July 2022 Pass or Pages Query Contest Agent Reveal

Here's the agent who will PASS on query letters, or request PAGES, and write a critique so we can learn the reasoning for the five chosen query letters in the July Family Dynamics/Family Saga fiction contest.

Ann Leslie Tuttle

@AnnLeslieTuttle

Literary Agent 

@DGandBTweets ; specializing in women’s fiction/romance/thrillers and Middle Grade/YA.  

Former editor.

Ann Leslie Tuttle joined DG&B in 2017 after working for 20 years at Harlequin Books where she worked on an extensive and varied list of bestselling and award-winning titles in romance and women’s fiction.  She received her B.A. degree from the College of William and Mary and an M.A. from the University of Virginia. Helping to grow the careers of established and debut writers has always been Ann Leslie’s passion.  Ann Leslie is especially seeking women’s fiction (e.g. relationships, family sagas, historical fiction and psychological thrillers) romance (e.g. romantic comedies, medical romance and contemporaries) and Southern Gothics on the adult fiction side as well as Middle Grade fiction and narrative nonfiction.  Ann Leslie lives in New York City with her husband and young daughter, who is just discovering the magic of books and writing.

This fantastic agent also took part in May 2019.

The genre for the July 2022 Pass or Pages is...

Family Dynamics/Family Saga fiction

Any age audience

Here are the important dates for this round:

July 4-8: Entry window

July 25-29: Feedback shared on blog

For a recap of the rules and links to previous rounds, click here. 

This genre was voted for by 39 people in April and May.
Thank you to everyone who voted!

Dear O'Abby: How Do I Know Which Agents to Query?

 Dear O'Abby,

I'm a newb to the whole writing and publishing thing, so if this is a stupid question, just ignore me.  I've read enough to know I can't just send my book off to the publisher of my choice and expect to hear anything back.  I know I need to get an agent if I want one of these publishers to take me seriously.

My question is, how do I know which agents to query?  There seem to be so many!  Do you have any advice about which ones I should be targeting?

All the best,

Newbie

Hi Newbie,

Diving into the query trenches can be overwhelming, and without doing a bunch of research before you start, you could end up wasting a whole lot of time.

The first thing to do is to identify where your book fits.  Many agents only represent certain types of books and there's no point querying an agent who doesn't represent your genre or category.

There are a number of websites that can help you narrow down your search.  I like The Official Manuscript Wish List & #MSWL ® Website because not only can you search the agents by genre and category, they list what they are specifically looking for as well.  The information isn't always entirely up to date, so I suggest going to the website and looking at any agent you think is suitable before you send anything.  Guidelines often change and you don't want your query vanishing into limbo because you emailed instead of filing out an online form.

Another good place to start is QueryTracker | Find literary agents and publishers with our free database.  Users leave notes about how quickly agents respond and other useful tidbits here, and again, you can sort agents by genre and category.

Another really helpful tool in narrowing down a potential list of agents is to read the acknowledgements in books you feel are like yours.  Authors often thank their agents in these pages, so this is a way to find out who might be receptive to a story like yours.

Following agents on Twitter is also a good way to get to know what they are looking for and what their pet peeves might be.  You may even find you have something really unique in common you can use to personalise your query - perhaps you both have toy poodles called Toby, or both enjoy crocheting hats for balding alpacas while warbling along to Hamilton... Any way you can forge a connection is valuable.

I hope that helps as you start on your journey.  You may not get an agent with the first book you query, but you will learn a lot and begin to build a network around yourself and your work.

X 

O'Abby

Dear O'Abby: My agent says the real-life truth in my book isn't believable

Dear O’Abby,

I’ve just had a weird response from my agent.  At least, I think it’s weird, which is why I’m coming to you.  My new book was inspired by a lecture I went to and a specific situation the speaker mentioned in her talk.  The entire plot sprang from this single, real-life story she told about her personal experience.

My agent loves the new book, but isn’t convinced that readers will believe a certain part of the story – the part that was inspired by this woman’s lecture.

