On the latest episode of So You Think You Want to be A Writer featuring Kirli Saunders blew my mind. What an inspiring young woman! Val and Al always ask theri interviewees to give their top 3 tips for writers and #2 on Kirli’s list is to set a rejection goal. Yikes! Sooo…I have now set my rejection goal for 2020 at, you guessed it, 20.
Furious Fiction submissions will probably account for 12 (unless I actually make the short list and then I’ll be so bloody chuffed that I won’t be able to count it as a rejection, even if it’s not an actual win!) So I will have another 8 to rack up. Looks like I’ll be learning how to write query letters in December… I gotta get some skin in the game.
Resources –
How to write Query letters from Australian Writers’ Marketplace. Four simple tips include this one
#4 You’re not completely insane (this is the follow-on from the ‘don’t be more arrogant than God’ bit above). An agent won’t agree to represent you if you manage to come across as completely nuts in a 200-word letter. Try to hide this aspect of your personality for as long as possible; don’t open your very first communication to them with ‘may all your camels be bountiful’. And FYI, jokes don’t come across too well in letters. Neither does sarcasm.
https://awmonline.com.au/foolproof-query-letters/
The Beautiful Writers podcast has their own course and workbook on the subject. https://yourbigbeautifulbookplan.com/
One from the Writers’ Digest with easy to follow tips – https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/the-10-dos-and-donts-of-writing-a-query-letter
And my favourite Agent even though I don’t write in her desired genre, is Barabra Poelle. She’s a firecracker and I might consider writing a thriller just to see if she likes it. Listen to her here on the Writers Digest Podcast.
Feature Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
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