Why I Pass After Only A Query Letter

One of the common responses I hear from authors after I pass on a project is, "If you would just read the story, you would come to a different conclusion." While that might be the case, the odds are, I will still end up with the same decision, even after reading either a partial or the full manuscript. When we read the query letter, we are looking at many different things before deciding to read further. I should note that, yes, I know that many editors and agents just simply say to send everything with every submission, but in all honesty, I am not sure what the point is. A) our In-boxes will be flooded; and B) those stories will still likely get a reject with little reading.

So, the question is, what do I see in a project that would cause me to reject based on the query alone?

(Please note this list is in no particular order)...

The query shows a lack of professionalism. I have talked about this one in the past, but this is personally a big one for me. When I read a query, I am also trying to decide if this is a person that I am going to want to work with for a long period of time. As an agent, this is going to be a commitment. I am not going to see serious results until several books down the line (unless it is an amazing one hit wonder, and those do not happen much). If this person appears to be some random person who really has no clue, this will be more work than it is worth. Not only do I have to work on the project, and make it ready for market, I have to also teach this person to be a professional writer.

The story is not something I represent. Again, this is one of those things I complain about the most. Those of you who follow me on Twitter know this. Pop quiz here... What does Greyhaus Literary Agency represent? Answer: ONLY romance and women's fiction. The guidelines are clear. In fact, I am frequently getting emails from writers thanking me for being so specific. So, when you send me a screenplay for a collection of erotic poetry set in a sci-fi thriller atmosphere that is also a memoir, the answer will be no. Pubtip #1 - Read submission guidelines.

The premise has questionable material in it or things that I personally do not like. Because we want to spend time talking about the project to others, we have to like the content. This is an extremely subjective business and frankly, there are some things we are not going to like. For example:

• I don't mind hot scenes but sex for the sake of sex is not going to work.
• Adultery is not something I want in my stories.
• Teachers getting it on with their students (I am also a college instructor and I am sorry to say this people, even grad students having a relationship with a professor will lead to A) loss of degree; and B) someone getting fired).
• Psychic romantic suspense. Sorry but this is just an easy answer to prevent having to find the killer.
• Etc... I think you get the idea. 

The story has a limited market. I want to create the most opportunities for you. If your story is going going to work for one line, or one editor and that is it, then we are over after that first rejection. Taking on a project like this means that we will spend a lot of time gambling on one thing only. Not worth the investment unless it is that one hit Great American Novel, and even then...

The author thinks he or she is the greatest thing since sliced bread. This one goes back to the professionalism, but telling me that your story is clearly one of the greatest stories ever, or that your story is better than that "Hack Nora Roberts" (and yes, I had someone say that once in a query) you will get rejected. Sorry, but just because you wrote a story does not mean you are a Nobel prize consideration. I had one author tell me Oprah was seriously considering his book. Look, just sending in the project to the company does not mean it is in consideration.

This also extends to those people who have been self-published and then claim amazing sales and followings. Look, being the #1 book on Amazon for romantic fiction set in the stone age with paranormal elements and in Manga form is not really telling us much.

The story is an imitation of other projects. When we read the story and say, hey, isn't this...??? If it is a time travel set in Scotland and the girl is coming from the 1940's, ummmm, I think it has been done. If it is a coming of age story set in a school of witches and the young girl is going to fight the greatest sorceress in the world,.. ummm, I think it has been done. And no, you can not say it is a variation on a theme.

You didn't follow the guidelines. While this is not a deal breaker, I have pretty clear guidelines of what I want submitted.

• In an email, send just a query.
• Using the form, follow the directions
• Sending it snail mail, query, synopsis and only first three pages

When you attach the full manuscript, embed the first three chapters and synopsis, or fill the form out adding material that YOU feel is relevant but is not what I asked for tells me you have a hard time following directions.


The point is, that query letter and your premise do say a lot. Think before you send things out. Follow those directions and be careful. As the Head and Shoulders commercial says, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression."

Or, to quote the hit musical Hamilton, you don't want to "throw away your shot!"