What do I do in this situation?  My agent has asked me to do a rewrite where I take this element out, but I’m not sure I want to do that, given this is where the story started and is kind of the point of the whole book.

Do you have any advice?

Truly,

Bemused

Dear Bemused,

Unfortunately I understand where you’re coming from all too well.  The same thing happened to me when I wrote Stumped.  When I was querying, agents kept telling me how much they loved the voice and the characters and the themes, but they weren’t convinced about one thing a character did. Which was the one thing I’d taken directly from a real-life situation.  And then, after I was agented, my agent brought up the same thing.  Yet I still resisted. 

Until I didn’t.

And you know what?  The book got better.  My protagonist had more agency over his destiny and the change opened up new possibilities for where he could go.

I do still miss that part of the story because I feel like I lost one of the things I was trying to say with the book, but maybe that book wasn’t the place to try and say it.

So my suggestion is, try to make the change.  If you hate the result, you still have the original sitting there (please don’t save over your other draft – I’ve done that and while it’s possible to get the old draft back, it’s not worth the panic and self-flagellation when you realize what you’ve done).  You might be surprised by how much more potential your story and characters can have without that element.

Even if something did happen in real life, sometimes it just won’t work in the context of a book.  There’s a reason they say truth is stranger than fiction.  Or it could be, it’s just this book where it doesn’t work.  Perhaps you’ve created such compelling, realistic characters that whatever your plot point is, doesn’t ring true with them.  Try something else now you know these characters better than you did when you started writing.  You might be surprised by how they react…

And remember, even if that one element is now out of your book, it still sparked the idea that led you to write it.

Hope this helps!

X O’Abby

Dear O'Abby: Are Contests Worth My Time?

Dear O'Abby,

There seem to be so many writing contests out there and I was wondering if it's actually worth entering any of them.  No offense meant.  I know Operation Awesome runs its own contest, but that's kind of what made me ask the question.  Does anyone ever actually get an agent or a publishing contract out of these contests?  

Yours,

Contestable

Dear Contestable,

It's really up to you whether you want to enter contests.  They're not compulsory for any writer, but they are a lot of fun, and a really good way to meet other writers who might end up becoming beta readers or critique partners.

And yes, people do sometimes get agents or publishing contracts through these contests.  I actually got both.  In the same week.  But I ended up passing on the publishing contract in favor of working with the agent in the end.  That was one crazy week, I'm telling you!

But even if you don't get picked by the agent or editor judge, entering contests is a good way to see how your work stacks up against other peoples'.  Most contests ask the judges to leave feedback, so even if you don't win, you have notes from a professional on your query and/or first page.  And you can use those notes to help polish both up, and often the rest of your MS too.

Sometimes readers of the blog are also asked to leave feedback which means you don't just get one opinion, but many.  If something about one particular piece of feedback resonates strongly, you can reach out to that person and thank them.  You may even become friends with that person or decide to work together as critique partners or beta readers.  I met several of my very favorite writing buddies this way and we are still critiquing each other more than 10 years on.

But if you're not interested in entering contests, it's not going to be the end of your writing career.  You can still query traditionally, and your chances are probably no better or worse than if you'd entered the contest.

Good luck, which ever way you decide to go!  And if you're thinking of entering our Pass or Pages, you have about a day left to do it.

X O'Abby

Dear O'Abby - I got an offer from an agent, but it wasn't the one I wanted

Dear O'Abby,

I entered a Twitter pitch contest recently and got a few 'likes' from agents.  I sent off the requested material, and received rejections from most of the agents a couple of weeks later.  Then today, I got an email from a different agent at one of the agencies than the one I sent my material to.  A junior agent.

She loves the book and wants to schedule a call to talk about it.  What should I do?  I'm excited to have come this far, but I'm not sure I want to sign with this junior agent, or even why she's the one who has read my book when I sent it to a different agent.

Yours,

Uncertain.

Dear Uncertain,

It seems like you have a couple of different questions in there, so I'll try to answer them one at a time.

