Query Time: Interview With Literary Agent, Jason Yarn

Today we have awesome agent, Jason Yarn of Paradigm Talent Agency here for an interview!

So Jason, What's the number one mistake that query writers make? What makes you hit the "delete" key after the first line?

It’s difficult to answer these two questions together, as I don’t know that there’s a constant common mistake I see, whereas there are a number of things that a writer can do that make me pass quickly, like:

·       Start with a joke. (99% of the time it’s never funny)

·       Write the letter like its coming from one of their characters.

·       Tell me how it is going to be the next world-wide bestseller and I’m a fool if I pass. (More common on adult thriller and non-fiction political queries, I think)

·       Just writing to ask if I’m accepting queries.

·       Querying me in an area I’m not looking for. (There’s an old interview with me on Writer’s Digest, I believe, which has a lot more categories than I look for now – people need to keep in mind that an agent might change what they are looking for later on.)

·       Writing a massive query letter – it needs to be as tight as you can make it. (That’s before getting to sample pages or a synopsis)

That’s just a few things that are easily fixable. As for #1 mistake/instant pass, I guess it has to be the people who just write blanket letters, without even addressing each agent by their name, or, worse, leaving all the agents in the email so we can see each other. I get more of these than you’d think and they are always bad news.

On the whole, people querying with YA novels usually have the best, most polished queries, so I am rarely rejecting those because there is something wrong at first sight with the query.

Woohoo! Go YA writers! We must be awesome.

What would you love to see in your inbox right now?

Some more epic, genre stuff – any level – I get a lot of genre queries, but they have been quieter, smaller lately. I like them, but they have been harder to sell I've found.

What story line/character type/cliche do you wish would die and stay dead? (I promise, no vampire jokes).

Cliché: No doubt, the “looking in the mirror so the writer has an excuse to have the character describe themselves” cliché. That’s a pet peeve for me, and I know for others. Don’t do it.

Story line: I guess deserted wasteland dystopias. I like dystopias in general, but I don’t like the “empty world” ones a whole lot. I think I was scarred by Z is for Zachariah as a child.

We all want to be special, shiny and unique in our query letters, but does trying something "quirky" or different really work? Should writers stick to the basic query formula? Any examples of a unique hook that has caught your eye, or failed miserably?

You’ll see some of my thoughts on this in Question 1. The unique hook you are looking for has to come naturally out of your story. The easy way to do this “it’s X meets Y” with some combo of other books or movies, or “my character is Z plus A” in the same fashion. It’s an effective short-hand – I know some people look at it as a cheesy Hollywoodization of everything, but remember that you’re just looking at a way to grab someone’s attention and get them to read further in where you’ll get beyond the surface. Also, make sure your X’s and Y’s are not both classic novels – got to have something in there that worked in the last 5-10 years. A better approach of course is if you can build your opening line, your hook, directly from your book.

Erin, I went back and checked, and you actually did something I don’t see that much of, starting your letter off with text from the book (after first introducing what it was, of course). This may be an effective tactic, if you can find a short passage from the opening that is really grabbing (no pun intended for your query). I think most writers are wary of this, and it is not a no brainer. But it could be one to think about.

 Aw, shucks. If you guys are curious about the query letter Jason is referring to, you can read it HERE.

Let's say an author gets to phrase two. Their writing is good, the first pages pull you in...but once you have the full manuscript you decide it's not for you. What usually motivates that decision?

If it becomes a slog to read it – if I don’t want to keep picking it up. The interesting thing here is that the writer has to make my work not be work anymore. It should be a joy to keep reading, and if there are any problems, I’m excited to tackle them with an author, not trepidatious that they will be too hard to fix.

Sadly, there’s no easy fix for this, though you might be able to control for it with beta readers. You might want to ask people to read the book as fast as they can. Bug them about it. If they start and are not getting into it, that might be a sign. It’s a purely commercial form of quality testing – is this a beach read, is this a page-turner? Not every book falls into that kind of category, but then, maybe your question is “Did it make you cry?” If it’s supposed to make people cry, and there’s nothing but dry eyes, you know you have an issue.

Do you prefer reading queries, or being pitched to in person? Will you be attending any conferences or workshops this year?

