Submissions for Traditional Publishers: The Query Letter

A query letter is sent to the editor(s) or agent(s) of interest. You might write to the person cold, after a recommendation (say from a client of the agent's), or an invitation (say from a writer's conference). The first step is to research on the web to determine what, exactly, the editor or agent wants to receive. Some want to receive just a query. Some want to receive a query as well as a short synopsis and/or a few pages of the manuscript. Some want an email query, others snail mail, or they might not care. DO WHAT THEY TELL YOU TO. It's tempting to think gee, my book is SO good I just have to let them know more. No, you don't. Believe me, these people are overwhelmed with submissions, and won't thank you for adding to their work or recycle bin. (If all they want is a query, you probably need some rocket fuel recommendations, experience, and/or platform for them to consider you, although it doesn't hurt to try). If guidelines are unclear, I'd include a one page synopsis and possibly the first chapter of the manuscript.

Don't forget also to make it easy for the agent/editor to respond to you if they want more. Include your email, snail mail, and telephone numbers. If you're mailing by snail mail, include a self-addressed stamped envelope so they just have to scribble *yes* on your query and pop it in the mail. If you emailed your query, make sure that hitting reply won't cause the email to bounce, or cause the agent/editor to go through machinations (prove that they're a real person) in order for the email to reach you. DON'T call the agent/editor to pitch a story. They don't appreciate being interrupted.

The purpose of the query letter is to hook the interest of your prospect. The temptation is to put in a lot of information, but you should instead make your query short and intriguing.

Think of it this way: suppose you've just met someone and need to chit-chat for a few minutes. Do you want the other person to start telling you his life's story? Or is it more interesting for you if that person throws out an interesting tidbit and waits for you to ask a question (or not).

Query letters have four general parts:

1. introduction -- why are you writing to this particular person? Target your reason.

2. intrigue -- tell a little about the story, enough to raise curiosity without killing it.

3. justify -- what is your background that makes you qualified to write AND SELL this story?

4. close -- state specifically the action the person can take if he is interested.

The query should be only one page, period.

There is a terrific free resource entitled How to Write a Great Query Letter by literary agent Noah Lukeman HERE that you should download and study. Also, again, there is much information about how and where to send queries -- there is a nice series every year in the Writer's Digest Market HERE.

Needless to say, make sure this query is as polished as you can make it. The competition is fierce. You may have to send out 30 or more queries before you get a nibble, so put on your emotional armor before you start the process. This is the biz.

Here is an example of a query I just wrote Lever, for whatever my effort might be worth (a chuckle, anyway).

*

Dear Mr. Agent:

I'm writing to you because you represent so-and-so writer, whose work I love and feel is similar to mine. I was impressed to learn that you'd sold his latest work, Running Down the Drainpipe, to Bigshot Publishers. I like to think of my own novel as The Case for Christ meets The DaVinci Code. A Lever Long Enough is an adventure with a touch of science fiction, and is 92,000 words. It is suitable for ages 14 through adult.

The story: A Lever Long Enough is about a small military team that travels back in time to film the theft of Jesus' body from the tomb. I've enclosed a one page synopsis.

I am a scientist and skeptic who came to faith through study of the historic circumstances surrounding the death of Jesus. This is my first novel. Currently I am writing the prequel, entitled Nest Among the Stars, that follows a shock-and-awe space station disaster and involves the time machine in an unexpected way, and I also plan a sequel. Randy Ingermanson (City of God trilogy) and Wayne Batson (The Door Within trilogy) have both written an endorsement for this book. I have a blog with a following of approximately X hits per week, and a speaking platform where I present The Story Template, an algorithm I've developed for story construction. I am willing to work hard to market my works.

