I feel like a celebrity! I'm mentioned on the QueryTracker blog as one of the success stories. If you don't already use QueryTracker for your queries, this might just convince you to give it a try. I used QueryTracker when querying agents this time around, and it worked like a good-luck charm!
It's a fantastic resource, listing agents and their interests, response times, as well as comments from other queriers. You can keep track of everything right on your own personal spot on the website. You can see how many queries you have out, which ones received requests for partials and/or fulls, and what kind of response you received. I highly recommend it.
Here's a link to my Success Story. Now go read my first "interview"!
This is so strange because I just joined QueryTracker today on the rec of another writing friend who used it. I still have to feel my way around in there, but it'll be at least three or four months before I get to the submission phase.
Now I need to go read that success story.
Posted by: Terri Osburn | May 27, 2010 at 06:58 PM
Okay, I'm quite jealous of that query letter.
Posted by: Terri Osburn | May 27, 2010 at 07:04 PM
LOL, Terri. That was a hard query letter to write, and then I actually revised it, and ended up sending BOTH versions out! I got requests from both versions, but this is the one that worked. :)
I really did enjoy QueryTracker, especially the comments from other people who queried. It's like hearing battlefield reports from the front line! With my previous queries, I had Excel spreadsheets, but QT was so much easier.
Posted by: Donna Cummings | May 27, 2010 at 07:24 PM
Someone teach me how to use the thing!
Posted by: Maureen | May 27, 2010 at 09:11 PM
Okay, I thought I'd posted a comment, but I guess it doesn't hurt to repeat if it pops up again...congratulations!
I loved the interview and the query letter! I've got it bookmarked for an example of the query when I get around to submitting again. :) Thanks!
Also love your title (I DO...OR DIE) and the description definitely makes me want to read this book. :) Congrats...again...and again. LOL
Posted by: Melissa | May 31, 2010 at 12:13 PM
Melissa, sometimes blog posts seem to wander away. I wish I knew where they went -- or what could be more exciting than HERE!
I'm glad you liked the query letter -- it was a hard one to write -- heck, they're all hard! But this book is a romance, with a mystery, and it was hard to distill that. I actually rewrote the query and got some requests from that version, but this is the one that worked. :)
Thanks so much for your comments -- I'm glad to read what you have to say. And your enthusiasm is lifting my spirits today. :)
Okay, back to my revisions!
Posted by: Donna Cummings | May 31, 2010 at 06:23 PM
Rhyanna We only selected a few enrites out of the 230, so you might not get specific comments back. I will say that Nocturne and LUNA, though both dealing with paranormal/fantasy, have different promises and so books don't easily shift between one or the other. So do understand what line or imprint you are aiming for! In general, we expect the prologue to give some specific, important information on character or story. If the prologue can be removed and have no impact on the rest of the story, then it should not be included. And always make your first chapter as compelling as you can!
Posted by: Lucas | May 02, 2012 at 05:00 AM