233 queries in my inbox today, 233 queries in my inbooooooxxxxx, take one down, request a partial, 232 queries in my inbox today.
232 queries in in my inbox today, 232 queries in my inboooooxxxxxxxx, take one down, gah rhetorical question?, 231 queries in my inbox today.
231 queries in in my inbox today, 231 queries in my inboooooooooxxxxxx, take one down, aliens are you sure?, 230 queries in in my inbox today
And so on.
Open thread! I will be dipping in and out as I’m catching up.
Josh says
Sooo, I take it you haven't gotten to mine yet… ((sigh))
Nathan Bransford says
Charlee-
Query as yourself.
Nathan Bransford says
steve-
I actually talk about that in the post on author websites.
Nathan Bransford says
Annie-
Page 1.
Nathan Bransford says
Geoff-
FAQs.
Rachelle says
Dear God, thank you that I'm not as popular as Nathan. Amen.
Toya says
I can only dream of having 160 comments total on everything I have ever posted on my blog lol.
I discovered your blog in a vain Google Alert search of my own pseudonym "Literary Nobody" and I enjoy readng your posts very much. Thank you for sharing your expertise and wit with us.
Wanda B. Ontheshelves says
"Consider yourself intervened."
Since this is an open thread, and the holiday season is upon us…and someone-who-shall-remain-namless DID drink the whiskey I was saving to use on my fruitcake (yes, I love fruitcake!) – you know, there are those "white knuckle flyers," who sit there with a drink in their hand the whole time they're flying, 'cause they're so scared…do the holidays have to be like that?
And although one of the writer stereotypes is of being a drinker, maybe the truth for some of us writers is, we have drinkers and pill-poppers around us, and we grew up with them, and writing is (in part) an island of sanity and clarity and sobriety in the midst of the family madness? And why does my relative have to drink the whiskey I was saving for my fruitcake? I know I can get more, but a part of me feels like, is nothing sacred?
And then relative B, who likes fancy beer, and microbrewery beer, must you fly off the handle every single holiday? And aren't we all tired of it? Do you think if you drank less you might not be so…volatile?
Anyway, I wanted to write this as support to any other writers out there who have to deal with this, you know, you can "intervene," speak up, and advocate for a dry holiday…there are probably other people in the family who feel the same way. Join forces!
Note: I really like hazelnut liqueur! Ice wine! Aren't 'spirits' a wonderful gift to humanity? Well, they are…until they aren't.
Happy Holidays to those writers among us with heavy drinkin' pill-poppin' relatives!
Violet Ingram says
OMG! I just got my first request for a partial from an agent. Wow. Now I'm nauseous. Must get back to editing.
Uncle Gus says
Mr. Bransford,
I just wanted to take a minute and express my appreciation for such a wonderful blog.
I came across it this morning after following a link from WD, and it wasn't long before I was hooked. I find your easygoing style, keen savvy, and nimble wit (combined with a remarkable treasure trove of information) to be quite inspiring.
I'm not sure if my particular flavor of narrative is something you'd be interested in, but once my current project is completed I plan on sending you a query anyway. If for no other reason than to be able to stand up at my next cocktail party and state in a low, yet triumphal tone, "I submitted my manuscript query to Nathan Bransford," then look about the room as eyebrows rise in reverence.
So Thank You, Sir, and please keep up the excellent work.
J.W. Gustin
howdidyougetthere says
You sang 233 query letters in your e-mail to the tune (at least in my head) of 99 bottles of beer on the wall and got 165+ comments!!!
Man, that's gotta feel good.
Seamus Welsh says
Nathan,
I wonder how you make it through such volume? Do you have a team of eager staffers or do you slog through them yourself? (I'm probably three or four from the bottom of your pile.)
Seamus Welsh
Nathan Bransford says
seamus-
I'm a one man team.
LCS249 says
I've often wondered, if a query from a young, intense author (who happened to be named Ernest Hemingway) was in that in-box, what would happen?