While the emphasis is on the story, Lever fairly presents the arguments for and against the resurrection, and demonstrates (without the use of any fictional miracles) that the case for the resurrection is remarkable. It is highly Messianic, a targeted marketing group. The synopsis and/or complete manuscript are available upon request. I have enclosed a one page synopsis and SASE for your convenience; email is also fine. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

*

The one page synopsis would include the following text:

In the near future, the Israeli military has developed a prototypic time machine. When believers in Yeshua (Jesus) create a politically explosive situation that threatens the balance of peace between Israel and nearby countries, the Israelis must send a team of four elite soldiers back to film the theft of Jesus’ body from the tomb and thus disprove Christianity. The team, consisting of a Special Forces soldier as leader, an ex-American astronaut as engineering specialist, an archaeologist, and a linguist, has exactly seventy-two hours to collect the video evidence. Drawn into a web of first century deception and death, the only way to escape is for the team to change the past. In the present, a traitor attempts to sabotage the mission and seize control of the military complex. The Special Forces leader operating in the past is the only one who can reveal him, but he is trapped two thousand years away. Even with a time machine, time is running out...

I would probably paste in Randy's and Wayne's endorsements as well:

“Who wouldn’t want to time-travel back to first century Jerusalem to see if the Resurrection really happened? Amy Deardon has given me the next best thing with her novel bringing old Jerusalem to life. I raced through the book at lighspeed and enjoyed it immensely. Strong characters and an unpredictable plot made this a book I’ll want to read again.”

—Randy Ingermanson, Christy Award-Winning Author of Transgression and Oxygen

“If you could go back to Christ’s crucifixion, would you do it? What if the only way you could was by time-traveling with skeptics bent on proving Christianity is based on a lie? Author Amy Deardon tackles these provocative questions in her phenomenal debut novel: A Lever Long Enough. Readers will find themselves enveloped in the scope and import of this adventurous tale where love, loyalty, and faith will be tested in the crucible of first century Jerusalem.”
—Wayne Thomas Batson, Bestselling author of The Door Within trilogy, Isle Of Swords, and Isle Of Fire

*

NOTE: my first attempt at this letter has way too much information in it! It needs a lot of work.

Here is a sample query from Preditors and Editors:

What if the President of the United States committed a murder in front of you? What if you were a member of his Secret Service protection? Would you arrest him? Would you report the crime? Or would you cover up the crime to protect the nation because of an international crisis?

These are the questions Shari Nichols must resolve in my novel, All Fall Down. At the moment of the murder she professes allegiance to President Halverson, but she questions whether she has made the right choice. A quick promotion puts her into a job that consumes her attention and seems to support the President's action of murder. But within weeks a series of events makes Shari wonder if the President is as honorable as he seems. Shari Nichols digs for the truth and unearths secrets woven deeply within the infrastructure of the government. Secrets that touch even her family, but she may be digging her own grave.

The completed manuscript is available upon request. A SASE is included for your convenience. Thank you for your generous time. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Cordially,

*

Queries are tougher than they look! Make sure you make yours shine.

Lots of Books

You may have noticed from what I've written so far that I've had many books pass through my hands in the last few months. Lever is produced by Taegais Publishing LLC, a newly-formed independent publisher. OK, I'll admit it, this is me. I can get as many books as I want directly from the printer, as long as I have the money to purchase them.

If you have a well-established traditional publisher, you may only get ten, or twenty, or fifty books. If you self-publish through a book packager or self-publishing company, you'll probably have to buy books at a possibly significant mark-up, since many packages only give you a certain number.

Through my studies of book marketing techniques, though, I've read that starting word of mouth is much easier if you have LOTS of books. I knew I'd be buying books, so I've been budgeting for this for a long time. During this enterprise between August and December I went through nine (!) boxes of 22 ARCs (198 books), although remember many were sold through that wonderful book signing at Curves, that then paid for more books. I've sold more, at the August conference and to friends-of-friends of people who'd read Lever. I passed many books out to reviewers (which you've already heard about), and to other groups such as endorsers, the blog tour, home-schooling companies, Christian bookstores, schools, librarians, and a few to contests. I sent a book to a woman collecting reading material for soldiers in Afghanistan. And another fairly large group I passed books out to was influencers.

What are influencers?

Influencers have been a wonderful group, people I've so much enjoyed meeting! If you participated in my contest in December, for example, you may have won one of my books -- this was the last gasp of the 9th box of the ARCs that I had, and you were among my final group of influencers. I found other influencers through asking on the ACFW loop, or through directly finding reviewers and bloggers and asking if they might want to review my book. BTW, a great link to find top amazon reviewers is HERE.