I like doing conferences, but it's more for the workshops. Pitching in person is interesting, and I know how hard it is on the pitchers, but ultimately it is no substitute for reading someone’s writing. I like the workshops on query letters and opening pages because I find authors can get a lot of quick, good info on how to hone their work there.

I did some earlier this year and some last year, but probably not many for the rest of the year, I’m just too busy. Sadly, the nice one put on by BackSpace here in NYC has come to an end. I did a couple of online contests, and those were fun and easier since I didn't have to get off my butt.

Is there anything you've sold that is coming out soon (or just come out) that you're excited to tell us about?

Apropos to the last question, I had a book come out that I picked as a winner in a contest a while back, The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan. It’s women’s fiction, not a category I really do, so it’s a bit of a fluke, but I think it’s a good example of finding new clients and books in unexpected places. I got into Amy’s book because the contest exposed me to more of her writing than I might have if I’d seen a query from her that was tagged in this genre, because I would have quickly passed by. But because it spoke to me personally, I kept on going with it.

Also, because I do a lot of work in the comics world, I’d encourage people to check out the trade paperbacks for Peter Panzerfaust by Kurtis Wiebe and Tyler Jenkins – it’s good stuff, and Kurtis’s next comic, Rat Queens, is going to be loved by any Joss Whedon fans and fans of funny, butt-kicking women in general.

Thanks, Jason!

Stay tuned for more Query Tips. Also, be sure to check out my new query "Dos and Don'ts" video HERE, in which I issue a fellow writer (and YOU) A CHALLENGE. Ooooh.

Questions? Comments? Be sure to leave them below!

Query Time: Sample Query Letter

Welcome to Query Time part 2!

While struggling with query letters, especially when I was first learning to write them, I often found myself wishing there was a website full of REAL query letter samples that had won requests or landed an agent for the writer. It would have been so much easier to simply use examples, than to slowly teach myself how to cobble together a proper query.

There are a few samples on the internet that I found helpful, so I figure I would throw mine out into cyberspace and hope it helps someone.

Below is a sample of the query letter that got multiple full and partial requests, as well as an offer from my agent. I haven't altered the actual letter in any way, it's copied and pasted directly from the email.

Dear Mr. "Agent Name", 

             

I hope you will take a look at my dark YA steampunk novel, LORD MACHINA.

Hazel took a step backward. “Mrs. Henshaw? Are you alright?” When the woman moved toward her Hazel gasped. Clearly Mrs. Henshaw was not alright. She moved strangely, stiffly. And Hazel was reminded of the clockwork doll her father had given her for Christmas years ago, how it had lurched stiffly along until Hazel had touched it, and it had died.  Mrs. Henshaw continued to move forward, and Hazel stepped back again, frightened.  Her foot caught on the corner of the raised flower bed and she fell backwards into the rose bushes with a shriek.   Thorns scratched the skin of her arms and poked through her dress, but she barely noticed. Mrs. Henshaw was still coming at her, arms outstretched, her lips pulled back in a hideous smile.

Hazel Cogswell breaks everything she touches. When she sets her very last suitor on fire, she prepares for the life of an old maid, a life of needlepoint, knitting and the ownership of eighteen cats. But when she goes for a late night stroll in the park she is attacked by one of her mother’s friends, who appears to have been turned into some kind of steam powered monster.

If that isn’t dreadful enough, she is saved by Cyrus, a boy who claims to be a telepath, and Annie, an outspoken redhead with a fondness for explosions. They explain to her that London’s elite are being targeted, their houses burned to the ground. The victims are turning up later…dead, but reanimated by clockwork.

Hazel quickly learns that all of the monsters are bent on one thing, finding her.

Who is the man causing the fires and what does he want with her? And why on earth does he call himself Lord Machina? LORD MACHINA is a darkly humorous story set in the gas-lit streets of Whitechapel.

 I have been a freelance writer for six years, concentrating mainly on urban fantasy and short stories. Most recently I won the Silverland Press short story contest for my short story, THE LOCKSMITH.  LORD MACHINA is complete at 50,000 words, (although scenes may be added if necessary.) I have included the first ten pages below. I can be reached at the telephone number above, or at (email here).

