For EE, Kristin...

[katourah]

Hi!

Since I'm now deep into the process of querying agents on my recently completed nonfiction ms, I was wondering about the several things about the query process. If you have the time, would you please answer the following questons?

Thanks.

1) You've read through your snail mail and e-queries for the day and one or two have pricked your interest. What is it about these queries that moves you to ask for either a partial or full ms?

2) How eager are you to receive this material? If the writer takes a while to get it to you, does this count as a strike against him/her?

3) Of all the queries you read, what percentage do you take to the next step, i.e., asking for a partial or the full ms.?

4) Is there a reason why you might ask for a partial, say, versus a full ms? Put another way, if you have more interest or hope in the project do you ask right off for the full ms rather than a partial?

Thanks,

Katourah

[pamC.]

Katourah,

Thank you for asking these! I'm at the same point in my search and wondering about these same issues.

PamC

[katourah]

Oh I'm so glad you were wondering, too. I just wished I'd taken the time to fix my typos (the "the" and queston instead of question) before I hit the "post" button. Yikes. And I sent this to the attention of EE!!!!!! I'm bad. BAD BAD! (lol) Then again I hadn't had my morning java yet.

[pamC.]

I didn't even notice your typos! And yes, I've been wondering all these same questions, especially the one about how long is appropriate to take to get a manuscript to an agent. I KNOW the sooner the better, but I got a surprise request for a straight FULL, instead of a partial, and I'm trying to get it polished up, and don't want to rush, but also don't want to wait too long either.

[Tracy]

For what it's worth, an agent asked me for manuscript at a writing conference. I wanted to go through it one more time with a fine-toothed comb. It was the summer and my kids were home, and so I was delayed in getting the work done.

One Saturday, the agent called me to ask where the mss was. I said I wanted to make sure it was perfect before I sent it out to her. She said, that's great, don't rush. Send it when it's ready.

I sent it a month later, she read it, and offered representation, along with asking for revisions.

The whole point is that you have to be happy with your mss when you send it out so that you are confident that you are sending your very best work. I think time is of little consequence.

[pamC.]

Tracy,

Thank you! Your response gives me hope, as it has been awhile since I got the full request.

PamC

[katourah]

Yes, thank you Tracy!

Kat

[Kristin Nelson]

Dear Katourah:

1) You've read through your snail mail and e-queries for the day and one or two have pricked your interest. What is it about these queries that moves you to ask for either a partial or full ms?

This is hard to answer. When you walk into a bookstore and start to browse, what makes you pick up one book versus another? Then when you read the back cover, what makes you flip to the first page and start to read? What's the deciding factor between buying that book and taking it home versus putting it back on the shelf?

It's the exact same process for an agent and a received query/partial. If the query is well written and has a one paragraph synopsis like a back cover of a book designed to entice me, I'll probably ask to see a partial.

Biggest mistake I see--authors are too vague or general about the work. They's say it's a quest between good and evil (isn't every epic so?), or they'll write, it's about love or death.

Just about everything is.

There is no hook. No way for me to fall in love with the characters based on such a vague thematic description.

In my e-query workshop that I've given at conferences, I'll ask the participants how many know the story of GONE WITH THE WIND. Then I force them to do a 2 sentence sum up. It's amazing what they come up with and quite a good learning tool.

I then give the examples of other well known projects such as THE LOVELY BONES--(14 year old girl who is brutally murdered tells her story and what happens to her family from heaven.)

See, great hook.

Or DOGS OF BABEL--a 60 year old man attempts to teach his dog how to speak so he can discover what happened to his wife on the night she died.

See, great hook.

I'm asking for a partial.

Then I work with them on doing that for their own manuscript. It's hard but the participants slog through it. I've received numerous emails weeks later from the participants thanking me for having them go through the process. Whereas before their query received no hits, they were now getting requests for partials.

2) How eager are you to receive this material? If the writer takes a while to get it to you, does this count as a strike against him/her?

I try and go through my physical inbox every 3 weeks. If a a writer takes a while, trust me, I won't notice. Make it perfect before sending.

3) Of all the queries you read, what percentage do you take to the next step, i.e., asking for a partial or the full ms.?

Let's use round numbers to make this easy. I probably receive 150-200 queries a week. Out of those, I might ask for about 20 partials. Let's say I receive about 100 partials in a month. I might ask for one full manuscript out of that 100 (depends on the month and the quality of the partials). This month I happen to ask for two full manuscripts.

Once I read the full manuscript, it's 50/50 shot that I take it on. Lately I've read several full manuscripts I didn't take on the authors as clients.

4) Is there a reason why you might ask for a partial, say, versus a full ms? Put another way, if you have more interest or hope in the project do you ask right off for the full ms rather than a partial?

I always ask for a partial first. Asking for a full manuscript based off a query might be wasting the author's money. I don't know how well you write at this point.

By the way, when I ask for a full manuscript, I ask those potential clients to virus scan and send the whole manuscript as a Word attachment via email.

I just invested in a Tablet PC. I read and write everything electronically now.

Hope that helps.
Kristin Nelson

[katourah]

Kristin:

Thank you! The entire process seems much clearer to me now. We're so fortunate to have you!

[renegader]

But Kristin, don't you think it's a lot easier to see hooks and great stories when a novel's later proven to be a bestseller?

I recall reading the dogs of babel author had a hard time getting an agent. And Alice Sebold was taken on by her agent based on her MFA background.

Neither of their agents/publishers could have predicted the success they went on the have, as good as the writing was. Something about their work just connected with readers--there was an X factor no one could define.

For the Dogs of Babel, I could easily see agents saying: talking dog...oh please.