Influencers have a platform, and are so named because they can influence others if they like your book. The platform can be a web presence, but the way I look at it EVERYONE is an influencer. After all, if your friend tells you he's just read the most wonderful book, isn't that a platform? For each book I sent out, I stated that if the person didn't like the book, then I greatly appreciated their time and consideration and I didn't expect them to promote something they didn't believe in. (I had three of these). However, if they DID like the book, there were a number of things they could do if they wanted to to help. Some of the most important things were to tell their friends and book clubs, ask their local library to order it, and write an amazon (or other site) review. Lynn Rush yesterday sent me a wonderful list of things influencers can do, put together by an author, and I'd like to contact her to see if she'll let me post it. Thanks Lynn!

Thinking back on the avenues I've explored over the past few months, I have to say that the influencer pathway has been the most rewarding -- not just because many people have given me valuable feedback and have facilitated further sales, but because it's been great to meet so many wonderful people!

I look at marketing as picking up one grain of sand at a time. There is no shovel; you've got to just keep going, one small thing after another, and before you know it you've made quite a bit of progress. Then again, though, isn't that how most things in life work?

Marketing with Blog Book Tours

The internet creates startling opportunities to network and disseminate information. One fabulous twist on the old-fashioned book tour is the Blog Tour, something that you're probably familiar with. Basically, a single book is featured within a short period of time, such as a day or week, on multiple blogs. The goal is to increase the book's exposure, since it's been shown that repeated reminders of a product make it more likely for someone to convert (ie buy the darn thing). Furthermore, since the reviewers usually give honest opinions of the bad as well as the good, a potential buyer can get a reasonable assessment of whether he might actually like the book.

These book-review blogs take a little bit of work to find: use google or other blog search engines to find blogs that review books, and check them out to see which might be appropriate. You can make a list, then comment or write to the person to see if they might be interested in reviewing your book. Coordinating them will be a challenge, but multiple exposures of a book over a few weeks or months won't necessarily be horrible, providing you can keep other marketing techniques going at the same time to maintain a potential *buzz.*

But wait! There's an easier way.

There are organizations that put blog tours together for authors. Some of these operate out of a publisher's advertising/marketing department, and only work for this company. Some operate from self-pubbing organizations, and you can purchase a package that will help you put together a blog tour. Some are freelance marketers that you can hire. I have the names of some of these companies that I will be happy to give you if you email me, but since I have no direct knowledge of the quality of their work and they're fairly costly, I don't feel comfortable putting their names out here.

However, if you have a book that is consistent with a Christian world view, I have an even better option for you to consider: First Wild Card Tours.

First Wild Card Tours (the link is HERE) is a *free* service that puts together blog tours. You the author must provide the books and the postage, but while not inconsequential financially, that's it. It works like this: You find an open date that works for you, and submit the title, a brief description, the first chapter, and an author photo. You also state how many books you can provide; a good number might be 25. The director makes an announcement on the loop, and then interested bloggers contact you directly. A few weeks later, on your date, the blog tour goes up.

Furthermore, these don't have to be new books, so if you have an older release date you're still good to go. First Wild Card will also tour self-published books.

Personally, I think this is a great deal! My blog tour is next month. When the time comes, I'll link to all of the blogs that will be carrying my book, and you can see what you think.

And by the way, if you have a blog, you like free books, and you don't mind writing reviews, you might want to consider joining this group as well. There are no minimum standards for participation, and you get to choose the books you'd like to read. Not bad.

Marketing, the Next Installment

I have news before I start:

To review events, two weeks ago I found out serendipitously that A Lever Long Enough was one of seven candidates for the ACFW's March Book Club selection (link to join this free Club is HERE). While I was happy with God's will on whichever book was selected, I recognized that this was a good opportunity and would have loved to win if possible. I wrote to many of you to ask that if you were a member of this club, would you please consider voting for me!