Thank you very much for your time and consideration,

Sincerely,

Erin Latimer

There you have it. It's a pretty basic animal, this letter. A quote from the story, a brief description and a bio that isn't particularly impressive. The beautiful thing about your bio is that you don't have to have won tons of prizes and have graduated with a Bachelor's degree in English Lit. Heck, you don't have to have graduated high school. If your bio isn't relevant, leave it out. There is only one thing the agent really cares about...is it a good book?

How is the query quest going for you? If you have further questions about this particular letter, or just anything at all, please ask in the comments below. I'll do my best to answer.

Tune in on Monday for an interview with awesome literary agent, Jason Yarn!

Query Time: 7 Things I Wish I'd Known While Querying

It's Query Time here at the Muse's Library! Over the next two weeks I'll be doing a series of posts about the query process, ending with an interview with literary agent, Jason Yarn. Buckle your seat belts! For the first post in the Query Time series, I'm going to be giving you a list of Things I Wish I'd Known.

It's going to be a bit random, but these are all the mistakes I made (before I knew they were mistakes). They're common things that people do without realizing it, and they can get you rejected faster than you can say "rhetorical question".

Without further adieu, here are the 7 things I wish I'd known before sending out those first few query letters.



1) Get the agent's name. Get it right.

Think you have the name right at the top of the query letter? Check it again. Now check it once more. Before you hit send, check it one more time. Are you sure this person is a woman? Sure, the picture was fuzzy and the name says "Sue", but don't you remember that Johnny Cash song? You never know.

Did you spell the last name right? Maybe it's a German name and you can't pronounce it without spitting all over your keyboard, but you darn well better spell it right.

Maybe you're copying and pasting your query letter. That's okay, but be careful, you'll cringe with horror after you hit that "send" key and realize only after, that you've sent it to agent number two, with agent number one's name still on it.

And if you ever think of addressing your query with "dear agent", I suggest you bang your forehead vigorously on the desk until the urge passes.


2) Pay attention to guidelines

Go to the agent's website and read the guidelines. Read them again as you write the query and put together your manuscript pages/synopsis. Now read them a third time before you hit "send".

"Wait!" you say, "I don't need guidelines. I'm a special, shiny sequin and I live by my own rules!"

Get in line behind the other special shiny sequins. Doing "cute" things like phoning an agent, or showing up at the building will get you a reputation. And no, not a reputation for creativity.

No crayon drawings, no glitter bombs inside envelopes (surprise!), no pictures of you with your dog, Muffin, no mysterious packages.

Just follow the guidelines.

3) Don't sweat the rejections

You will send out lots and lots of query letters. In return, you will get lots and lots of rejections. Sometimes they'll be nice, sometimes they'll have feedback, occasionally it will be soul-crushing. Mostly it will be form letters, and sometimes....nothing.

Don't sweat it. Fire off those query missiles like you're running a "launch and forget" program. Don't analyze the vague feedback (this voice is far too turgid and plain) and if the same feedback starts to pile it up, use it to edit your manuscript.

Remember, this is totally subjective. One agent hates your plot line, another one loves it. One says the tone is too serious, another one says it's too light. Each time you get one rejection, send out two more query letters.

Most importantly, don't take it personally. That's a great way to end up spending a Saturday night on the kitchen floor with a bottle of wine and an entire french baguette.

What? No, that's not personal experience...

4) Ignore the "Haters"

As much as I dislike the term "haters" it accurately describes some people. Distance yourself from these people. They will tell you you're wasting your time. They'll say writing is a "hobby", they'll tell you that your query woes are "no big deal". The thing is, when you do find success, these people don't get any better. They won't celebrate with you, they'll snort and shrug and act like you crossing one of the biggest hurdles of your writing life isn't that impressive.

There will always be people like that out there. It's because they gave up their dreams, or because they're jealous of you, or because they're having a really rotten year and they don't think anyone else should be allowed to find happiness.

Sometimes these people are your friends, or your family. Sometimes it's other writers, sadly enough.

Push these people away. Find new friends who support you, who will cheer for you. Find a "query buddy" and help each other out. You can lean on one another when the rejections get rough, keep one another accountable (did you send three query letters out today? Get to it!) and best of all, you know who to call as soon as you get "the call".