Firstly, junior agents in larger agencies often read the slush coming in.  Busy agents rely on interns and junior agents to read the slush and dig out the gems for them to read.  It sounds like your Tweet caught an agent's eye, and she asked her trusted junior agent to read the material.  And said junior agent loved it.

Maybe the other agent (let's call her senior agent) also read the manuscript and didn't love it as much, but saw that it has potential in the right, passionate hands.  Junior agents don't have a ton of clients already and are building their list of authors and contacts. They have more time for individual authors and projects. If senior agent believes the book is good enough, and may sell, she might have suggested junior agent takes it on and will then offer support and advice as junior agent goes through the process of trying to sell it.

Junior agents may not have the same number of sales as a more senior agent, but they often have more time to spend on individual projects than their more senior counterparts.  They are just beginning their careers and don't have a large number of authors competing for their time and attention.  If a junior agent has the support of an established agency or a single experienced agent, signing with them might be the best career move you can make.

XX O'Abby

Dear OAbby: How Do I Address an Agent in a Query Letter?

Dear OAbby is a new feature on Operation Awesome where we answer your questions! It's an advice column by writers, for writers, chock-full of information about writing, querying, the publication process, etc. If you have a question you'd like answered, just send it to operationawesome6@gmail.com. All questions may be edited for clarity and/or space, and will be posted anonymously, with no identifying information.

Dear OAbby,

When submitting a new book to an agent from whom we got feedback in the past, should we address them with Ms./Mr. or first name?

Sincerely, 
Address Unknown

Dear Address Unknown,

When querying an agent for the first time, the general rule is to use Mr. or Ms. with the agent's last name. If you're not sure of the agent's gender, it's fine to use their first name. I'd advise against anything like 'Dear Agent' or 'To Whom it May Concern,' because those greetings make it look like you haven't done your research.

As to your question, you've already gotten feedback from this agent, so I'd look at the earlier email to see how the agent identified themselves. Most likely, they signed the email with their first name. If that's the case, then it's fine to open your next email by addressing them with their first name (since they opened the door to that relative informality). If they didn't sign the email, or if they signed it using something other than their first name, then I'd stick with Mr./Ms. [Agent Last Name] to be on the safe side. Either way, as long as you use either their first name or Mr./Ms. [Agent Last Name], and not something generic like 'Dear Agent,' you should be fine!

Happy Querying!

Yours truly,
Dear OAbby

Before You Send Your Query Letter

I'm waving at you from beneath the huge pile of virtual papers we refer to as the slush pile. It's massive. It's overwhelming. And yet, I know that it's also a pile of the hopes and dreams of writers like me and you.

When I approach the slush pile, it's with the hope of finding a gem that my company can bring to publication. I strive to give everyone a fair chance. However, time is not only valuable, but it's scarce. I can't devote a half hour to every submission. The pile would grow faster than I could pare it down. Writers only get a couple of minutes to grab my attention. While this can be disconcerting, I believe knowledge is power.

Put yourself the acquisition editor's or literary agent's shoes. What would you want to know about the story? What's most important about your manuscript and you as the author? Get them that important information as quickly as possible.

Here are a few things I want to know right away:

• Genre
• Target audience
• Word count
• Title

Surprisingly, these items are missing from many submissions I receive. To make matters worse, many writers don't read our submission guidelines to know we don't publish adult fiction, picture books, or non-Canadian writers. These folks are wasting my time and theirs by submitting. The Golden Rule applies. If you were the person feverishly going through hundreds of submissions, what types of submissions would you want to receive?

****************

When Melinda Marshall Friesen isn't writing, she works as marketing director and acquisitions editor at Rebelight Publishing.

Query-Writing 102: Query DOs and DON'Ts

On yesterday's blog "Writing a Basic Query," I laid out the basic structure for writing novel query letter. Today, I'm providing you with a checklist of dos and don'ts, complied from multiple blog posts, interviews, and tweets, to make sure your query is effective and doesn't get immediately rejected without so much as a second glance.