Last weekend the poll was closed. My book and one other book were finalists. The final runoff poll started this past Tuesday and lasted until Saturday two days ago. I prayed that whichever book was chosen, God's Kingdom would be advanced.

I am pleased, humbled, and excited to announce that I WON!

Many of you voted for me, and I just want to say thank you, thank you! You allowed me to have an amazing opportunity. I so appreciate your confidence and help in this whole process, and I won't forget it.

So, this is where the rubber meets the road. I pray that Lever hits its marks during the month of March. I am eager to hear feedback, have the book touch hearts, and basically have it become a little better known. This is a big club of about 728 members, so the possibilities could potentially snowball.

*******

The goal of marketing, as well as I have been able to understand it, is to get that wonderful *Word of Mouth* (WOM) phenomenon where *everyone* seems to be buzzing about your product, whatever it may be. There are some books written about this, such as Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point and many others. I've flipped through some of these books; they have common sense observations, but nothing that you probably couldn't figure out on your own. This is my own opinion, for whatever it's worth.

This WOM comes about serendipitously, through a lucky confluence of a number of factors. Even so, there are a few things that increase the chances. The first and most important factor is that you must have a top-notch product. If it's not good, even if you ignite the sparks they will not be able to catch: Witness certain well-known figures getting a massive book advance, and the resounding flop of the book sales. All the advertising in the world can't prop up a bad book.

The next thing is that you must show up. You must tirelessly work to get your book's name out there, in as many venues as possible.

My last entry finished with my sending out a bunch of books cold to review sites. In general I don't do cold applications, but some of these places especially the big ones don't consider books any other way. For my After-Action Report on this aspect, I think I'd only consider sending books to the big-three sites (Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal) on the off-chance that they might take a look since it would be such a coup if they did, but then again maybe not even these. Although many of the books I'd read highly recommended this maneuver, for me cold reviews were a disappointing flop. And FYI, I plan to resend to Midwest Book Reviews cold (because, after all, they did write to me), but that's it.

There were other major groups that I sent books out to: invited book reviews, influencers, contests, and potential marketing groups, to name a few. And notice that I sent out A LOT of books. This is critical to start getting your book's name out there. Insist that your publisher do this, or (better, because you know it'll get done) that you have the capacity to do this adequately. I was fortunate because the money I made from the Curves signing after tithing was just enough to pay for these extra books. Also, when I ordered the books, an extra box of 22 books was delivered with the order. I called and no one knew anything about it -- they were just there. Do you see what I mean when I say I sense God's hand in all this?

I have a secret weapon to help get the word out for my book. This single thing is as close to a magic bullet as I've been able to find. I've been using it for three years, I'm STILL using it, and I expect to use it for a long time to come. It's amazingly helpful even if you don't have a book out yet but are still writing.

Are you ready?

If you have a Christian world view, this is your ticket: The American Christian Fiction Writers' Organization (website HERE).

This is an organization of over a thousand writers, ranging from newbies to multipublished authors, plus editors and agents. They have many resources including critique groups, regional meetings, and several very active loops that pass on amazing bits of information. I have made a number of friendships here, including many of you reading this blog. I can ask questions, I can help other people with their questions, I can learn, I can find helpful websites, I can enter contests, and on and on. Joining is $50 the first year and $40 each year thereafter. For me it's been well worth it. For what it's worth, I'd suggest you get single emails rather than digest, and also you get a separate email address so your other correspondences don't get snowed under.

'Nuff said.

Is this marketing getting boring yet? Tomorrow I'll cover more of the groups that I sent to, but if you'd rather I can go back to other subjects. Let me know if you can't stand this!

Marketing, Part 3

Yesterday's entry finished with an amazing book signing at Curves that ended up lasting all August and into September. However, fun and games were over. It was August and my book would be released in January, giving me five months to get ready.

