If You Need A.I. To Write Your Query - Rethink Your Decision About Being A Professional Writer

NOTE: This is a bit of a rant. If I hurt your feelings, I am sorry, but sometimes, the truth hurts!

I was at a conference earlier this summer and after hearing another agent recommend using A.I. to draft query letters, I screamed in anger. OK, maybe not screaming since the room was full of real people, but honestly, I was pissed. In front of that room, I made a simple statement that I still believe. "If you have to use A.I. for your writing, you are admitting you do not know how to write. And, if you have to use A.I. you should rethink your career choice."

Some in the room were really shocked when I made that statement. The other group applauded my statement. 

I bring this up because, as I was going through submissions this last weekend, I was bombarded by a ton of authors doing just that. If you are wondering how I know, it is the same common phrases I see over and over again that have nothing to do with anything I have either said in public or here on line. Consider this"

I am reaching out to you because of your interest in emotionally rich and imaginative fiction. I believe my novel, [insert title here]—a story exploring love, and relationships—would be a strong fit for your list. (note, this was edited some to protect the author).

I am constantly amazed by the number of authors who are trying to justify to themselves and the world around them that using A.I. is fully justifiable. This isn't correct. All of these A.I. programs out there create nothing but a blah, generic, boring and, in many times, incorrect statements that you believe are accurate. 

Look, I get writing query letters is not easy. As an agent, I write them all of the time for my clients. But the thing you have to remember is that your writing must show YOUR voice and not that of a mindless machine. Now, if you are arguing that you are using it to show you "a model" of what your writing should look like, consider this. Agents like myself, and editors and other professionals have been showing you how to do this for years. It doesn't take much to get online and find people such as Janet Reid, Jessica Faust, Paige Wheeler, Rachel Gardner and many others providing templates and ideas. We provide the general ideas (without writing it for you) and it is up to you to tailor those ideas to your own unique point of view. 

Consider this... I made up a fake story and had A.I. create a letter.

Dear Mr. Eagan,

I’m seeking representation for The Billionaire and His A.I. Lover, a completed 87,000-word contemporary romance that blends classic emotional beats with a high-concept twist—perfect for fans of Alisha Rai’s The Right Swipe and the emotional complexity of works by Robyn Carr.

Tech billionaire Evan Langley built an empire on innovation but hasn’t felt a real human connection in years. When he secretly tests his company’s new artificial intelligence companion, “Ava,” he’s shocked by how deeply she seems to understand him—until he discovers that Ava’s personality was modeled on a real woman: Lena Chen, the quietly brilliant linguist he fired six months ago.

Lena never agreed to be the blueprint for a digital girlfriend, but when Evan returns with a public apology and a business proposal she can’t refuse, sparks fly—professionally and personally. As their relationship deepens, both must confront what’s real, what’s artificial, and whether love can exist without full consent and trust.

Set in Seattle’s tech scene and told in dual POV, The Billionaire and His A.I. Lover examines intimacy in the digital age while delivering the heartfelt slow-burn romance readers crave.

I’m querying you because of your strong track record in romance and your interest in stories with emotional depth and modern themes. I hold a degree in [your degree, if relevant], and my writing has appeared in [any publication credits or contests, if applicable].

Thank you for your time and consideration. I’d be happy to send the full manuscript upon request.

Sorry to say this, but I would never buy the story. Notice also the generic phrasing? How in the "you know what" does the computer know how your story is similar. It made up EVERYTHING! Then consider that last line. I have NEVER made that statement about my interest in stories with emotional depth and modern themes

Just like the prior person who said I had an "interest in emotionally rich and imaginative fiction."

I am sorry to say this, but you have to admit to yourself, if you are using this tech, that maybe you need to take some more time and learn to actually write. 

Calling Romantic Suspense Authors! #MSWL

ICYMI... Harlequin just sent out a Manuscript Wish List for Romantic Suspense authors. Here is the link if you wish to check it out on your own!

READ IT HERE!!!!

Now, with that said, if you have a completed story that is what they are looking for, let me know! Send me a query at the agency and make sure to state you heard about it here!

I will also add that if you are currently a Harlequin author in another line, or even in this line and are interested in advancing your career, reach out to me. 

I am ACTIVELY looking for find authors in this category!!!!!!!

Do You Have Your Copy Of Scott's Book?

 

Buy it here!!!!!

Understanding Social Media Presence

It's all about getting your name out there! In publishing, being successful is about making sure your readers know who you are and when your next book is coming out. This, however, is not an easy task considering how many authors are out there trying to promote their books. For new authors, it is even harder. Consider this...

Before posting this, I jumped over to Amazon and did a quick search. Try this for yourself and you will see what I mean.

I just looked up Romance Novels and then sorted the list from low to high in terms of the price. I was easily 15 pages in and over 300 books all being given away for free (I finally stopped just to get back to the blog). Now, the idea behind "giving away a book" is to get your name in front of a reader and hope that the reader will go on and "buy" your other books. We all love great deals, right? The point of this is simple. Somehow, you have to get your name up that list and out of that mess of other authors.