5) Your first book isn't good enough

I should rephrase that to "might not be good enough". But there is no denying that mine wasn't. It wasn't ready for publication. It wasn't ready to be read by agents. It wasn't particularly marketable.

This might be you as well. How do we learn to write a book? By writing a book.

Your first book is going to have flat characters, sloppy pacing, crazy plot holes and inconsistencies, tons of passive voice and so many other flaws I could stand around and name them all day. But it's your practice book.

Would you record yourself learning to play the violin and send it to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in hopes they'll hire you? No, of course not. So why do people think their first book is going to be good enough to get the attention of agents?

It might not be your second book that gets picked up either. It might be your third, or your fourth. Maybe your fifth. Writing a novel is different to everything else, it's not like writing a play or a short story, or an essay.

Your first one is going to suck. It's inevitable.

6) Pace Yourself

To me, querying was like playing the lottery. I got addicted. I would sit there and send out ten queries per day, and when I got a request back for a full or a partial, it fed the addiction. The thing is, that's all I did. For a period of two or three months, I queried without writing anything else.

Dumb idea. 

Why was it dumb? Because I was querying my first book. It got rejected again and again, and finally I realized it wasn't good enough. I had to write another book and query that one instead.

But guess what... I hadn't written anything else. I hadn't even started an idea for my next book.

If I had just had a little more balance in my writing life, if I had been writing my next book while I was querying the first one, I would have had another book ready to go as soon as I realized my first wasn't going to cut it. 

Always have another book going. It's a habit you should develop early in your writing life. The same goes for when you're waiting to hear back from your agent, or when you're on submission. It's the only thing that keeps you from going insane.

Right now, I'm writing another book. If my first book doesn't sell and every editor on the face of the planet earth decides they hate it, I'll have another one ready to go.

7) The answer to your rhetorical question is NO.

Dear agent, what would you do if a gang of break-dancing clowns kidnapped you and took you to their secret hideout at Chuck E Cheese's?

No. No. NO. Stop it. Don't ever do that again.

I'm ashamed to admit I had a rhetorical question at the start of a few of my early queries. The best thing you can do to avoid query no no's like this is google "literary agent pet peeves". Study. Learn. Memorize.

There's a long list of things us writers seem to think is particularly clever, and we use them over and over and over, until the agent wants to poke her eyes out with a number two pencil, just so she never has to see another rhetorical question again.

So that's a total of 7 things I wish I'd known. I'm sure there are more, so there may be another post about this in the future. Tune in to Query Time on Saturday, where I'll be posting about how to write a query letter, and posting the actual query letter that got a full request, and eventually an offer.

Questions, comments, complaints about something I didn't cover? Leave 'em in the comments!

Query Letters: What You Absitively, Posolutely Should NEVER Do

                                  Naked pictures are a definite NO.

               

Some of you have always wanted to be writers, others figure out their passion later in life. Whatever the case is, if you want to have a book published you’re most likely going to have to write the dreaded query letter. *Cue scary music here.

I say “most likely” because once in awhile you may stumble across a writer that got his or her agent through a writer’s conference. Still, if you ask, I’ll bet my left shoe (or my favorite feather pen) they’ve written their share of letters.

I’m always stumbling across questions on the internet about how to write a query letter. That’s not something I’m going to go into depth about, because there are a million websites out there that will tell you a million helpful things. I highly recommend “Query Shark”, but warn you she may bite if you stick your finger in the tank.

To date, I have written…well, LOADS of query letters to loads of different agents. On my first book I sent out sixty-one query letters. I got varied responses, a few requests and tons of polite form rejections. I finally clued in on number sixty one. I was querying the WRONG BOOK. I urge you to pay attention when an agent takes the time to comment. They are busy people, consider it an honor. Not to mention, they are SMART. Listen to what they tell you! I finally figured it out when I had three or four agents telling me the same thing. My story was good, but it wasn’t going to sell in today’s market. Instead of crying and stomping about (well alright, there may have been some of that at first) I sat down and started scratching away at book number two.

