What I Learned From 90 Queries

Today’s post is by author Eva Langston (@eva_langston).

Don’t be fooled by the title. I’ve actually sent hundreds of queries for four different novels over the past decade. Without going into detail, I queried a novel and eventually got an agent, parted ways with that agent, queried some more, collected rejections, wrote three more novels, queried more, revised a lot, had some babies, and then got back to querying.

My summary: traditional publishing is a long game, so get yourself some gumption.

Now, when I say 90 queries, I’m talking about the queries I sent for my most recent novel. The novel that, after a year and a half in the query trenches, got me an agent. I’m now happily represented by the brilliant Ali Lake of Janklow & Nesbit.

In the fall of 2020, I started querying with what I thought was my best novel yet: a YA paranormal suspense. At first I was getting nothing but form rejections. So I sought advice from my writing group and revised the query letter and opening pages. But still, crickets. Finally I paid for a one-on-one Manuscript Academy meeting with agent Fiona Kenshole. And she laid a finger on why I wasn’t getting any requests.

I was already doing all the things:

• Personalizing my query for each agent
• Giving the genre and word count
• Ending the summary with the stakes (“Now she must _____ or else _______.”)
• Including recent comp titles and a brief bio

But once I made the changes described below, I immediately started getting more manuscript requests—ten in total. Not bad in the challenging pandemic publishing environment. And, joy of all joys, one of those requests turned into an offer of representation.

How I changed my query letter

1. I tightened my query, getting rid of anything that wasn’t necessary and specific. I cut the summary part of my query from four paragraphs and 234 words to two paragraphs and 146 words. Think about how agents are reading queries: at night, after a long day of meetings, maybe on their phones on the subway. They are skimming query letters, only spending a minute or two on each one. If yours is long-winded or confusing, they will move on. So use short, concise paragraphs. Get to the point and tell what happens in your book.

2. My novel deals with a major mental health issue, so I worked with a sensitivity reader and mentioned that at the end of my query. I don’t know if this made a difference, but it certainly didn’t hurt, and I know it made my book better.

3. Most importantly, my novel is a mystery/suspense, but my first query letter was too vague because I was afraid to give away the “big twist.” When Fiona Kenshole asked me to tell her about my novel, I started blabbing about the big twist. “That’s fabulous,” she said. “WHY are you not putting that in the query?” I worried it was a spoiler, but she said it was okay to be spoilery because it was what made my story unique. Once I started giving away the big twist in my opening paragraph, I got a lot more agent interest.

In addition to giving away the big twist, I simply told more specifics of the story. Before I was being too coy, hinting at plot points instead of stating them outright. I was afraid of giving away too much, but vagueness is the kiss of death in a query. Better to go big and bold and, most of all, specific so your story will stand out to agents who read hundreds of queries a week.

Remember that agents are not reading your query like a regular reader. They are reading to see if it’s something they can sell. They’re looking for what will make your book stand out in a crowded market. Don’t be afraid to give away the good stuff. The good stuff is what gets their attention.

How I changed my first 10 pages

1. At first my book opened with the protagonist waking up in the middle of the night outside a graveyard. Spooky, yes. Not a bad way to start. But maybe not the most unique, especially for a paranormal novel. So when a friend from my writing group suggested I have my protagonist wake up somewhere else—somewhere equally creepy but less stereotypically spooky—I jumped on the idea. Now the book begins with the main character waking up in a stranger’s darkened kitchen.

Often you are only submitting your first five or ten pages to an agent. If those pages aren’t enough to snag their interest, you’ve lost your shot. Of course you should revise your entire manuscript, but pay extra close attention to your first pages. Are they conveying the right tone? Are they hinting at exciting things to come? Will they get your reader invested in the story?

2. Just like the query letter, I tightened my first ten pages. I cut unnecessary backstory and worked on the pacing. Fast pacing may not be the goal for every story, but certainly for MG/YA and for mystery/suspense, you want to make sure you’re not losing the reader’s attention by letting things drag. Readers of all genres are simply not as patient these days. If your story “really gets going” in Chapter 2, maybe that’s where it should start.

3. In the first few pages, my protagonist runs down the sidewalk in the middle of the night, back to her house. She’s terrified and confused, having woken up somewhere that is not her bed. She’s also barefoot and in her pajamas. It wasn’t bad, but it could have been better.

When I had my meeting with Fiona, she asked me, “Have you actually gone outside in the middle of the night and run down the sidewalk barefoot?” The answer was no, I had not. Fiona suggested I do so to help me better understand the sights and sounds in a neighborhood in the middle of the night, and what it feels like to run barefoot alone in the dark. After my midnight run, I rewrote the first two pages, making them more immediate, sensory, and visceral.

Parting thoughts

Querying can be hard and disheartening. You have to query the right agent at the right time with the right project. Sometimes it really is a numbers game. Even with an excellent query and opening pages, you’ll still get rejections. A lot of them. Just keep going. Celebrate the small things, like a personalized rejection. Start working on something new. And remember, it only takes one “yes” in a sea of “no.” The people who have success in traditional publishing are the ones who refuse to give up.

My final query letter

Eva Langston

Eva Langston received her MFA from the University of New Orleans and teaches at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, MD. Her short stories have won contests (such as The Playboy Fiction Contest) and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She is represented by Ali Lake of Janklow & Nesbit, and her writing-resources newsletter now has over 2,600 subscribers. She can often be found taking walks in her historic Maryland town, where she is an elected official.