Thank you for taking the time to talk to us, Ms. DeChiara.

Fiction Factor: What mistakes should a writer avoid in a query letter?
 

Jennifer DeChiara: It is absolutely essential that writers learn to write great query letters. Although it's totally different from creative writing, it's a skill that can, and must, be learned if a writer hopes to get anyone to read his book. Here are the most common query mistakes:

* letters that are overly long

One page should be all you need for a great query. More than that just
shows that you're not capable of writing succinctly. A famous author once
wrote, in a letter to a friend: "I'm sorry I wrote such a long letter, but I
didn't have time to write a short one." By writing concisely, you're also
showing respect for the reader's busy schedule. Agents receive thousands of query letters a year; believe me, we appreciate writers who get right to the point.

* letters that contain irrelevant personal information

Unless it's directly pertinent to your book, agents don't need to know
that you're a wife or father of three. Don't tell me your life story; it reeks
of amateurism.

* letters that rave about the book

Authors who go on and on and tell me how wonderful their book is only
make me think they're desperate and unprofessional. I have to feel passionately about a book to want to represent it, so it doesn't matter to me what a writer says about his own work.

* letters in which the writer tells me about all the friends, children, and
family members who've read the book and loved it

Again, none of this makes any difference to an agent. People who are not
publishing industry professionals are not the best judges of fine literature.
We need to feel strongly about the book and make our own decisions.

* letters in which the writer tells me how long he's been unpublished and
how many rejections he's had.

If you don't have anything good to say about your writing career, then
don't say anything at all. No agent is going to be excited about taking on
someone who's been rejected by everyone. Put your best foot forward. Make an agent feel that he's getting an incredible client.

* letters that are unprofessional -- dirty, sloppy, handwritten, have typos
or grammatical errors or misspellings (or all three!)

First impressions count. Invest in a good computer and professional
letterhead stationery. Make sure you've proofread your letter carefully before
you send it out. Fold your letter in thirds. Make sure the font is clear and
dark and large enough to read easily -- a 12-point font is preferred.

* letters with no SASE

It's unrealistic to expect agents to pay for your postage; letters with
no SASEs are automatically tossed. By forgetting this simple item, a writer
seems either amateurish or forgetful (or both).

* letters with more than one pitch

Don't give the agent a grocery list of books or projects and ask them to
pick which one or ones they'd like to see. Besides being unprofessional, it
makes me wonder why they haven't been published or haven't been trying to sell their work.

FF: How would you define your expectations of a good query letter?

J.D.: A good query letter should, above all, make me want to read the book. It should state the book's theme, or "hook," in one concise sentence in the
first paragraph. The author's credentials should be included in one brief
paragraph, along with his contact information. It should be well written,
simple, and straightforward. Thanking me for my time is always nice, and don't forget the SASE.

FF: How many manuscripts (partials and whole) do you read in the average week?

J.D.: How many manuscripts I read depends on what else is going on that week, but on average, I probably read about one manuscript and five proposals a week.

FF: How important is a synopsis in selling a book to a publisher?

J.D.: In my experience, a good one-sentence "hook" and a brief one-paragraph synopsis is all I've ever needed. An editor needs to know the setting, the protagonist, and the obstacles with which the protagonist is faced. Long synopses are cumbersome, unnecessary, and usually not read.

FF: How important is it for an unknown author to have an agent in terms of
getting their manuscripts read?

J.D.: Occasionally an author will break through and have their work read, and sold, by their own efforts. Unfortunately, these occasions are rare. Most
publishers don't accept unagented submissions, so unless a writer has an agent to submit his work, it just won't get read. Editors rely on agents to not only send them manuscripts that are well written, but also to send them manuscripts that are suited to their own literary tastes and needs.

FF: What qualities must a manuscript possess in order for you to really push to see it published?

J.D.: I push for every manuscript I take on; I don't represent an author or a
manuscript unless I'm passionate about them. The kind of authors I take on
have unique, beautiful voices. They have their own special take on the world;
they have something special to say and a special way of saying it. It's a
certain spark that's hard to describe or put into words, but once I find it,
it's unmistakable -- it hits me in the gut.

FF: How many copies would an author have to sell for you to consider
representing a self-published novel?
 

J.D.: It's not about the number of copies sold, but more about the length of
time it took the author to sell them. If someone sells 3,000 copies of their
book in one year, I'd definitely take a look; if they sell 3,000 copies but it
took them three years to sell them, I'd pass on the book. However, if someone came along with a brilliant book that, because of extenuating circumstances, didn't sell, I'd certainly give it a chance.

FF: What are the biggest pitfalls facing a new author in the negotiating their own contract?

J.D.: There are a lot of books out there on publishing contracts, and every
writer should study them. If a writer is offered a contract, they should
definitely hire a publishing attorney to negotiate their contract if they don't
have an agent. Some issues to consider are: when is your book considered "out of print" and when will your rights be reverted back to you; by what standards can your publisher deem your book "unacceptable"; and what happens to your book and your rights if your publisher ever goes bankrupt? Every word in a publishing contract has the potential to damage an author's career; it's imperative that authors seek professional help when negotiating their publishing contracts.

FF: When looking at submissions from unknown writers, how much emphasis do you place on a writer being able to market himself or herself?

J.D: The book has to stand on its own merits. Of course it's wonderful when I find a writer who has some marketing experience or is, let's say, a
publicist, but that fact won't sway me to represent them. I have to love the
writing. After I decide to represent someone, however, I always have a conversation with the writer and discuss, among other things, the importance of their promoting their own books. If I find that a writer is reluctant or unwilling to learn and work on book publicity, I definitely rethink my offer of representation.

FF: Has the publishing industry's views on e-publishing changed much in the last 3 years and are on-line publishing credits (either in novel or short
story form) taken seriously?

J.D.: E-publishing is taken much more seriously these days. I think the
publishing industry realizes that e-publishing is the wave of the future and is
here to stay. A lot can be said about e-publishing, both pro and con, but I would definitely consider someone who had on-line credits. Good writing is good writing; the distribution of it or the format in which it occurs doesn't matter to me.

FF: What advice would you give the new author seeking publication?

J.D.: First and foremost: make sure that your manuscript is ready for
publication. Too often writers get caught up in the idea of being published
authors; often this becomes their goal when, instead, they should be focusing on becoming the best writers they can be. Once they are at that point, they should try to learn as much as possible about the publishing industry. They should read books on the topic, go to writers conferences, start or join a writers group, and read periodicals about the business of publishing. (Publishers Weekly is a great resource.) And, in the words of Winston Churchill: "Never, ever, ever quit."




 

© Copyright 2003 Tina Morgan. All rights reserved