Book number two was a different experience all together. Instead of sending off one or two query letters a week, I sent three or four a day. I bombarded the literary world, sending queries flying out like a hail of bullets…ahem, that is to say, I sent a LOT. Then I sat back and began work on the rough draft of my third book. Several weeks later, I was surprised and delighted to get an email back requesting the full manuscript! Hoorah! I clapped my hands gleefully and set about sending it off. Then, lo and behold, I got another request….and another! All together over a period of several weeks I got FOURTEEN requests. I was flabbergasted, floored, and a few other fancy words that mean “really really surprised”.

What did I do differently? First off, I now had the “right” book, one that got some attention, since it was in a popular genre (check out agents “wish lists” for what they’re looking for and see if your book fits it). I kept the letter plain and simple: For my first book I tried fancy “hooks” to try to make the query letter interesting. My second round of query letters held only a sample of writing, an exciting “quote” from the book. Really though, I’m afraid there’s no magical query formula. Your book will either grab a few people’s attention, a lot of people’s attention, or maybe none at all. But there ARE things you can do to make sure you have NO chance (I look up these things on the internet because they amuse me endlessly). SO, here’s what you do if you want to strike out, and never get a single request:

1)      -Send pictures. You may be saying, “People do that? Really?” Really. If you go read a couple of agent blogs you’ll be shocked to hear what they receive. Pictures of you in the buff, your dog (also in the buff of course), your beautiful veggie garden. One agent writes about an author who sent her a picture of said agent walking up the front steps of her office building, and one of her walking in the door of her house! (Oh yeah, don’t stalk them either).

2)      -Make your letter “pretty”. They’ll love that. Glitter, sequins, paper mache….you could even put on lip stick and make big lip prints all over it! Yay!

3)      -Say things like “I am God”, “God told me to write this”, “I’ll make you a million dollars” or, “I have written a manuscript that surpasses the Bible and Shakespeare”. (If you want to read some crazy stuff writers say in query letters, go over to the website “Slushpile Hell”, written by an irate (and very funny) literary agent.

4)    - Go into a long and rambling description of how you were published in your high school newspaper, you wrote poems about the girl you dated in collage (she said they were really good), oh and when you were five you wrote a short story and your mom stuck it on the fridge.

5)     -Say that your book is like Harry Potter meets Twilight meets the Hunger Games, but it’s better and more original then all of them.

6)    -  Spell things however you like. Screw the dictionary! You write things YOUR way!

I could go on, but I won’t (you’re welcome). If you want a laugh, go look up outrageous things authors write in their query letters. You’ll be amazed and astonished, and incredibly thankful you aren’t a literary agent. Oh, and at some point I might write a post about how to write an actual query letter. But this was WAY more fun. Happy writing!

Agented at Last

Yes, it's official. I am now represented by Jason Yarn of Paradigm Talent Agency. I have emerged from query hell (and relatively unscathed, I think). I woke up one sunny March morning at eight o'clock and checked my email, which has become a habit so compulsive it's bordering on addiction, and lo and behold - an email from Jason Yarn of Paradigm saying that he'd finished Lord Machina and liked it very much, and asking if he could call to talk about the manuscript! Needless to say I screamed and flailed, waking up my poor confused husband, and then ran to the computer to send a reply. No sooner had I hit send, then my phone began to ring (the ring tone being the Imperial March, might I add) and underneath the number the call display screamed NEW YORK at me.

  "Oh Lordy!" said I, "New York!" (That's how we country bumpkins talk). I picked up the phone and tried my absolute hardest to sound normal, and not like a screaming crazy person. We had a lovely conversation (I believe it was lovely. I felt a bit dazed) and to make a long, over dramatic story short, he offered representation! I had to wait a week to say yes, since several other agents needed to be notified so they could finish reading, and I also happened to be in Mexico that week with no access to computers unless you paid for them. So I couldn't check my email obsessively, which was a good thing (but frustrating all the same).

 Most of them passed, one said she'd consider offering if it was longer, but Jason was the first choice anyways, and after the week was up I happily accepted his offer. (Above, you can see me being an absolute dork and signing the contract with a feather pen). I then made my husband take me out for a "celebratory brownie". It's true, I don't need an excuse for a brownie (EVERY brownie is a celebratory one) but I've been planning this for sometime, obviously.....

                                             Brownie of Celebration