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The Importance of an Irresistible Query Letter

July 30, 2018 By Judi Lauren 1 Comment

I’ve worked with a lot of slush piles–from Pitch Wars to my job as an assistant editor at Entangled Publishing. The query is so important to your writing career. It’s the pitch that could help you land an agent or a book deal. Yet I’ve come across writers who don’t think the query is that important. Some believe if the agent or editor or mentor just gets to the sample pages, they’ll definitely request. This is a self-sabotaging way to think about your query for two big reasons:

  1. When you send a poorly written query to an agent or editor, it sends them a message that you don’t care enough about your book to give it a proper query. And if you don’t care about your book, why should they? If a writer can’t be bothered to make the book sound interesting, with the goals, conflict, motivations, stakes, etc., why should an agent or editor bother to read it?
  2. Not every agent and editor reads sample pages. It’s tough, but true. There are agents that only want to see a query letter in the submission, no sample pages. If you don’t have an irresistible query letter, you’re not moving forward with your submission.

Agencies and publishing houses can get 100+ queries a week. Part of my job is going through that general slush pile and pulling things I think my boss would love to work on. A couple months ago, I pulled one just from the query letter; I didn’t even read the writing sample before alerting my boss to it because from the query, I knew the story itself would be good. We acquired it just a few weeks later. In just a couple hundred words, the writer made me intrigued enough to care about her characters before I’d even opened the sample pages.

Just because you’ve written a great book doesn’t mean you can write a terrific query, and that’s okay. But if you know that’s an issue, invest in an editor for it, or run it by CPs and beta readers until you’re satisfied. Take that extra time to give your manuscript the chances it deserves.

For some quick tips on query letter writing, check out my post on conflict and stakes. There’s also this unbelievably thorough post on writing query letters from Jane Friedman.

And I’m giving away a free query edit to one writer. To enter, simply comment on this post, OR comment/retweet this tweet.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Giveaways, publishing, Queries, Writing

Touching Fate by Brenda Drake (And a Giveaway!)

November 7, 2016 By Judi Lauren Leave a Comment

Touching Fate by Brenda Drake | JenHalliganPR.com

I’m so excited to take part in Brenda Drake’s Sale & Excerpt Blitz for TOUCHING FATE! Check out the excerpt below and grab it for just $0.99, peek at CURSING FATE (book 2), and be sure to enter the amazing giveaway!

Touching Fate by Brenda DrakeAster Layne believes in physics, not psychics. A tarot card reading on the Ocean City Boardwalk should have been a ridiculous, just-for-fun thing. It wasn’t. Aster discovers she has a very unscientific gift—with a simple touch of the cards, she can change a person’s fate.

Reese Van Buren is cursed. Like the kind of old-school, centuries-old curse that runs in royal families. Every firstborn son is doomed to die on his eighteenth birthday—and Reese’s is coming up fast. Bummer. He tries to distract himself from his inevitable death…only to find the one person who can save him.

Aster doesn’t know that the hot Dutch guy she’s just met needs her help–or that he’s about to die.

But worst of all…she doesn’t know that her new gift comes with dark, dark consequences that can harm everyone she loves.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Excerpt from TOUCHING FATE

They spread a blanket on the sand and sat on top of it. Aster pulled her legs into a pretzel. “So what’s in the box?”

“You aren’t the patient type, are you?” He undid the ribbon holding the package closed and flipped open the top, then handed her a napkin.

The wind whipped Aster’s hair across her face and she tucked it behind her ears. “Nice thermos,” she said.

“My mother sent it to us. She has an addiction to online purchasing.” He lifted out a cream puff.

It was her favorite pastry at the shop. “I’m impressed. You did your research. I’ll have to thank Leah later.”

He chuckled, handing her the pastry. “You will. She was very specific.”

She took a bite, the creamy, sugary goodness tasting like heaven on her tongue.

“Good, huh?”

She nodded, not wanting to speak and spray powdered sugar at him or something.

