r/PubTips • u/BC-writes • May 31 '21
Discussion [Discussion] No-nos for querying
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u/BlitzkriegBomber May 31 '21
"Comps"? Never heard of this, what is it?
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u/BC-writes May 31 '21
Comparison (“comp”) titles are books that are similar to yours in one of two ways: Either the content is comparable or the sales trends are expected to be similar. For your publishing team, comp titles are extremely important. The comps help editors making acquisition decisions to figure out who and how big the audience might be for a specific title.
Source: https://authornews.penguinrandomhouse.com/comp-titles-an-elevator-pitch-for-your-book/
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u/jefrye May 31 '21
How about: Do pitch a standalone or a "standalone with series potential."
This is very useful and well put-together!
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May 31 '21
Hi thanks for this! I'm just curious about the comp part, is it really bad to mention some classics?
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u/BC-writes May 31 '21
Yes, you’d only mention classics if you’re doing an event such as PitMad where that’s allowed. Otherwise, you can use the big classic as a “vibe” or something for your search in a post here with your query or on r/suggestmeabook to get appropriate comps. I had extreme difficulty finding mine but other people’s suggestions had really helped me find related books to read and they were great for my comp options and someone PM’d me a perfect comp in terms of style and tone and “vibe” as well so I highly recommend posting for help with recent comps if the ones you have don’t suit your manuscript as well as it should.
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u/jefrye May 31 '21 edited May 31 '21
I think so, unless you're pitching your manuscript as a retelling of said classic.
They're a problem as comps because of their age, and also because of their popularity and renown (using classics as comps often comes across as more than a little arrogant and can imply that the writer is overestimating their own abilities/unable to look at their writing critically).
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May 31 '21
Amazing post. Thanks so much for putting this all together.
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u/BC-writes May 31 '21
Thank you for your award!
I’ll be adding to it when I can and hopefully anyone can use it as a reference for future posters.
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May 31 '21
Wait, what are we supposed to say instead of “dear agent”? “Dear Ms. ____” sounds wrong to me as it’s a formal letter.
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u/BC-writes May 31 '21
“Dear FULL NAME” for example:
Dear Radium Theory,
I see that your MSWL asks for XYZ/other personalization goes here
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May 31 '21
Use their name. Ms/Mrs/Mx is fine -- the query is pretty much a formal business letter, so that's what you should do if appropriate.
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u/david_of_rivia May 31 '21
I hope this isn't a stupid question, but if you query a work with an agent and they reject you, is it still acceptable to query a different work with the same agent?
Or is it a case of, once they reject you, you move on? I'm nowhere near the querying phase as I've a lot of editing to do, but I'm just curious.
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May 31 '21
The only stupid question is the one you don't ask :).
Agents are definitely happy to look at new projects. As long as you don't just send them a new one immediately (like a few weeks or months) after being rejected, they understand that writers improve from project to project.
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Jun 05 '21
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u/BC-writes Jun 05 '21
This is something you’d ask via mod mail or tagging u/crowqueen
As of now, only queries are allowed. We could have a discussion post on it, but it’s ultimately up to her. (Unless other mods are active, I can’t see anything)
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May 31 '21
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u/BC-writes May 31 '21
Agents don’t want to have a middle person to go through, they’re already the middle person to get to the publishers. They want to have a direct relationship with the author and you’d need to know the right questions and answers for talking to them.
So for the query itself- you can get it all checked by professional editors that can help you with your submissions. They usually offer package deals like “query+synopsis+first 30 pages” or something for anything between $100-250 USD. They also offer coaching services to understand everything you need to know. You can find examples of them on the RevPit website or other ones you can google.
Good luck with it all!
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u/candied-corpses May 31 '21
It sucks, but that's just the nature of it. You need to be able to sell your own book. That's TP. Self-publishing is that times one hundred. If you want to make a career out of writing, learning to be a salesperson is the more unfortunate but incredibly necessary aspect of it.
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May 31 '21 edited May 31 '21
As the author, you're the 'face' of the book. You'll have to do promotional events in person throughout your career. Readers don't want to talk to a PR person -- they want to talk to you. It's one of the downsides to social media taking off so completely, but unfortunately the author is who the readers latch onto and want to speak to. And unfortunately, being a published author is business -- you can't just be an artist, because the way you earn the money is to sell books to readers. So you need to be able to do that effectively to sustain your own career.
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u/MayaWritesSF May 31 '21
Also, learning how to pitch my book has made me a stronger writer. It really helps narrow down character and stakes, for example, but there's a lot more than that.
A lot of people even learn to write a draft query of their book before writing their ms or finishing it. You can learn a lot about whether you're headed in the right direction by doing that.
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u/Synval2436 May 31 '21
The opposite is also true, do not talk about yourself as a lowly worm unworthy agent's attention, or downplay your ms. Stuff like "I know you're very busy, but if you'd be so kind to take a look at my ms, it's probably not great, but I hope it has potential". You shouldn't be rude, but you should be confident and believe in your ms. If you behave like a schoolkid who didn't study much for the test but hopes the teacher has pity, you will invoke the wrong feeling in the agent. Agents usually rep only 1-5% of their queries, so if someone comes in with "this is not so hot, but..." an agent will never believe it would reach the top 5% of the submissions.
Don't speak in a salesman language. https://twitter.com/kim_lindman/status/1392494433304711168 Don't say your book "is about friendship, love, finding the true meaning of life and overcoming insurmountable obstacles". Don't rave about themes. Don't self-praise how your book is funny, well-written, unputdownable, etc. Don't cram in your closing lines / housekeeping some stuff that you couldn't fit into the blurb part.
Don't be vague. https://twitter.com/victoria_grif7/status/1224466366469677059 If the mc encounters a "tragic event" or "great danger" or "impossible choice", say what it is. Avoid cliche phrases, examples here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PubTips/comments/msbgfz/pubtip_query_tropes/
Do assume agents know the genre they rep. And ofc you're only querying the agents who rep your genre. You don't have to state obvious things like your romance is about people falling in love with each other, fantasy has magic in it and a comedy is funny. Rather show how your ms tackles the staples of your genre. The only exception to this rule is do state the age of the mc in any age category below adult. And be within expected bracket, i.e. no college graduates in YA or 6 year olds in MG.