Those dratted literary queries: one agent's take

 For anyone who didn't hear literary agent Sandy Lu from Book Wyrm Literary Agency's presentation to the Dallas Mystery Writers recently, here's a catch up. Meeting with the group via Zoom from New York, Lu gave her take on the publishing business's current, "very competitive" state and how to deal with it.

"It's a supply and demand issue," she said. "A lot of people think if they can type, they can write a book." 

Which leads to an overwhelming number of queries to agents. Aside from automatically rejecting that look generic, with "dear agent" type headings, Lu uses QueryManager (the agent/editor version of QueryTracker) to weed out spam.

But she sympathizes with those who've agonized over writing queries.

"I know writing a query letter is difficult. A lot of good writers can't write a (good) query." 

To deal with this, she also requests writing samples -- the first five pages of fiction manuscripts. Starting with the first paragraph, if she's OK with that, she goes on to the next and so on.

What to do, a writer asked, if the first five pages end in mid-sentence?

"Don't worry," Lu answered. "(Agents) are scanning. We're not reading every word!" And invariably, she will have made her decision by the first paragraph anyway.

Lu typically starts reading queries based on the work's genre as listed in their query rather than the date it hit her QueryManager inbox.

Writers unsure of their work's genre need to consider what they're reading. What shelf in a bookstore does their favorite reading come from? Where do they see their own story sitting?

Is it from the general fiction shelf? Romance? Fantasy? Science fiction? Even for writers who aren't buying from brick-and-mortar stores should note that online sellers will describe the genre of their wares.

What about genre-bending/blending books, or books spanning multiples genres, writers asked, a question repeated more than once.

"There's still a main genre," Lu replied. Again, where would our own book be shelved?

(By the way the free site QueryTracker provides lists of literary genres for works of fiction such as fantasy, historical, mystery, etc., including subgenres within some of those headings.)

Image: Pixabay

Although there are numerous sites about how to structure the query itself, Lu stated that it should be less than one page long. (Note: single-spaced.) And although some agents like a personal connection at the start, the main opening paragraph should include the book's title, word count, genre, and comparative titles.

Those comparative titles -- comps -- help the agent decide how to pitch the book to an editor. Lu prefers them to be for books published not more than three years previously. But even comparisons to older or classic works can be helpful. If the comparison is for something older, just be sure to include a more recent one or two as well.

The second paragraph should be a description of the book, "but only enough to pique interest. No more than six to seven sentences. A query should not be dry. it should read more like flash fiction."

Although she doesn't typically request a synopsis, "it's good to have a four-page synopsis. You can take it down to two pages, then to one (before) finally down to that single paragraph to use in a query."

Finally, the query letter should include a little about the writer, but only information relevant to the work at hand. And if we don't have prior publishing credits, there's no need to apologize. It's the book itself that counts.

What makes a query really stand out?

"A good title is helpful," Lu said. "Look at bookshelves for good titles from the same genre. Word count is important too. If (a book) is too short -- less than 60,000 words, or too long -- more than about 140,000, I can't do anything with it."

However, she admitted that a 140,000-word book would only be appropriate for fantasy, which usually requires more world-building. 

Her sweet-spot word count is about 80,000 to 90,000 words, with anything over 90,000 getting harder to sell.

How much does a writer's social media presence count, group members asked.

Although it doesn't have to be obsessive, Lu admitted having a publishing house editor turn down a book for lack of a social media platform. "It's never too early to start building a platform. Do a little every day. Pick one or two (platforms) you're comfortable and keep it up."

And, with the performance of such self-published books as The Martian, Andy Weir's blockbuster science fiction novel turned movie, and its offshoots, how much does a writer's self-publishing performance influence agents and editors? Are 20,000 self-publishing sales enough?

Probably not, Lu said, advising writers not to base too much hope on Weir's success. 

(As a sidelight, Wikipedia states The Martian sold 35,000 copies in its first three months as a self-published book on Amazon, in addition to the myriad free copies originally downloaded from Weir's blog.)