He unscrewed the thermos and poured a brown liquid into the cap. “Hot cocoa?” he asked, and passed the cap to her.

“Obviously,” she said, taking a sip. Because cream puffs tasted best with hot chocolate. It was sweet that he’d taken the time to find out what she liked.

They ate in silence, but it wasn’t boring. It was more like…comfortable. When they finished, Reese screwed the cap back onto the thermos and placed the used napkins in the box. He scooted as close as he could get to her. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he slid his arm behind her back. They watched the sun set on the ocean and listened to the waves clap against the beach.

“It’s beautiful here,” Reese said, finally.

She raised her head to look into his eyes. “This is the best date ever.”

He smiled, brushing crumbs away from the corner of her mouth. Her heart shivered as his fingers moved to her chin and lifted her mouth to his. The kiss was soft and gentle, and way too short for Aster. He pulled away, a serious expression on his face.

“Do you believe in fate?” he said softly.

Aster swallowed back her surprise.

“I think I do,” she said, recovering. It was a lame response. Before meeting Miri, she probably would have said she did right off. It used to be just a word without meaning. But now, it held a power beyond that of a simple definition in a dictionary. She had looked the word up. Fate was unavoidable. Something that couldn’t be measured. Yet she had the ability to shift it. She worried she didn’t have the maturity to know when to let sleeping fates lie.

“I believe in it,” Reese said with a nod. “We were to go straight to Florida, but I had an urge to stop in Ocean City. I felt you. Fate brought us together.”

“I thought it was an ice cream cone.” She giggled.

Oh God, Aster, stop giggling, already.

He touched her cheek. “I’m being serious here. I don’t want to hesitate anymore. There isn’t much time. I’ll only be here a few months.”

Grab your copy of TOUCHING FATE for $0.99 for a limited time only!

Touching Fate by Brenda Drake | JenHaliliganPR.com

Cursing Fate by Brenda DrakeCURSING FATE (The Fated #2)
Release Date: November 21, 2016
Add to Goodreads
| Pre-order on Amazon

Iris Layne has always been the sweet sister. She’s kind to everyone, including her best friend Wade… Until she makes a horrible mistake and breaks his heart. All she wants is to go back to before ‘the dumping’.

Of course, Wade would rather see her in hell first. But then Iris touches her sister’s tarot cards and unleashes an evil curse intent on playing a deadly game where no one Iris loves is safe, especially Wade.

Join the celebration for CURSING FATE’s release! Sign up to take part in the Release Day Launch on November 21st (open to everyone)!

 

Brenda DrakeAbout Brenda Drake

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Instagram

Brenda Drake grew up the youngest of three children, an Air Force brat, and the continual new kid at school. Her fondest memories growing up are of her eccentric, Irish grandmother’s animated tales, which gave her a strong love for storytelling.

So it was only fitting that she would choose to write stories with a bend toward the fantastical. When she’s not writing or hanging out with her family, she haunts libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops, or reads someplace quiet and not at all exotic (much to her disappointment).

Giveaway

One winner will receive a Touching Fate Prize Pack including: Mini Tarot Cards; Infinity Bracelet; Blackheart Choker Necklace; Pumpkin Spice Badgerface Lip Balm; signed Bookmarks; and signed stickers for bookplates!

Touching Fate Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Giveaways, Writing

Query Critique Winners!

February 17, 2016 By Judi Lauren Leave a Comment

My giveaway ended last night and I drew the names this afternoon. They were drawn randomly from Rafflecoptor’s website.

Because I had quite a few more entries than I was expecting, I chose the first set of three winners, and then a second set of three. If you didn’t win, I might be holding another one of these giveaways next month.

If you’re one of the winners, contact me via the contact form on this website. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can and we’ll go from there! Looking so forward to reading through these!

Winners:

Kristina Ruth-Query and first 5 critique

Rose Black-Query critique

Emily Pichardo-Query critique

 

Paula Gesmundo-Query and first 5 critique

Chris Owens-Query critique

Rita Jordan-Query critique

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: FicFest, Giveaways, Queries

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