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THIS JUST IN!
THE LOVELY MPAX HAS A FREE BOOK FOR US!
The sequel to The Backworlds is now available. Craze and his friends continue their adventures in Stopover at the Backworlds’ Edge. See what role chocolate plays in the galaxy this time.
The interstellar portal opens, bringing in a ship that should no longer exist. A battleship spoiling for a fight, yet the war with Earth ended two generations ago. The vessel drops off a Water-breather, a type of Backworlder thought to be extinct. She claims one of Craze’s friends is a traitor who summoned the enemy to Pardeep Station. A betrayal worse than his father’s, if Craze lives to worry about it.
Available for all ereaders from: Amazon, AmazonUK, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords:
http://www.amazon.com/Stopover-at-Backworlds-Edge-ebook/dp/B008L46QFU/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_2
Back to our regularly scheduled broadcast:
BURNT OFFERINGS is still at #19.
THREE DAYS left to get BURNT OFFERINGS FREE:
http://www.amazon.com/BURNT-OFFERINGS-ebook/dp/B008N4QGA8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342971964&sr=1-1&keywords=Burnt+Offerings+ROLAND+YEOMANS
The last few days reinforced a notion of mine:
The art of driving in the pouring rain is much like writing a query.
Yes.
There are similarities between the two.
For instance, the question :
SHE DOES SEE ME, DOESN'T SHE?
The truth? No. No, she doesn't.
In her mind's eye, she sees the face of her friend as she's talking into her Bluetooth headset. By the dashboard clock, she sees that she's 10 minutes late. In the rearview mirror, she sees the bouncing image of her lips as she tries to apply lipstick without ending up looking like Bozo the Clown.
But you? You she doesn't see.
Not to worry. Just drive as if everyone around you is going to do the stupidest thing imaginable, and you'll be just fine.
THE AGENT TO WHOM YOU'RE WRITING DOESN'T SEE YOU EITHER.
She sees the precious sleep she's missing by reading query after query into the wee hours of the morning.
She sees the worst pieces of prose from past queries that stick like cockle burrs in her mind.
She sees the long list of things she has to do the next day on less sleep that she wanted.
She sees the sad face of that editor saying "No" to her earlier in the day when she was so sure he was going to say "yes."
She sees the mounting bills she has to pay ... BUT SHE DOESN'T SEE YOUR QUERY ... at least not clearly.
What do you do?
With a driver, you honk the horn. With a weary agent, you reach out and shake her awake to truly see your query for what it hopefully is : engaging and intriguing.
How? However you do it, you have to do it in 10 seconds. That's how long you have before her routine of "Wax on; wax off" is finished. Actually, it's read, yawn, reject.
For you to get through to her, it has to be a one - two punch. Hook of a title. Then, wham! A fascinating one paragraph summation:
PROJECT POPE : Robot priests construct their own Pope in their search for God. Then, the unimaginable happens. They find Him. {The classic by Clifford D. Simak.}
2nd Way Querying is like driving in the pouring rain :
JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DO A THING DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD.
Hundreds of thousands of drivers die needlessly each year by insisting on driving the speed limit in blinding rain.
In writing a query, you have fantastic leeway. You can write in any voice you choose. Frivolous. Condescending. Antagonistic. Suicidal, oh I repeat myself.
Your query is a business interview. Treat it as such and treat the agent as the potential employer. Be professional. Follow her website's guidelines. And show respect.
3rd Way Querying is like driving in the pouring rain :
YOU HAVE TO ALWAYS KEEP THE BIG PICTURE IN MIND :
In driving that is looking past the hood to at least 200 feet ahead of you. Flick your eyes from side to side to prevent nasty surprises. Keep looking at the rearview mirror to see what may be charging right at you.
In Querying :
Keep in mind the ultimate goal : intriguing the agent enough for her to want to read more.
You don't have to cram 500 pages of story into one page. In essence, you're writing a movie trailer. Remember the latest movie trailer you saw. Did it give the whole story? No. It teased, giving you the hero, the antagonist, and a glimpse of humor and danger.
Now, get to teasing those agents.
Now, a song for the journey :
THREE DAYS left to get BURNT OFFERINGS FREE:
http://www.amazon.com/BURNT-OFFERINGS-ebook/dp/B008N4QGA8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342971964&sr=1-1&keywords=Burnt+Offerings+ROLAND+YEOMANS
The last few days reinforced a notion of mine:
The art of driving in the pouring rain is much like writing a query.
Yes.
There are similarities between the two.
For instance, the question :
SHE DOES SEE ME, DOESN'T SHE?
The truth? No. No, she doesn't.
In her mind's eye, she sees the face of her friend as she's talking into her Bluetooth headset. By the dashboard clock, she sees that she's 10 minutes late. In the rearview mirror, she sees the bouncing image of her lips as she tries to apply lipstick without ending up looking like Bozo the Clown.
But you? You she doesn't see.
Not to worry. Just drive as if everyone around you is going to do the stupidest thing imaginable, and you'll be just fine.
THE AGENT TO WHOM YOU'RE WRITING DOESN'T SEE YOU EITHER.
She sees the precious sleep she's missing by reading query after query into the wee hours of the morning.
She sees the worst pieces of prose from past queries that stick like cockle burrs in her mind.