Start With A Great Premise

The premise of your story is the foundation your novel is built on. If you don't take the time to really consider, it doesn't matter how much time you spend on the project, the end result will not be what you want.

The problem that far too many authors have is they build a story around a character, or a single setting or scene. They don't end up thinking about the project in general and the larger scheme of things. These authors might have a great voice and their writing is incredible, but that premise is going to be the downfall of the entire story. 

I always like to give a couple of movies as examples of a weak premise. Consider WATERWORLD. The premise of the story? People in search of water, living on water. The protagonist is a fish type of guy, who is a loner and no one in the movie likes him. The bad guys are chain smokers, living on a oil refinery, driving jet skis with automatic assault rifles. Yeah, this sounds like a great premise.

Consider ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. All I have to say is, "Alien Transvestites."

Now don't get me wrong. There are some funny scenes in Waterworld. The scenery is pretty amazing. The music isn't bad. And yes, I love the music in Rocky Horror and the interaction with the audience is fun, BUT...

When we look at the premise of the stories, it just isn't there. 

As you look at your story, consider if it is the premise of the story you are drawn to, or is it one of those supporting ideas such as characters, a great setting or your writing. 

What I Look For In A Story - The Premise and the Plot

I will admit that I am an agent that does read the synopsis. I know there are a lot of agents that say they don't look at it, but I do. For me, the synopsis says a lot. This is the chance for me to see the entire storyline and the over-all premise of the project. As I said, yesterday, character is a crucial element I look at when I decided on reading more of a project, but so is the plot and the premise.

A lot of people are amazed at how fast I can read through a submission. Why is it that I can make a decision simply based on the first three pages of a book and a synopsis? Most of this comes down to the plot and the premise of the story. The common thread you will see this week, when it comes to what I look for in a story, revolves around the believability and the reality of what I read.

I honestly think that too many authors out there try too hard to create something so different, or to bring together characters that are so extremely opposite, that they sacrifice the quality of the storyline. In the end, they have something unique and different, but far from real. That lack of reality plays a huge role in the connection you can make with your reader.

Regardless of the species of your characters, what they do in the story has to be something real people would do in the real world. In other words, the same laws of physics still apply.

Let me give you two examples from my own authors.

Stephanie Stiles in her book, TAKE IT LIKE A MOM explores the role of a mother who finds out she is pregnant with her second kid. Everything she does during her 9 months of pregnancy are things that we all laugh about later on AFTER the kids is born. This is strange behavior, but very real.

Harmony Evans in her first Kimani release LESSON IN ROMANCE takes the time to explore the issues of adult illiteracy. I have to say, when I first read this project (yes this was her first submission for me) I was sceptical. My first thought was that she would be making the characters completely unreal. I fully expected that her character would be reading full Tom Clancy novels and writing his own book by the end of the story. Nope. Her hero was able to read a small children's picture book. But it was a start. In other words, she didn't take on the entire world but took it piece by piece.

You can have your characters be funny and extreme, but in the end, if the over-all storyline is not something your everyday reader can connect with, you will lose them. I do believe, in many ways, this is the reason the Harlequin lines have done so well for so long. These are real people in real situations. Yes, there may be some "cheesy" moments. but in the end, the premise is still pretty darn real.

Tomorrow. The writing style.

There Is Unique and There Is Strange

I am frequently amazed at some of the stories that cross my desk as an agent. I know I am not alone in this thought either. There are a  lot of times that we as agents (and editors) get together and talk about some of the strange submissions we get each year. Yes, some of these are strange queries, but there are also a lot of stories that the premise alone is completely off the charts.

As editors and agents, we are always telling writers that we are desperately looking for that new and unique voice. That story that leaps off the page and really drags us into the story. This is sooooo, true. But, I do believe that there are writers out there, that in an attempt top find that new and uniqe voice, have crossed over into the "LA LA Land" and come up with something that honestly, Andrew Zimmern from Bizzare Foods on the Travel Channel would never digest. Where did you come up with this idea.

Now don't get me wrong. You can be quirky. You can have fun and be creative. But I do believe writers need to stop and think before they write too far into this new project and ask if the story has really gone off the deep end.

