Tips to Make Your Query Stand Out

If you are a querying writer you may be wondering what the secret is to making your query letter stand out amongst the hundreds sitting in a literary agent’s inbox. Well, wonder no more.

Earlier this week while I was putting the finishing touches on today’s post Five Things The Fiction Query Can Learn From a Nonfiction Query for From The Write Angle what should I come across on Twitter, but a link. A link to the lovely agent Rachelle Gardner’s fantastic list of 13 ways you can impress a literary agent all within your query letter. It’s well worth the read. While we cover a couple of the same points, I think there are most definitely ways the fiction writer can share their platform, marketing expertise, and social media know-how in their fiction query–it’s not just for nonfiction writers anymore. The times are a changin’ and so should our query letters.

Read both and circle back to let me know what you think. Are we right? Are we on the wrong track? What do you put in your query letter?

Hot Projects vs. Not So Hot

Rachelle Gardner over at Wordserve Literary talks about ‘hot’ projects/manuscripts and ones that might be good or great and what happens to them when they come across her desk. If nothing else, it may help writers understand a bit about what happens with their projects and why some get scooped up and sold on a dime while others sit around for up to a year before getting a ‘yes’.

If nothing else, Rachelle’s two posts might give you an ‘aaaahhhh’ moment.

Excercises and Ruts

Rachelle Gardner, literary agent with Wordserve Literary, has some advice on her blog on how to work yourself out of a writing rut as well as improve your writing. She has a list of ten, all of which are worth checking out.

My favourite was #3, which was to make a file of body language details and facial expressions. I read her blog after coming home from a restaurant where I saw this guy doing all these hideous things while on a date with this (poor) girl. We’re talking wiping his nose with his hand, coughing across the table (he didn’t cover his mouth) and chewing on his pinkie. And I only watched him for about a minute. Yikes! You bet I created a file and his little quirks went straight into it. Yowzers!

Hey look! It’s on sale!

I used to tuck things like this away in my memory, but after reading Rachelle’s blog, I made a file. It’s going to be so much fun collecting tidbits to use later! (Especially once I get around to reading ‘Body Language for Dummies’. Think of all the wonderful notes I’ll have then!)

Enjoy!