Rhonda says
Hmm. Not sure if this is open enough for this but: My 10 year old has started a book review blog. He found out yesterday that someone made a Christmas purchase based on it. He was very excited about that. What he would love would be to read and review a book even before it's published. If any of you want a 10 year old to review your work, let him know. His blog is at https://savagereads.blogspot.com/. His inspiration to start it can be traced back to Nathan's blog actually.
Mira says
Nathan,
Regarding the one-man team.
My offer to pay you to allow me to work for you continues to be open.
I can't pay you in money, I don't have any of that stuff, but I can pay you in enthusiasm and a continual supply of advice. I can also bring cookies.
Let me know. I'm ready.
Literary Cowgirl says
Nathan, I send my deepest sympathies and hope you find a diamond amid the dung. I do have to say that I feel very encouraged by it all, though. I know when I sub that there are a lot of other writers I am going up against, but knowing that so many of them are the type that would query a novel written in a month does ease my mind. Any other tortoises feeling way more confident knowing you're up against hares? Heck, the last short story I subbed took me 270 days (off and on) to get it where I wanted it.
Moses says
Nathan, roughly how long does it take you to go through 230 of those puppies? *thunderous applause*
Nathan Bransford says
moses-
Several hours at least.
Anonymous says
What's wrong with aliens?
Nathan Bransford says
Ah – I meant real aliens. Nothing against the fictional kind.
LCS249 says
Aren't aliens always anonymous?
Anonymous says
This is probably too late to get a look, but on the competition question, if a book is in a different category (say MG v YA or YA v adult) as one of the agent's client's books, would they still be in competition if they were similar?
Missy says
Well it seems as if I'm a little late to the game here, but I will try anyway.
Nathan, I've recently finished my first novel and I'm hoping to query in the coming months. The problem, you ask? Well…it's about vampires. That's right, I said it. Vampires.
I knew nothing about publishing when I began writing and I certainly didn't know that the market was so overly saturated with these stories. Of course, I should have known, but that hindsight sure can be a tricky thing.
Do you think it would be wise to hold off on querying for a couple of years until the feeding-frenzy dies down a bit? If I am to get rejected, I want it to be because the book isn't quite up to par, or whatever other valid reason there may be. I don't want to be rejected simply because agents writhe in pain every time they see a query letter for another vampire book.
Thanks for any advice you may offer, and I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday!
Raynbow says
Nathan, since you're having a MG book published, are you now open to MG queries? Or, are you still only considering those if they come from an existing client of yours?
Thanks!
Anica Lewis says
Nick – Backups are definitely of vital importance. You might, however, also consider e-mailing your work to yourself. In a recent radio interview with an author of some success, he told the story of a burglary in which his computer, his backup discs, and his hard copy backups (stored in a locked suitcase) were all stolen, and he lost a huge amount of work. He now favors the e-mailing-to-self method in addition to more conventional backups. Gmail, for one, has vast amounts of storage, and you can send yourself dozens of novels/short stories/what-have-you as attachments without even coming close to the limit.
Polenth – May all fare well with your snail.
Violet – Congratulations on the partial request, and good luck!
Sara Price says
Since this is an open thread, I was hoping to ask a query related question.
I have a first person thriller written in the vein of Dexter. I'm struggling to decide just how to pitch it. A lot of people recommend writing the query in the voice of the character, but when I tried a first person query I was told it was too cutesy/gimicky and had a high chance of failure because first person queries are frowned upon.
In your personal opinion, would a unique first person query written by the MC spark your interest or turn you off?
Anahita says
Was it because they were aliens? You know, some of my characters were a bit concerned 🙂
Madison L. Edgar says
Nathan,
Can you give us an update on the query count? I sent you one and I really want to know how many people I'm up against 🙂
Nathan Bransford says
sara-
Queries written in the voice of the protagonist don't generally work for me. I'm sure there will be an exception someday, but it feels a bit gimmicky to me.
madison-
I'm all caught up as of yesterday at 4:00. Anything after that I still need to get to.
LCS249 says
"I'm all caught up as of yesterday at 4:00. Anything after that I still need to get to."