DO:

Before querying --

• DO check the agency's guidelines before querying... and follow them!
• DO have someone who has not read your manuscript read over your query to make sure it makes sense
• DO proofread for typos
• DO make sure that your manuscript is 100% ready to go before you begin querying
• DO use the word "QUERY" and your novel's title in the email subject line (unless otherwise noted in the agent's guidelines)
• DO keep your query short and sweet (250-300 words on average); agents are going to be looking for tight, concise writing
• DO query one project at a time

In the salutation/personalization --

• DO address the agent personally
• DO mention in your query if you met the agent, if you have a referral from one of their clients, or if they have requested materials from you for previous manuscripts

In the pitch section --

• DO use specific details in your query -- think about what in particular sets your story apart from others in the same genre
• DO choose specific words that will give the agent a feel for the tone/voice of your novel
• DO try to bring out what makes your manuscript unique
• DO stick with the story's major plotline (particularly what happens in Act I)

In the "housekeeping" section --

• DO include comp titles that have been published within the last five years
• DO include relevant biographical information
• DO pick one category (MG, YA, NA, or Adult) to pitch your novel
• DO include the genre where your book would appear in a bookstore
• DO include the word count of your novel, rounded to the nearest thousand
• DO make sure that your book is an appropriate length for your genre (no 200,000 word middle grade novels! no 35,000 word sci-fi novels!)

In general --

• DO act professionally and politely AT ALL TIMES
• DO query widely; it might take dozens of rejections before you find the agent who's looking for a writer like you.
• DO be patient in waiting for responses. Many agents will note in their guidelines how long it takes to respond to queries, but during certain times of the year may take longer.
• DO stay positive!
• DO write something else while querying. It's a great way to take your mind off the process, and if you do get an agent, s/he will want to know what you're currently working on.

DON'T:

Before querying --

• DON'T self-publish your work to "test the market"
• DON'T query agent who do not represent your category or genre
• DON'T query agents who state they are closed to submissions
• DON'T pitch to agents on social media
• DON'T cc: or bcc: multiple agents in the same email
• DON'T pay a third party to query for you (it's a scam!)
• DON'T use fancy formatting, fonts, colors, borders, or backgrounds.
• DON'T query multiple agents at the same agency simultaneously
• DON'T send "exclusive" queries
• DON'T send queries from an unprofessional-sounding email address or one that you share with anyone else
• DON'T send submissions to small presses while you're also querying agents

In the salutation/personalization --

• DON'T address the query "Dear Agent"
• DON'T try to fake a referral (or, really, any aspect of your query)
• DON'T comment on an agent's appearance

In the pitch section --

• DON'T use gimmicks; agents have seen them all before, and they only make your query stand out in a bad way.
• DON'T write your query from the 1st person perspective of your character
• DON'T use more than three proper names (any more than this can be incredibly confusing)
• DON'T use too many world-related/"invented" words in your query
• DON'T spell out the novel's themes
• DON'T use rhetorical questions
• DON'T use cliche phrases like:
• "her life was normal until"
• "that will change her life forever"
• "must choose between love and [something important]"
• "turns his life upside down"
• "change his world forever"
• "[character] never expected that"
• "To make matters worse"
• "Time is running out"
• "She finds herself drawn to"
• "an incredible journey"
• "before [something] falls into the wrong hands"
• "face her past"
• "a group of unlikely heroes"
• "a chain reaction"

In the "housekeeping" section --

• DON'T mention "This is my first novel" or "I've been writing since I was..." or "I'm an avid reader"
• DON'T mention how long it took you to write your book (this is irrelevant)
• DON'T call your story a "fiction novel" -- this is redundant and looks amateur
• DON'T toot your own horn by speculating about how you'll be "the next Stephen King" or "a surefire bestseller," or editorialize with comments like, "you'll laugh! you'll cry!"
• DON'T try to pass your story off as a genre which is it is not (usually done to try to fit a trend or to avoid "dead" genres) -- this will only make it look as if you don't know what genre your book really is.
• DON'T include reviews, blurbs, or comments from beta readers, family, friends, pets, or agents who have rejected you
• DON'T include irrelevant biographical information (age, number of cats owned, etc)
• DON'T include a photo
• DON'T use classics or MAJOR bestsellers (Harry Potter, Twilight, LOTR, etc) as comp titles
• DON'T claim that there "are no books like mine on the market"

