell out twenty dollars or more in a bookstore. There is nothing in the manuscript to convince you to go for it, and plenty to convince you otherwise. You make a note to decline.
The other solicited manuscript is by a mother of three who is just starting out on her career as a writer—not the likeliest scenario for bestsellerdom. But something about her query letter charmed you and you want to give it a shot. You are feeling grumpy because of your disappointment over the academic—you had really believed that that one might work—but you try to shake it off and settle into this new work.
You begin to relax as you read her cover letter, her brief, admittedly thin, yet charmingly honest bio. The one-paragraph synopsis is well constructed and to the point, as is the longer plot outline. She has even provided you with some comparison titles, and apparently has the ear of at least one well-known author who will provide a blurb.
But it is the writing that gets you. The first of the fifty pages your guidelines ask for draws you in instantly. Your office disappears as you go deep into this author’s world. You want to represent her. You will send the e-mail immediately, along with a few suggestions. You are already thinking of the right editor at the right house.
Lastly, you look through the manuscripts that were sent to you unsolicited. If they have a return envelope with postage, you make a note to your assistant to send them back with the usual form letter that directs the author to read and follow your submission guidelines. Those that have no return envelope you place unceremoniously in the recycling bin. Why should you have to spend your hard-earned money returning them?
DON’T TAKE REJECTION PERSONALLY
Prospective bestselling writer, are you getting the idea? What to you is a cherished work of art or impassioned cause is part of someone else’s workday. This imagined scenario is not intended to discourage you, but rather to get you out of yourself and into the shoes of those whom you must successfully engage—and who, in turn, must sell your work to others.
When you do get that manuscript returned in your self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) with a form-letter rejection from either an agent or a publisher, you get to indulge in exactly twenty-four hours of feeling sorry for yourself, and then you have to get over it. Think about ways you can improve your manuscript or proposal, and do them. It’s no fun to get rejected, but it happens to everyone and you can’t let it keep you from working on your writing career.
AN EXAMPLE OF AN EFFECTIVE QUERY LETTER
Here’s an especially good query letter, written (and generously shared with us) by our friend, author and writing coach Leslie Levine:
Dear ______________ :
Do you save the
The other solicited manuscript is by a mother of three who is just starting out on her career as a writer—not the likeliest scenario for bestsellerdom. But something about her query letter charmed you and you want to give it a shot. You are feeling grumpy because of your disappointment over the academic—you had really believed that that one might work—but you try to shake it off and settle into this new work.
You begin to relax as you read her cover letter, her brief, admittedly thin, yet charmingly honest bio. The one-paragraph synopsis is well constructed and to the point, as is the longer plot outline. She has even provided you with some comparison titles, and apparently has the ear of at least one well-known author who will provide a blurb.
But it is the writing that gets you. The first of the fifty pages your guidelines ask for draws you in instantly. Your office disappears as you go deep into this author’s world. You want to represent her. You will send the e-mail immediately, along with a few suggestions. You are already thinking of the right editor at the right house.
Lastly, you look through the manuscripts that were sent to you unsolicited. If they have a return envelope with postage, you make a note to your assistant to send them back with the usual form letter that directs the author to read and follow your submission guidelines. Those that have no return envelope you place unceremoniously in the recycling bin. Why should you have to spend your hard-earned money returning them?
DON’T TAKE REJECTION PERSONALLY
Prospective bestselling writer, are you getting the idea? What to you is a cherished work of art or impassioned cause is part of someone else’s workday. This imagined scenario is not intended to discourage you, but rather to get you out of yourself and into the shoes of those whom you must successfully engage—and who, in turn, must sell your work to others.
When you do get that manuscript returned in your self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) with a form-letter rejection from either an agent or a publisher, you get to indulge in exactly twenty-four hours of feeling sorry for yourself, and then you have to get over it. Think about ways you can improve your manuscript or proposal, and do them. It’s no fun to get rejected, but it happens to everyone and you can’t let it keep you from working on your writing career.
AN EXAMPLE OF AN EFFECTIVE QUERY LETTER
Here’s an especially good query letter, written (and generously shared with us) by our friend, author and writing coach Leslie Levine:
Dear ______________ :
Do you save the
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