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I recently won a local competition for unpublished romance novels.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

March Pass or Pages Genre Reveal!

 

 

 

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

FRIENDS OR ENEMIES TO LOVERS ROMANCE!

Here are the important dates for this round:

February 22nd: Agent panel announcement

February 28th to March 4th: Entry window (via a form here on our blog)

March 21st to 25th: Feedback reveals!

For a recap of the rules and links to previous rounds, click here. Stay tuned for our agent panel reveal next week!

 

Little Free Library

Last week we posted about February being National Library Lovers Month.  And today, February 14, not only is Valentines Day but it's also National Library Lovers Day!

Let's celebrate the Little Free Libraries out there.

https://littlefreelibrary.org/librarian-transforms-110-year-old-tree-into-jaw-dropping-little-free-library/

Is there a little free library in your neighborhood?  Check here.

https://littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/

If none, you can start one yourself!

https://littlefreelibrary.org/start/

Query Friday: Embracing rejection

Embracing rejection:

 

 

I'm not quite there.

I've tried. I've printed them out and filed them away. 

I've tried to make it a game:

 

B	I	N	G	O
R&R	Personalized	Request for More MSS	Personalized	No Response
Champagne Rejection	No Response	Personalized	“Please try me again later”	Form Rejection
No Response	Form Rejection	Offer of Rep!!!!	Twitter Pitch Request	Personalized
“Please try me again later”	No Response	Champagne Rejection	No reply	Request for more MSS
Request for more MSS!	Form Rejection	R & R	Personalized	Champagne rejection!

Not my idea but a very clever one that at least  makes me laugh...sometimes cry when I run out of form rejection spaces...

And I've just left email there, scanning the first line, but not quite working up the will to finish them for weeks at a time.

I know, I know... rejection is a milestone that almost every writer faces. The stories are endless:

J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter series)- 12 times

William Golding (Lord of the Flies)- 20 times

John Grisham (A Time to Kill)- 16 tines 

Stephen King (Carrie)- 30 times

Issac Asimov, Ursula K. Le Guin, James Joyce, Shannon Hale, Judy Blume and so many more.

And I am, in fact,

But its still hard.

What I try to remind myself is that its a sign I'm still trying. I'm pursuing my dream. And I'm not letting fear make my decisions. The more I remind myself, the more I'm ready to take that next rejection and say...

 

-B