In general --

• DON'T bad-mouth other agents, writers, or others in the industry or their works
• DON'T respond to rejections
• DON'T complain about querying on social media
• DON'T cherry-pick your sample pages from the middle of your novel (always use the opening pages)
• DON'T include attachments (unless the agency specifies to do so)

Optional hints, tips, and advice

• Send queries in small batches (5-10 at a time) in case you decide to change things up or revise your query later on.
• Check agent blogs, Twitter feeds, and the #MSWL hashtag to find agents who are looking for something similar to what you write
• Keep track of the queries you have sent and those that have been responded to using a spreadsheet or QueryTracker.com
• Be careful using metaphors in your query, particularly if your book contains speculative elements--you'll have the agent wondering if your character really turned into a bear or if they just got a bit grouchy

Special thanks to @TECarter7, @micscotti, @RachelDRainey, @LabyrinthRat, @Aggy_C, @SH_Marr_Writes, @AnnaKaling and @sharischwarz for your contributions via Twitter!

Writing Series: Querying & How to Find Your Best Fit Agents

In our writing series this month, we've been giving you some pointers on querying. Kara talked about how Twitter can be a great resource for querying writers & Melinda gave you four fabulous resources to help you on your quest. Today, I'm going to talk about one of my favorite things: spreadsheets.

We've given you NaNo goal spreadsheets, numerical motivation spreadsheets, and now, I give you:

THE AGENT RESEARCH SPREADSHEET! (download HERE)

Let's break it down:

Column A: AGENCY
Obviously, you're going to want to know what agencies you're querying. I've found it easiest to organize my spreadsheet alphabetically by agency.

Column B: AGENT
Here, I make a row for each agent at the agency who represents the genre(s) I'm interested in. Quite frequently, agents will move agencies; at that point, I just copy/paste that row to the new agency and make a comment (right click - "insert comment") to that effect.

Columns C-E: PREVIOUS QUERIES
If this is the first book you've sent out to agents, you can delete these. If you've queried previously (even if it was years ago!) here's where you keep track of who rejected at the query stage (R) or after requesting a partial (P) or full (F). If the agent has requested materials in the past, this is a great thing to mention in your query.

Columns F-I: GENRES
Here's where we get into the research portion of our spreadsheet. The first place I'd go to get your preliminary list is Query Tracker.

Here, you can search for agents who represent the genres you're looking for. Keep the big picture in mind. Although some agents will represent books outside their usual genres for their existing clients, but in general, if you want to write both science fiction and romance, for instance, an agent who has interest and experience in both those categories might be a better fit than those who represent just one. This is a great place to start compiling your list.

In my example to the left (cropped from my spreadsheet), I marked agents who represented commercial, science fiction, fantasy, and historical.

[Side note:
I recently ran across this fabulous infographic that explains the differences between commercial, upmarket, and literary fiction. If you're not sure which of these large umbrellas your work fits under, it's definitely worth checking out!]

In my opinion, Query Tracker is the best place to start your agent search. On the agents' individual pages, you can find links to their agency websites, blogs, twitter hashtag, interviews, etc. which can provide a plethora of useful information about them. Also, for $25/year, you can subscribe to the premium version and access a wealth of statistics and charts for each agent and set up lists for multiple projects.


Columns J-K: RECENT SALES
These next columns require you to dig a bit deeper. I'm talking about Publishers Marketplace. This is a fantastic resource for querying writers, but -- heads up! -- most information that I'll be talking about here requires a subscription. At $25/month it's an investment, but the information you'll find there is invaluable.

