Friday, August 15, 2008

Friday Five- More Agent Info

As promised here is another Agent's Five. This is Roberta Brown's Five things for unpublished writers to do to get noticed.

1) Know name- when you send a query to an agent be sure to address the letter to the agent, not Dear Editor, AND make sure you spell the name correctly. That means you did your homework.

2) Use a hook or tag line that catches the attention of the agent, but make sure it has something to do with the story. Perfect the line to tell the story in a catchy way.

3) Be sure your letter tells the agent the word count, line you think it would fit in, and a short summary of the book. Wrap up the story. Tell the agent the ending, they don't like to be kept in the dark because they want to know if you have a good ending and can close a story solidly.

4) Bio- List RWA involvement, Sales, Awards. Keep it brief don't give a play by play of your whole writing career.

5) Brief closing, Thank you, manuscript available, SASE.

One thing all the agents stressed. keep this query to one page. Make it succinct and interesting.

3 comments:

Tiffany James said...

Paty,

Thanks for this info! As I get ready to start querying again, it's nice to be reminded of the do's and dont's.

Tiffany

Paty Jager said...

You're welcome! Stay tuned I have about four more Fridays of what the agents look for int queries.

Helen Hardt said...

Excellent advice!

Helen
www.helenhardt.com