Almost immediately I found an oversight. Through studying Dan Poynter's website HERE, I learned that an important and often overlooked market are Public Libraries. For this market it's important to have a Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN). Since the book hadn't been released yet, I decided to apply for a Preassigned Control Number (PCN) HERE. Books also need cataloguing in publication (CIP) data, rotsa ruck for me since the Library of Congress only generates this data for big publishers. But wait! Dan Poynter said that books can also have publisher-generated CIP data! There are other sites, but I hired a librarian with lots of experience and reasonable prices ($50) HERE. She gave me a fast turnaround also, a few days. Since the ARCs were printed using POD technology, the LCCN and publisher's CIP data could be added to the ARCs easily by uploading an updated PDF of the interior. Zip zip, and I was ready.

Publishers normally build about a 6 month pre-pub time interval into their book schedule in order to get reviews and endorsements . So, since it was up to me, I started searching for book review sites on the internet, listed from other books, etc. I decided to try for a few biggies like Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus and Library Journal. These are highly respected journals that I didn't have a snowball's chance of making, but what the heck. I also googled *book review sites* and listed many possibles, including Midwest Book Review that is a prestigious review site that favors small press reviews. Then, I started sending out books cold, maybe about 25. The results of almost all of these packages felt like the sound of one hand clapping. I did get my self-addressed stamped postcard returned from the religious editor of Publisher's Weekly with a kind turndown -- I think she could tell I was a newbie without a clue. Midwest Book Review told me my book arrived safely, but unfortunately they reviewed the released book, not an ARC, so I should resubmit when I was ready. Just last week I heard from *At Home with Christian Fiction* that they would post a review (I'll put it on my list on the side of this blog when it's up), but that's it as far as I'm aware.

I had another problem come from these cold review copies that I hadn't anticipated: once my book was listed on amazon, I immediately found my book being sold from people who had accounts with amazon (the amazon stores). Well, guess how they got their hands on it? Right! Oh well, you can't worry about this, although I was extremely annoyed when I first saw it.

I sent lots of books out between August through October, but then I stopped. Basically, most of the review sites want to receive the ARC about sixteen weeks, plus or minus, before the release date, so once October hit it didn't make sense to send more out to these cold sites.

But, there were other places I was sending my book besides cold review sites...

To be continued.

Next Installation for Marketing

OK, I wanted to tell you a little more about what I've been doing to get the word out.

I should have mentioned this yesterday, but before you start marketing, really before you start writing your book, you need to come up with a good 15 to 25 word sentence that describes your book. Polish this until it shines, and then whenever asks you what your book is about, you just say "It's-about-a-small-military-team-that-travels-back-in-time-to-film-the-theft-of-Jesus'-body-from-the-tomb," or whatever your personal zinger happens to be. Trust me on this one.

We ended yesterday's blog entry right after my writer's conference, that took place a week after my ARCs had arrived. A few days later, I had a booksigning (!). I recognized at the time that maybe I should wait, but heck, can you blame me? The person who hosted the booksigning, Tammy, was so anxious to do this for me, and I couldn't resist.

This was so exciting. Tammy runs about the *best* Curves affiliate in the country. It is so fun for all the ladies to chat (or not) as we go around the circuit, and no one cares one whit how droopy the hair or baggy the workout clothes are. The comraderie is wonderful and fluid as different combinations of people show up every day. Tammy runs many fund-raising events, especially for the American Cancer Society, and fun in-house competitions, prize drawings, jewelry making, and so forth. So of course she wanted to have a book signing for me :-)

I got back from the conference on Sunday, and Monday was my book signing. It was advertised for about a week beforehand, and at 8 o'clock I showed up, books and a plate of cookies in hand. About three hours later I'd sold close to thirty books. As the Curves ladies read the book and talked about it, more ladies bought books over the next month or so, and I ended up selling a total of about 80 books! Wow. This money was first fruits, and it was very exciting. I bought Tammy a nice bottle of wine, and wrote a big thank you note to all the ladies.

What a lovely start! But now, I had to hunker down and use this prepub time to best advantage...

I will continue tomorrow. In the meantime, again, if you want to consider voting in the ACFW book club please do! The link is HERE. I've summarized both books HERE and pray whichever book is selected, Lever or Gallimore, God's kingdom will be advanced. I'm OK either way. Still I can't help admitting I'd like to win :-)

Have a great day!

Here We Go!

