Dear Neighborhood,
Had one of those days. Maybe weekends.
Where you just feel like a terrible_____________. Fill in the blank with every role you can imagine you are/should/could be.
And then I came home to this email from the Query Shark. (She's a NYC literary agent who also blogs about successful query letters–and not so successful.)
I haven't sent out a query letter to many firms. But I did get a rejection letter once. So, I sent my letter to the Shark for shredding, on the off-chance that it would surface and maybe she could point out my failings.
I think I've died and gone to heaven. Who knew there would be sharks there?
I so needed this today:
June 13th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Kimber, that is absolutely awesome! Sounds extremely promising!
June 13th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Well done Kimber! I'm looking forward to buying your book one day.
June 13th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
I had one of those weekends too. The aspirin bottle is just about empty. Yay on the progress, keep up the momentum!
June 13th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
That was your query?? Awesome!! Congratulations, she's asking for a partial or a full? So exciting! Hope you get more good news!
June 13th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
June 13th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
I'm really confused. I'm not familiar with Query Shark, how it works, or what a query letter is. Can you please give me a little background if you don't mind. Thanks lots and lots!!!
June 13th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
Great feedback. I also echo LBreeze's question… what's this site about?
June 13th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
If a writer wants to contact a publishing house or literary agent about publishing a book, the query letter is the first and possibly most crucial step. Let's say you wrote a book about the African skunk bird, okay? You want a publisher to buy it. There isn't a publishing house in the world who will take unsolicited manuscripts. So you send, instead, a short letter, called a query. In your query, you have to grab the editor/agent's attention within the first sentence or two, or the letter gets tossed along with the other 999 letters received that day.
June 13th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Amazing feedback, and very out of the blue–I was not expecting it!
June 13th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
Ooh, does aspirin help the general groveling melancholy, or just the headache? Kidding! I'm telling you, there is nothing like hope to yank you out of the doldrums, that's for sure. Can you imagine? Me? Actually writing for a living?
June 13th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Probably not as much as I'm looking forward to it, lol! But thank you!
June 13th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
That's awesome! Thanks for sharing, I really hope things go well!
June 13th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Wow, congratulations AGAIN. I will bookmark this lady's blog. I'm working on something myself.
June 13th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Yes I can imagine it! You are a great writer!
June 13th, 2010 at 11:38 pm
How absolutely wonderful! Congratulations! And thanks for turning me on to this blog. It's really helpful to someone like me who has thought of sending query letters before. Congrats again!
June 14th, 2010 at 8:54 am
I am so thrilled for you! This is a huge deal. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you!!
June 14th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
Thanks so much for explaining the details. I wasn't sure who wrote what between the blue text and the black text. I know someone who is an inspiring writer than can benefit from the website info.