First off this week: ME! If you didn’t see it earlier, check out your opportunity to win a gently-loved book HERE from me 
Lately I’ve been seeing a lot more comments from agents about Query Letters. This week Nathan Bransford talks about why you should write your own. I have to say, the idea that my fiction voice comes thru my professional business correspondence sets me off a little. I write two things: YA Traditional Fantasy and now (apparently) YA Rom Com’y stuff. I honestly don’t see the query letter as my “voice” in either of those – which, to be honest, they’re different anyway.
The flip side of this are the agents say things like, “please stop trying to be clever. just tell me what I need to know.” — Personally, I would like to thank the agent (where is that clip darn it???) who said, “I’ll know it when I see it.” Honesty. Thank you. —-Alright, I hear the arguments forming. I’m sure agents know that too clever or too professional or too weak or too rambling or too attempting to be funny or too whatever isn’t for them. But, then, if that’s truly your style, maybe you aren’t a good fit? No. Really. I’m asking here.
OK, back to our regularly scheduled Weekly Round-Up
As always, Jessica Faust had great post this week that hinted into the life of a literary agent and the publishing world, but she also did a great one on what goes into a Fiction Proposal. Let’s get back to basics and review, shall we?
With that in mind, check out Janet Reid’s Three Phrases to Never Use in a Query.
Michael Ayers did a great post this week about the music industry, the publishing industry and what publishing can learn from this music guys HERE.
On the Tor website blog, Jane Lindskold did a really interesting post about Hard Fantasy - definitely worth the read whether you read/write fantasy or not. Challenges who we look at genres.
OK, I’ll be honest, I don’t know how I missed this for almost a month…but seriously….I laughed ridiculously hard. Check out the link that inspired this brand new cover destined to grace the NYTBS list!
I’ve been thinking on this whole Ghost writer Query letter thang.
My theory is – the writer is so invested in the story, so in love with the characters and tied up with the backstory, on top of being smitten with certain plot developments, they sort of miss the big picture.
Meanwhile, an impartial 3rd party can read the story and quickly sum it up in a quick synopsis. They don’t have all the baggage.
I can see why its an attractive idea. Now then.
You do mine, I’ll do yours. *grin*
Those are exactly the issues I had with my synopsis until I put it away and worked on something else to give me a little distance.
I can see both sides of this – while I can imaging paying someone to do it for me, I totally robbed Sandra B of a night on the phone going over my query for a couple HOURS to make it make sense outside my head.
The really funny thing here to me is the fact that AFTER the agent has been partnered with you hear everyone say “just write. the writers job is to write.” — but if you take the scope before the partnership, then you’re cheating….
But, you should be able to run your writing career just like that – a career. I strongly believe this.
Ok, so I don’t get a vote since I can see both sides *grin*