That's depressing. Not meaning to direct this at you, personally, Nathan. It's just an obvious comment on the industry. Each query gets about 1-3 minutes of attention?
Side-note: I once went to a doctor who whizzed through patients, spending a max of three minutes. (I had to bring typed notes with questions.) I asked him how he could do that and still be effective. He said the insurance companies were forcing him to work that way. (I got another doctor.)
StrugglingToMakeIt says
I don't know if you're still taking open thread questions or not, but I was wondering if you had an opinion on McFadden's recent statements on book-seg-gation and about the 10th anniversary edition of Sugar.
I find this issue fascinating myself. I've always wondered why bookstores do this. Is it really a viable marketing strategy to separate out black books? I would think you'd get a wider audience if you marketed a book to everyone who might be interested in a particular author's genre.
Here's a link to the article I'm referencing above: https://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/trends/segbookgation_in_publishing_144019.asp
Nathan Bransford says
lcs-
I give every query as much time as I need to make a decision. After working 12 hour+ days every week I'm not super-receptive to suggestions that I'm not spending enough time on queries.
Nathan Bransford says
I meant every day this week.
Madison L. Edgar says
Nathan,
12+ hour days? Do you enjoy what you do that much?
LCS249 says
Nathan,
Seriously meant "state of the industry," not your lacking in any way. (We all know how sincere and dedicated you are.) You likely meant your post to be an eye-opener and it was.
L.
Nathan Bransford says
lcs-
Sorry, shouldn't have been snippy. I think what I'm getting at though is that the problem isn't really that we're not spending enough time with the queries. When we receive more queries it's not that we spend less time on each individual query – we just have to spend more time answering queries overall.
If it takes me an hour to answer 25 queries it takes me two hours to answer 50 and three hours to answer 75 etc. etc. I don't speed up just because there are more.
Nathan Bransford says
madison-
It's just part of a publishing job. So yes, ultimately I think it's worth the tradeoff, but looks like I'm cranky today about it! I'd better go hide under the desk for a while.
Vero Awesome says
Nathan,
What's your stance on "cheeky" query letters? You know, ones that follow the traditional [madlib] format but that also inject a little of the writer's personality?
Vero
LCS249 says
Gotcha. And I wasn't at all upset – my question could certainly be read as challenging and it wasn't meant to be. Just reflecting on the population explosion in writers and the over-worked, under-staffed lit agent world…
best,
LCS
G. Jackson says
Nathan, I have a question for the open thread. In your experience, have you seen any obvious differences/trends in the writing from MFA holders or candidates and those without?
thanks!
Nathan Bransford says
g. jackson-
I haven't seen a major difference across the board in the writing, but MFA grads tend to write queries of lower quality than the general population. Still trying to figure out why that is.
Mark Cotton says
I just wanted to thank you for your blog and the knowledge you share here. I was going to e-mail my thanks, but didn't want to add to your e-mail statistics. I'm saving that for a couple of months from now when I hope to be ready to send a query for my almost-complete mystery/detective novel. I know, polish, polish, polish, wait a while and polish some more before sending. 🙂
Lia Mack says
you are so silly…love it
Jaime says
Hi Nathan! Hopefully you're still answering on this thread!
My MS is making me sad. I have cut 30K words from it, but this still leaves it at 144K. I am reluctant to cut more, but realise that I'll have to in order to avoid a form rejection from most agents!
Would the fact that I'll be pitching it as a possible series make agents more receptive to a larger word count for the first novel?
Oooh, and will The Secret Year be released here in Australia next year?
Nathan Bransford says
jaime-
That's a tough length for a debut. I don't know that it would necessarily help to pitch it as a series. The plot has to stand alone. Just keep doing what you can, and if it needs to be long it needs to be long.
TSY won't be out in Aus. just yet, but hopefully you'll snag a copy somehow! It's seriously incredible.
Jaime says
Nathan, thank you for the speedy reply – and on a Sunday night for you, too!
I'll give this novel a fighting chance by hacking away the word count with my little machete fingers!
Hmm, as for The Secret Year . . . it really does sound great. It may be time to call on a favour from my Colorado-dwelling brother!