Learn about the common querying mistakes writers make, such as sending queries too early or to the wrong person. Discover the importance of following submission guidelines, clarifying genre, and crafting a professional query letter. Avoid pitfalls like vague story summaries and inappropriate comp titles to increase your chances of literary success.
Ensure manuscript is complete and polished before querying agents.
Select culturally relevant comp titles to showcase book effectively.
Deep dives
Mistake of Querying Too Soon
Querying too soon is a common mistake where writers rush to query before their manuscript is ready. To avoid this, writers should ensure that they have finished their manuscript, received feedback, and incorporated it to improve their story before querying agents or editors.
Selecting the Wrong Comp Titles
Choosing inappropriate comp titles can hinder a writer's query success. Writers should aim to select culturally relevant and comparable comp titles, preferably less than five years old, to showcase their book effectively and show familiarity with the market.
Neglecting Submission Guidelines
Failing to follow submission guidelines is a key mistake in querying. Writers must meticulously adhere to agents' or editors' submission rules to demonstrate professionalism and respect for their time, increasing the likelihood of their query being considered.
In this episode, I'm sharing the 10 most common querying mistakes I see writers make and how to avoid them. Here's a preview of what you'll hear in the episode:
[02:45] Mistake #1: Your story isn't 100% ready to send out just yet. [04:25] Mistake #2: Sending your query to the wrong person. [06:15] Mistake #3: Not following the submission guidelines. [08:45] Mistake #4: You forgot to include your metadata. [09:50] Mistake #5: Your word count is too high or too low. [11:10] Mistake #6: The genre of your story isn't clear. [12:30] Mistake #7: The comp titles listed don't make sense. [14:25] Mistake #8: Your story summary is too vague. [16:35] Mistake #9: You've tried to fit too much stuff in your query. [18:55] Mistake #10: Your query letter is unprofessional or weird. [21:00] Final thoughts and episode recap
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