Finally, if we feel that Lu is the agent we've been dreaming of, check her website to see what she's looking form. But not today. Her Query

Manager says she's closed to queries until April 15, trying to catch up on her reading!

The comedy and tragedy of mixing literary genres

Although I’m edging away from writing science fiction and fantasy, those genres still hold places in my heart. So, I was delighted to reconnect with them at this year’s FenCon, Dallas’ literary sci-fi/fantasy convention. And to find a panel of writers who love writing too much to stay tied to a single genre version, whether "mashed" in the same story, or separated in “silo” stories.

Not that genre mixing is a modern phenomenon. What would Hamlet have been without a comic gravedigger? And where would William Shakespeare have been if he couldn’t move from comedies to tragedies to historicals without losing his audience? Why should Will have all the fun?

But how can modern writers manage those combined genres? Or switch seamlessly from one genre to another?  And do modern tastes – and modern social media – work against such mixing in 21^st century writing? In short, what are the perils of writing in more than one genre? 

YouTube personality Shado Wiley teamed with genre-busting writers Charlayne Denney (Fangs and Halos series), Ethan Nahte (The Undead Ate My Head), and Karen Bogen (Quest and Find) to search for answers. Even when the answer sometimes was, darned if they knew!

“There are people,” Bogen admitted, “who actually know what they’re writing about.” For others, including her, “the book tells you what it wants to be.”

“(Mine) started as a paranormal romance, and then I blew up a building,” said Denney, who combines angels and vampires (as well as explosives) in her Fangs and Halos series. 

l-r, Denney, Wiley, Nahte, Bogen

“So, you sit down to write the book that wants to be written?” moderator Wiley asked.

Mostly yes, the panelists agreed, although Nahté cautioned that he’s able to write strictly in a particular genre, especially his chosen one of horror, if there’s a call for a specific genre. “I have to ask, does this work? If it doesn’t, I do it anyway!”

“I listen to what my characters are telling me,” Denney said, “and hope they know what they’re doing.”

Still, Wiley said, pursuing the issue of “perils,” “Are there dangers to writing in more than one genre?”

“You could lose your audience,” Bogen said. “There’s also the peril of losing your focus,” Nahté added. 

“You get editors who don’t know how to sell them,” Bogen said, meaning, know where to place them on bookshelves with such labels as “fantasy,” “science fiction,” “young adult,” and so on. Although, Denney said, “with the advent of self-publishing and independent publishers, there’s less rigidity in labeling.” 

At this point, audience members were waving their hands with questions. “Are there any genres that are not mashable?”

Maybe not fairy tales and Nazis, the group decided. To which Bogen added, “I don’t do teenage angst vampires.” 

“Bless you!” Wiley intoned. Although that, perhaps is a matter of taste. When he noted, that with respect to Nahté’s specialty, zombie anthologies, “zombies mix with anything,” Nahte added, “They’re really good if you mix them with Twinkies.”

At which point an audience member asked, Is this the panel I thought it was? Her problem wasn’t how to mash genres together but how to keep her brand straight while writing books in each of four different genres. 

“Silo them,” Wiley said. The first step is to work on only one genre at a time. “If you find yourself drifting, set it down and write the book you’re drifting to.”

Nahté, in contrast, finds working on multiple books helpful. “If I get to a point where I’m blocked, I go to another book to clear my mind.”

A change of writing location can also help delineate the genres. “Use different rooms to keep yourself focused,” Wiley suggested, “Book A in the living room, Book B in bed.”

And “comedies in the bathroom,” was Nahté’s deadpan suggestion.  

What about the use of pen names? Will using multiple pen names benefit authors who want to write in multiple genres? Or should they stick with the same name regardless of how much genre mixing they do?

Wiley’s take was that separate pen names were acceptable when writing in multiple genres, but writers should beware of excessive name changes. Or excessive genre changes. Things have changed since Shakespeare’s time, and writers whose names are too closely identified with a particular genre will find it hard to switch. Even if they adopt pen names for multiple genres, identities can be hard to hide. “Like Hollywood, the book industry doesn’t like new things,” Wiley warned. “Names are franchises now. It’s tougher to hide behind pen names now since the advent of social media.”