Dear O'Abby: Should I mention this in my query?

 Dear O'Abby,

I recently won a local competition for unpublished romance novels.  It's not a huge prize - just a few hundred dollars - but there were over 400 books submitted to the contest, so I'm pretty proud that my book was judged the best out of such a large pool.

Now that the excitement of the contest has died down, I'm about to start querying my book to agents and am wondering if I should mention my contest win in the query.  I know it's not like winning a Pulitzer, but isn't it proof that my book is at least a little bit better than other books in my genre?

Any advice would be gratefully accepted.

Best,

Winner Winner

Dear Winner Winner,

Congratulations on your win.  That is exciting and certainly worth celebrating.

There is certainly no harm in mentioning a contest win in your query, but don't expect it to be the most compelling thing for an agent or publisher.  There are thousands of writing contests out there, and few of them are important or prestigious enough to make your submission a must-read.  You still need to write a great query, and I would save this competition news until the very end of the letter rather than leading with it.

For the most part, agents aren't going to care much about contest wins, but if the judges are noteworthy or it's sponsored by a significant writing related organisation, the win might have more weight.  It also might not.  I was a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award back when that was a thing, and mentioning that in my query didn't do anything to improve my acceptance rate.

So at the end of the day, it won't hurt to mention your win.  It just may not make a lick of difference to you time in the query trenches.

Hope that's helpful and good luck with the querying.

X O'Abby

The Query Outline

I was recently chatting with a writer friend about their query package, and lemme tell you, putting a query package together is such a bother. It's difficult - nearly impossible sometimes, even - to get good feedback on it. You certainly don't get any from the agents you query. And everywhere you look, there's conflicting advice.

So I'm going to dish out some more.

When I was querying, one of my biggest struggles was figuring out how much of the plot to include. I knew I'd be explaining it all in the synopsis, which is more of an emotionless summary of the book's events, and the query is supposed to read like the book jacket blurb. I tried reading some blurbs to generate ideas, but they all seemed too dramatic - more on the side of a lengthy Twitter pitch event tweet than a brief summary. Trying to read other people's query letters wasn't much help either. Some people wrote lengthy page-long dealios, and other people barely had ten sentences. I was tearing my hair out. I just wanted a happy medium, darnit!

I ended up settling somewhere in the middle, landing on two paragraphs of plot and two paragraphs of other query content. Here's my basic outline:

1. Summary paragraph 1: This paragraph sets up the world, the stakes, and the inciting incident. It ends around the end of Act One, when the MC makes some specific choice that defines the rest of the story.
2. Summary paragraph 2: The paragraph summarizes the consequences of the choice the MC makes at the end of Act One. It ends approximately where Act Two ends, when the MC has to give up on their previous want and adjust, or continue to struggle toward something they will never achieve. It should end on a cliffhanger. 
3. Metadata: This paragraph contains all the info about my manuscript - the title, length, genre, and relevant hashtags (#OwnVoices, #BlackGirlMagic, etc.) along with comp titles. Comp titles are in ALL CAPS, and I also like to mention why I'm using them ("the political intrigue of SHADOWCASTER meets the love triangle of LIKE A LOVE STORY"). It's also worth mentioning why I'm querying this agent in particular ("your bio mentioned an interest in books like the TV show REIGN"). 
4. Bio: All about me! My background, my education, why I'm qualified to write this, why I'm passionate about this story. 

All in all, my query was about three-quarters of a page, give or take, including my introduction and sign-off. A query should definitely not be more than a page, and I'd say limit your summary to three paragraphs. Any longer than that and you're venturing into synopsis territory, and we know how territorial they can be.

Now go forth and storm the query trenches!

Writing Series: Querying, Four Great Query Resources

Writing a successful query letter is an art form. It's a skill that requires instruction as well as practice to hone those skills.

I could fill this post with advice on query letter writing, but I won't. Better, more experienced people than me have already written volumes on this subject, so my job today is to point you in the right direction.

I've been querying for years and have come across a few resources that have been helpful to me. When I first started, I couldn't get an agent's attention to save my life, but by honing my query writing craft, I've been successful in garnering requests for full manuscripts. So, here are some of my favourite resources.

1.  Nathan Bransford's blog. An author and former literary agent, Bransford shares a treasure trove of
query writing advice. The thing I liked most about this site is his upbeat attitude. He doesn't try to discourage writers with the dismal odds that are against them, but conveys information with a you-can-do-it attitude.

2. Query Shark. Literary agent, Janet Reid, runs this no-nonsense blog that walks writers through examples of lackluster queries and how to fix them. There are hundreds of examples available, and I encourage you to read through as many as possible.

3. Agent Query. Again, tons of information and advice about query letters and literary agents. This website has a database of agents, what they represent and if they're open for submissions. There is also a sister site called Agent Query Connect, a forum where writers can network and post queries for critique. My warning with receiving critique at AQ Connect is that it's often the blind leading the blind. Many have yet to write a successful query themselves.

4.  Writer's Digest New Agent Alerts. This site shares information about new agents or agents who have transitioned to new firms and are actively building their client lists.

Once you have a stellar query letter and a list of agents who represent your type of work and who you would like to work alongside, you're ready to start querying.

If you have any questions, please post them below.

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Melinda Friesen writes novels for teens and short stories for all ages. Her first novel, Enslavement, was released in November of 2014 by Rebelight Publishing Inc. She lives in Winnipeg,Manitoba Canada with her husband and four children.