Query Revisions?

Lately I've been thinking very seriously about revising my queries for The Descendant and Selene. The way I see it is that the agents haven't read the MS, so they can't possibly hate it. It HAS to be my query letters that's turning them off.

So. Caylee's query letter gets a revision. I have also been thinking about submitting my query letter to Query Shark to be possibly ripped apart and reviewed. And I have to say, I've never been more excited to get rejected publicly. Janet Reid, [Click HERE to view her blog.] if you don't know, is a literary agent with FinePrint Literary Management in NYC who runs Query Shark. [Click HERE for the Query Shark blog.] For those of you who may not know, Query Shark is exactly what it sounds like. You send your query, if she approves it, she will post it with her critiques. Because authors, writers, aspiring authors and everyone in between could ALWAYS use input from literary agents, I find this insanely helpful. If you don't and you would like to have a career in writing, reevaluate your career choices.

I know my query needs work, so I will be working on it for some time. 

--A.

That Dreadful "No".

Rejection. Ugh, I shudder with dread every time I hear it. 

Rejection is hard. We're brought up our entire lives conditioned to believe this, so we do. Want the truth? Yes, rejection is hard but it is not the end all, be all. You can get back up. And you get back up swinging, people! The moment you let the sadness from rejection filter out into your everyday life, is the moment you need to shake yourself and get a grip.

People tell you no when you're small, people tell you no when you're bigger and people will - guess what? - STILL tell you no when you're biggest. It's just the way the world works. Everyone can't get a yes all the time. Think of how insane this world would be if people's random - and sometimes dangerous - ideas weren't curbed with a no every now and then. It would be ANARCHY. 

Thus, we have the word no. Just remember, all those other people say no so that someday, somewhere, someone GREAT will say yes. 

Six Reasons To Seek Outside Help When Editing YOUR MS

Okay guys, let's say you've - like me - been a HUGE fan of writing for a long time. You've even started several books over the course of five or six years, but - also like me - you've only actually finished one or two full manuscripts. When I say 'finished', I mean your MS is 80k or more words.

Now, let's say you've - like me - called yourself editing it on your own, revised, changed, went over it with a fine-tooth comb and FINALLY, you think you've gotten it SO perfect, you think it couldn't get any better if some form of deity has written it themselves -

 I'll get into the several reasons why you'd be wrong in a second. -

and you think, 'Yes, I'm going to send off a few query letters'.

No. Just no. No matter who you are, what you write, published, unpublished, Indie or self-pubbed - SOMEONE ELSE - meaning not YOU - NEEDS TO TAKE  A LOOK AT YOUR MANUSCRIPT AND QUERY LETTER BEFORE YOU SEND ANYTHING OFF TO ANYONE. 

Reasons why: 

1. As authors, we already think what we write is amazing. We think we're so genius, G-d has touched us with the ability to write magnificent MS's and any agent/publishing house would be lucky to sign us. *Shakes head* Sadly, no. 
2. Not everything you write is a hit, not everything you write is sell-able, there isn't a market for everything you write - NOT EVERYTHING YOU WRITE IS GOOD. And yes, it chafes your a*s like a fluffer-nutter and no, people may not always be kind when telling you these sorts of things but you HAVE to hear it sometime.
3. Other people - once again, not YOU - know what they like to read, how they like to read and what they want to feel when they read. You cannot, cannot, cannot trust your own eyes, emotions and judgement when it comes to editing your MS. Obviously, you're biased. You wrote it, therefore you love it. 
4. When you edit your own MS's, there are going to be several mistakes that you missed, overlooked - or sometimes you may leave them on purpose (builds character for your MC or it is how a certain character in your MS speaks) sometimes those work and sometimes they don't. More often than not, they don't. 
5. You may not notice it, but you can easily over-write a MS. Case in point: my very own first MS is north of 140k words. No publisher ANYWHERE is going to pick up a debut more than 100k words. As evidence of my MS STILL lying untouched on my hard drive. Also, too many adjectives, similies, metaphors - all those add up in word count. And too many words is a problem. Ideal MS length is between 80k and 110k and 110k is pushing it. Books that are too long probably won't get read. No one wants to be intimidated by the size of a book on a shelf before picking it up.
6. Your MS can ALWAYS get better. You may be among one of the most creative minds on the planet but no one is perfect and everything can get better. A little tweak here, a revision there can make any great MS amazing. Don't be too proud. Every book gets edited before publishing and rather than seeing a bunch of red ink all over your precious baby, take the time and have a few friends peruse it. Have some margaritas with your girlfriends, a couple beers with the guys, lunch with your author friend or a night out with your bookclub and get it done. 

Prime example: I haven't touched my first MS in months because of Caylee and Caleb. I, too, thought it was perfect, sent off dozens of badly written queries for it and got sad like clockwork over the next 6-12 weeks when I got all my NO's and refusals - or didn't get any, in some cases. The moment I went back and started reading the first chapter, I found twelve mistakes in the first 750 words. It. Was. Crap. Crap, Shit, Garbage, a Hot Toddy - whatever you prefer to call it. Why, you ask? Because I didn't get anyone to look over my query BEFORE I sent it and I didn't let my impromptu editor look at the full body of work BEFORE I stamped it as done. Now, I'm in the middle of shaving about 80 thousand words off it - words, I now know I did NOT need - and making it presentable. Which is just a BUNCH of fun.

To avoid hacking away at your precious MS - like I am - be cautious when you write and pay closer attention when editing if you choose to self-edit. As you know, I am still unpublished and in no way should my reasons be followed to the T but  it is because I remain unpublished that I'm almost 80% sure that you should at least have someone take a second - or twelfth - look at your MS and/or Query letter.