The problem with going too far into the "strange" is that the story simply cannot be believeable. When the story isn't something we as readers can accept in our reality, we lose a connection with the characters or any message you as an author are trying to get across to us.

We'll take this one step further. We have been talking a lot lately about the marketablity of your stories. This has to be something a person will really want to go out and buy. Again, I think that authors are missing the mark here. They go out to their book stores or scan on line and believe that "since there isn't a story out there like this" it means their is a need for this. Ummmm, no. If there isn't a story out there like your story, it might simply mean that no one in their right mind would pick up the book.

O.K. I will say that there may be people out there to get your book, but it will be for those "gag" gifts, or "White Elephant" parties when you try to screw your friends over with something so bizarre that you really stun them. Is this really what you want to be remembered for? Do you want to truly be the author that your readers laugh at (and not laugh with)? I would bet the answer to that one is no.

If you still doubt me on this one, go and scan the digital reader library of many books that are "free". I think this should say it all. And, I guess I would also add that if the author can't even give the book away for free, what does this tell you?

Come on people. Keep it on Earth for a while.

Scott

Don't Limit Your Story - An example: UP ALL NIGHT

So, we are now seeing the new line-ups for TV. Among the list, and getting a lot of big publicity is the comedy UP ALL NIGHT with Christina Applegate. If you have ever had kids, the things these two are going through is truly a riot and brings back a lot of memories (both good and bad). I was thinking about this though, and it got me thinking about writing stories. Clearly, these writers and producers missed a point in their planning. There is simply no longevity for this show.

Regardless of how good the show might be, how great the writing is, this show has a limited lifespan. Why? Think of the premise... This story is about a couple and the trials and tribulations of having a newborn in the house. Now, unless these characters are going to discover that the baby is an insomniac, the show is over when the baby grows up.

I bring this up because too often, we ahve a great idea for a story, but fail to think of how quickly the story can come to an end. This all deals with the conflict. In other words, if we can fix the conflict in the first chapter of the book, you simply don't have anything to write about. The story is over. As an author, you simply cannot drag something out over the course of 75,000 plus words when the solution happens too quickly. The writers will get tired of it and you lose your credibility as an author.

Just something to think about for the day.

Scott

You have to have a great start!

No, today I am not talking about those opening pages of your book. What I want to focus on is the initial premise of the story that you begin with. If you don't begin with a good foundation for your story, I don't care how much work you put into it, the story will fail.

One common rejection that I send out is that the writing is good but the premise is not something that I believe publishers will want to buy. This is not a statement about publishers being limited in their view, it is the simple, hard-core fact that the story itself is awful. What is often frustrating though, is that in many of these cases, the writing is pretty good. From those first pages, I can honestly see the author has talent. Unfortunately, I am screaming to myself, "why did you pick this topic to write on?"

I do think that writers have some great ways of first developing their story ideas. Some start with an event or the conflict. Some start with a great character. I have one author I work with that starts with some great dialogue and scene building. These approaches are fine. Where the problem comes is the element of putting it all together. Writers often fail to see the big picture and see how this will all fall into place. In other words, in an attempt to do one thing they believe the editors want, they fail to get the rest of the elements.

I see this a lot in many of the shorter e-book stories. Please note this is not a slam against the publishers. We're simply talking about the stories. If, for example, a publisher is interested in a 10-15 K word count story with a lot of sensuality, the writer focuses on just that. The dialogue, the plot, the conflict all goes away. What you end up with is a story with characters in bed and getting sweaty, with nothing more. We're talking about characters that may have never met each other, and then mysteriously, at the end of the 15,000 words, he proposes and they are married. Huh?

Kate Duffy and I always joked about the idea of Alien Vampire Bunnies but this is just one of those examples. A writer, in an attempt to focus on one element, misses the point and has a premise that will not work.

As a writer, you can't simply stick two characters together and see how it works. There has to be a symbiotic relationship between the characters, setting, theme, plot and conflict. If one is out of sync, the whole thing falls apart.