The first thing you'll want to check out is the Dealmakers tab. Here you can search by genre to see the actual deals that agents have been making to publishers on behalf of their clients. The information here is submitted by agents themselves, so there may be omissions (some agents simply don't report their sales), but it's a great place to start if you're wondering who has connections with publishers and imprints.

After you click on the genre you'd like, PM will display the top 100 agents in the category, as well as a separate tab to display only six-figure+ deals. From here, you can click on the agent's name and see which editors and imprints they sold to, as well as a listing of these individual deals which look a little something like this:

Yay, Sarah!

In my spreadsheet, I gave certain point values to each deal made in the past twelve months. There's tons of information available on Publishers Marketplace; how you use it is up to you.

Columns L-M: REP CHECK

Two more resources you'll probably want to check are the AAR (Association of Authors' Representatives) site and Preditors & Editors.

AAR is the main professional organization for literary agents. Agents who are members of AAR must adhere to their Canon of Ethics and meet certain criteria. There are many ethical and reputable agents who choose not to belong to this organization for various reasons, but if they are a member, they'll be held to those standards.

Preditors & Editors is a listing which includes literary agents and -- most importantly -- gives warnings to writers about agents who have conflicts of interest, who charge fees, or are known scammers. If P&E has a warning listed regarding an agency, you'd best stay away. Remember, a bad agent is going to be worse for your career than no agent at all.

Column N: CLIENTS

Here's where I list the authors I know and/or have read who are represented by the agent. Ideally, these would be authors who write in similar or overlapping genres, whose works you enjoy. Most agencies will list their clients somewhere on their site, but other times, you might need to go digging. Here's a few ways to find that information:

• Look in the Acknowledgements section in the back of your favorite books. Often authors will thank their agents there
• Look on the "contact" page of the author's website
• Look in the author's twitter bio
• Search the author's name in Publishers Marketplace
• Google search "[author name]" + "agent"

Column O: #MSWL

Another great resource for querying writers is #MSWL (ManuScript WishList). Using this Twitter hashtag, agents tweet specific things that they'd like to see in their query inboxes. If your manuscript matches this, you can include "#MSWL" in the subject line of your query and it might get a second look or bumped up the pile.

Don't feel like scrolling all the way through months and months' worth of tweets? Check out the new #MSWL website which makes it much easier to search by agent name or genre or date.

Column P: RANK

Here's a column to prioritize your queries. Generally speaking, it's a good idea to query in batches of about 10-15 at a time, but there's many variations in how you might do it: by agent's average response time (which can be found on QueryTracker)? By number of recent deals? Alphabetically by twitter hashtag? However you go about it, it's important to keep track of which queries you've sent to whom and when. QueryTracker has a great database for doing that.

Column Q-S: QUERY INFO

In my personal spreadsheet, I keep this information on a separate sheet where I also mark down the date of each communication (query sent, response received, requested materials sent, etc), but I wanted to include this here because it's an important part of researching agents. Each agent and agency has their own submission guidelines and ignoring them will likely start off your relationship with the agent on the wrong foot.

QueryTracker does often list the information here (particularly the email address), however, I'd highly recommend going directly to the agency's website for the most up-to-date guidelines.

Most agents ask that writers include a number of sample pages (column R), and some may also require a synopsis (column S), so here's where you'd keep track of that. Generally speaking, most agents want these materials pasted directly into the email, but again, check the agency's guidelines on their website.

[Side note: One tool that makes this whole process easier is Gmail's "canned responses." If you're not sure what that is or how to use it, check out this how-to. You can set one up with your query (remember to type in the correct agent's name and any personalization!), one with the first 5 pages, 10 pages, and one with the synopsis, then simply insert the parts you'd need into your email]

Column T: NOTES

And finally, here's where you put all the other little notes you want to remember about each agent -- places you've met them, fandoms you both enjoy, any other notes that will help you narrow down your search.

Researching literary agents can be incredibly time consuming, but if you're truly serious about pursuing trade publication, it's going to be worth it to make sure you have someone on your side who's going to be the best fit for you and your work!

Good luck!