Not an easy task.

It becomes even harder if you are someone trying to do this entirely on your own without a publisher promoting the heck out of your book.

So, we have to find another way to get your name out there and that would be through social media. Again, this is NOT an easy task. Remember, people will only read your blog, follow you on a social media site, or go to your website IF they know who you are. I don't care how hard you work to put your name out there, it will only get to your followers. And again, you have to get those followers.

This is where a lot of new authors realize that publishing is harder than writing those books. You will now find yourself spending 50% of your time marketing your book and getting your name out there in as many places as possible. To add to this, you have to have content that people will want to read. 

Let's consider having an Instagram account. You have to be out there posting multiple times a week. You want your readers to be waiting to see the latest information you put out there. If you don't have anything interesting or at least relevant, they will quit following you. For example, I started following several authors recently, only to quit following them because their content was either information not about their writing, or it was simply the same thing over and over again, or it was not exciting. 

So, as you think about your social media presence, here are some things to consider:

1. Where do your readers go to for their information? Remember, not everyone is on TikTok.
2. What are you going to share?
3. How often are you going to post?
4. Can you post to multiple sites?
5. Can you work with other authors to promote each other?
6. Do you even have anything to promote (I put this out there because if you don't have a book to sell, then there is no reason to promote anything).

How Much Do You Hide From The Reader

We all love a great cliff-hanger. We love that feeling as a reader of wanting to know more and the author getting us to "read just one more page" even though we promised to stop reading at one in the morning. However, there is a fine line between holding information back from the reader and giving us too much information.

I was recently reading a story where the author was doing just that. The author wanted to keep secret from the other characters what one of the main characters was doing. This is fine. This is what we want to happen. The other characters in the story are held in suspense of what is going on. However, here is where the author didn't pull it off just quite right. The author also held that information back from the readers. 

Now, if this was the bad guy in the story, there would be no problem (in most cases). This became a problem because what the author was holding back was part of the character profile that established the GMC of the character. For the readers, we didn't know WHY the character was acting the way the author had written the story. We didn't need the full backstory of how we got there, but without that information, the readers are simply lost.

It is OK to give us little nuggets of what is going on with your characters. We promise, we will keep the secret safe from the other characters in the story. 

We see this also when writers send in query letters to editors and agents. They have been told, when they write that blurb about their story, to model it after back cover copy material. While this is true, we need to know what is going on in the story and YES, we need to know "if the butler did it." That secretive back-cover material is used when we finally publish the book because, obviously, we don't want the reader to know what happened.

I always look at giving out information to the readers with a "need to know" approach. What information does THE READER need to advance the story and keep it moving on? What information does THE READER need to get a three-dimensional image of the character? Along the same lines, how much do we need. In the case of the earlier example, we just needed to know why the main character was acting that way. A single line or maybe a paragraph. We don't need the whole story, just a single mention is all it would take to satisfy our needs as readers.

Don't Over Think It

I always tell my students, I can be one of the laziest individuals out there. I know, if you look at my schedule, you would think otherwise, but honestly, I am always out to find a way to make things easier with any task that I do. 

Now, before you get started on me by saying "Come on Scott, you told us there are no shortcuts in this business!" I want to explain that I am not talking about shortcuts. I am talking about trying to find ways to make your life a little less complicated. This is especially true for me when I am looking at ways to help out my authors and their stories. If we can find an easy solution to what might look like a massive problem with their stories, then we are going to take it.

Let's talk, for example, about that infamous GMC for your character. You want your character in your story to do something (it really doesn't matter what it is for right now). But then your wonderful critique partner, you know the one, with the great cheese platter and the fantastic California Chardonnay you have at your meetings, decides now is the time to ask, "But what is the reason for that person to act that way?"

Ugh, I hate when they do that.

Because here is where the problems often show up. Your wonderful critique partner will come up with this ridiculous backstory about when your character fell out of a tree as a young person when she was trying to spy on her neighbor, only to be caught by her father who was an ex-marine and ruled the house with an iron fist. The father then grounded your character for two weeks doing nothing but chores that would make a marine in boot camp cry. Now your character, with a huge about of PTSD every time someone asks then to do something has to take a cold shower.... 

You get the idea, right?

But the reality is, your character can just want to do something because they knew it would be a positive career move. No backstory needed. 

What about when you are trying trying to get your character from one location to the next. Again, I have seen authors create these long scenes of the character riding in a car or walking to the location. Now they attempt to fill the time with mindless conversations and filler information. 

The easier solution? Create a time stamp phrase or montage the scene. For example:

Three hours later after being stuck in traffic, the Hardy Boys made it to the other side of town.

OR

The next 4 weeks was a whirlwind of activities and Joe Hardy got his act together before marrying Nancy Drew...

In other words, keep it simple. You don't have to over work things and fill the story up with words that do nothing to advance the story. All of that extra stuff just drags your story down and distracts from what you really want to get to - the plot and your characters!