‘Fiction novel’ is an automatic rejection. This is not a mistake I ever overlook. It’s not a typo. It’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what two words mean, and it’s a HUGE RED FLAG for bad writing… If you grew up in juvenile detention and murdered your first three husbands, stir fried your cats and enrolled your children in Fagin’s School for Thieves, I’m ok with it. The ONLY thing I care about is whether your novel is enticing. Sadly, it’s not. And it’s a fiction novel, so it doesn’t even really exist.
- The Query Shark (Janet Reid)
(Source: queryshark.blogspot.com)
NO NO NO NO NO NO. Do not ever OFFER exclusivity. It’s bad enough some agents ask for it, but do not ever OFFER first in a query letter. Exclusivity is almost never in your best interest. Don’t give up any advantage you get by querying widely.
- from Query Shark by Janet Reid.
(Source: queryshark.blogspot.com)
Requested material” is not what you put on something if I’ve said “sure, send a query.” A query is never requested material. You don’t need permission to send me a query.
- Janet Reid, literary agent at FinePrint Literary Management.
(Source: jetreidliterary.blogspot.com)
One of the most important things a writer needs to learn is how to to separate information from analysis.
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Betsy Lerner, as heard by Janet Reid:
If you think of every rejection as an analysis of your work you’ll make yourself nuts.
If you think of the query process as simply as way to get information —which agent wants to read your book— you’ll make yourself less nuts.
(Source: jetreidliterary.blogspot.com)