She sees the long list of things she has to do the next day on less sleep that she wanted.
She sees the sad face of that editor saying "No" to her earlier in the day when she was so sure he was going to say "yes."
She sees the mounting bills she has to pay ... BUT SHE DOESN'T SEE YOUR QUERY ... at least not clearly.
What do you do?
With a driver, you honk the horn. With a weary agent, you reach out and shake her awake to truly see your query for what it hopefully is : engaging and intriguing.
How? However you do it, you have to do it in 10 seconds. That's how long you have before her routine of "Wax on; wax off" is finished. Actually, it's read, yawn, reject.
For you to get through to her, it has to be a one - two punch. Hook of a title. Then, wham! A fascinating one paragraph summation:
PROJECT POPE : Robot priests construct their own Pope in their search for God. Then, the unimaginable happens. They find Him. {The classic by Clifford D. Simak.}
2nd Way Querying is like driving in the pouring rain :
JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DO A THING DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD.
Hundreds of thousands of drivers die needlessly each year by insisting on driving the speed limit in blinding rain.
In writing a query, you have fantastic leeway. You can write in any voice you choose. Frivolous. Condescending. Antagonistic. Suicidal, oh I repeat myself.
Your query is a business interview. Treat it as such and treat the agent as the potential employer. Be professional. Follow her website's guidelines. And show respect.
3rd Way Querying is like driving in the pouring rain :
YOU HAVE TO ALWAYS KEEP THE BIG PICTURE IN MIND :
In driving that is looking past the hood to at least 200 feet ahead of you. Flick your eyes from side to side to prevent nasty surprises. Keep looking at the rearview mirror to see what may be charging right at you.
In Querying :
Keep in mind the ultimate goal : intriguing the agent enough for her to want to read more.
You don't have to cram 500 pages of story into one page. In essence, you're writing a movie trailer. Remember the latest movie trailer you saw. Did it give the whole story? No. It teased, giving you the hero, the antagonist, and a glimpse of humor and danger.
Now, get to teasing those agents.
Now, a song for the journey :
Re - Clifford Simak. It's been a long time since I read his novels.
ReplyDelete"Just drive as if everyone around you is going to do the stupidest thing imaginable, and you'll be just fine"
(Funny - That's what I told both our kids when they were learning to drive)
BTW - downloaded Burnt Offerings today. Thanks Roland.
D.G.:
ReplyDeleteI am pleasantly surprised that you know him. I discovered him as a teenager roaming the science fiction section of the public library: TIME IS THE SIMPLEST THING.
So you said the same thing to your children? Wow, our minds must be kindred spirits!
I hope you enjoy BURNT OFFERINGS. The illustrations alone are awesome. Roland
I love the song Breathe (2AM). I have to say I wish I could figure out how to get across my story without being boring. And then I think, maybe it really isn't an exciting premise. I think that's the part that sucks the most right now. I don't have any real surety on which is not working - is it the story or the query? Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI think writing the book is the easy part - the pitch, the query, the synopsis, those are killers. I have to write a query by the end of July. Wanna write it for me?
ReplyDeleteI never thought of it that way before. I'll remember this next time I draft up the ol' query. :)
ReplyDeleteI love your eye for seeing things differently. I don't think I would have put driving in the pouring rain with querying, but your analogy is spot on. I also adore your true breakdown of what the agent sees. More of us seeking an agent should keep this realistic things in mind.
ReplyDeleteLara:
ReplyDeleteI find myself sometimes hearing "Breathe" in my head as I drive blood runs in the night.
One of the most chaffing things about rejections is that you don't know really what turned the agent off. You have to guess. And we usually guess with our fears.
Think of your query as a trailer in the movie theater. Write it as to grab the viewer in the darkness watching the big screen. Try to lock on scenes or dilemmas in your work to make that viewer want to see what happens next. If you can't, then you know your story needs tension, danger, or characters you want to win.
Denise:
Queries are hard for me, too. While I would be happy to help you craft your query, the fire to write the story sparked inside your own heart. You need that fire to spur you on to a winning query.
That is why many ghost-written books seem to lack spark, for it was written second-hand by someone to whom it was just a task. I wish you great luck with that query. The deadline is looming. You are cutting it close!
David:
I wish you great luck with your query when it comes time.
Angela:
To me, it is a wonder that an agent sees any query clearly with the pressures and stresses and the condition of the present publishing world. I'm happy you liked this post! Roland
Lots of good advice here, thanks Roland!
ReplyDeleteLydia:
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting and liking it enough to comment, Roland
That analogy was funny! (And I always drive as if everyone around me is about to do something stupid.)
ReplyDeleteExcited for Mary - first book rocked.
And great your book is doing well!
Thanks for getting the word out about MPax! I loved your analogy for queries. But I do want you to know that it's a piece of cake to drive and apply lipstick at the same time. Driving while applying eyeliner takes much more skill. ;D
ReplyDeleteCongrats on getting Burnt offerings to #19. That's quite an accomplishment. Love the cover. And thanks for the shoutout. Stopover isn't free though. The first in the series is.
ReplyDeleteHi, Roland,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the query advice. I will need it because I hope to query some this week and next. It is time for me to GET GOING AGAIN.
Thanks for the support and friendship! You are THE best.