Just think, if you're reading this blog, you have a ringside seat to the marketing strategies of the first book of a new, unknown author. I'm making my marketing strategies up as I go along, but I've read a lot about this and am happy to let you know of my errors and good choices as things progress. Also, please feel free to write to me if you have any specific questions. Since I have a new independent publisher (read: approximately zero marketing dollars or industry connections), I'm basically doing all my own marketing tout-seul from scratch.

Some authors may think that marketing is *beneath them;* they want to just write in their garret, but IMHO (in my humble opinion) if no one knows about your book you could have written the next Great American Novel, and it would not get into anyone's hands. Maybe your heirs searching through your old desk drawer will find your manuscript in 50 years and be amazed.

Marketing is an intensive enterprise without magic bullets. It's like picking up grains of sand: each humble opportunity is important. I have a little *Marketing* section on the side of this blog, so scroll down for a few tips. Let me tell you what I've done so far:

Most frustrating for me, I've had to put further work on two half-finished manuscripts on hold (my novel Nest Among the Stars, and my nonfiction book The Story Template) because between marketing and family obligations, I don't have the energy to write as well. I probably could if I really really tried, but for me to write I have to go into a well, and I'm interrupted so much it's hard to get the start-up energy. Right now I'm barely keeping my head above water as it is.

Let me say for this next section that I'm normally a shy person, although I've learned a strategy to overcome this: basically, I pretend I'm someone else. It works!

The box with ARCs (advance reader copies) arrived on my doorstep at the very end of July 2008, delivery squeaking just in time to take copies with me to a writer's conference in August. I pushed my book quietly but shamelessly: I put it on my desk for each lecture and I recruited whoever I could to also visibly carry it around. At meals or other socializing times, when people asked what I wrote, I told them and showed them the book. I collected and passed out business cards, and followed up after the conference. I was fortunate enough as a new published author to participate in a panel, so got to talk about my book to a full auditorium. I promoted a contest for book reviews -- you can see the results by scrolling down the right-hand panel of this blog. Carmen Leal, who did a series of workshops on Marketing, saw my book on the desk, held it up, and told the class that she'd seen several people reading this book with great interest (God bless her!) I also approached several faculty -- authors, blog reviewers, and such -- and asked them if they'd consider endorsing the book if they liked it. If they said yes they'd consider it, I autographed and handed them a copy. At the end of the conference I had sold 15 ARCs from the consignment table, and was told this was a VERY good showing for fiction by a new author, especially since money was tight and the table was full of how-to titles and works by well-known authors. I was happy.

OK, this blog entry is getting too long so I'll continue tomorrow. Let me finish with a quick piece of news:

*****

The ACFW Book Club Poll to select March's discussion book is now on until Saturday 1/17. This is a run-off vote between Michelle Griep's Gallimore and my A Lever Long Enough; I've posted descriptions of both books under yesterday's blog entry *Ohhh Nooo* These two books were selected from a previous poll last week of seven books under consideration.

If you think my book is worthwhile and would consider voting for me in this poll, I'd be very grateful. Michelle and I have had a brief correspondence and we're both on good terms no matter who wins. I am praying that either selection advances God's kingdom, but even so have to admit I'd like to win because this is a great opportunity. So.

To vote, go to this link HERE. The banner shows *1 Poll Closing* which is the one of interest, or you can go to the navigation menu on the left top of the screen and hit *Polls.* The poll to vote in is the second one down the page, and is labeled *Runoff.* (be careful because the original poll with 7 titles didn't close -- don't vote here by mistake!)

If you are not a member of the ACFW Book Club, you can join by going to the link (HERE it is again), and hitting the *Join* button on the top right hand side of the screen. It is a free group, a loop with emails that you can receive either singly or in a digest once a day. You can quit any time you want to, although hopefully it will be interesting to you in its own right! NOTE: If you're a member of the main ACFW loop, you don't automatically become a member of this loop: they are separate, so you have to join. It takes less than a minute.

I can't know who votes or not, so if you don't want to for whatever reason don't worry! Thank you for considering my request.

Quiet but shameless?

That's all for today.