[stylist] Agent questions

[Judith Bron]

John, Can you give us a list of what to do for the "machine Gun" method?  I 
can assume it's one thing, but we all know what the word assume breaks down 
into.  Judith
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Lee Clark" <johnlee at clarktouch.com>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 7:30 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] Agent questions


> Cindy:
>
> The five questions to ask are biased, since it's an agent who wrote them
> down.  It is missing one crucial question, one that successful authors 
> know
> well: Are you prepared to send out over two hundred eueries and follow up
> with them all?
>
> The publishing world is fickile.  Take the case of Jasper Foorde, the
> bestselling author of The Eyre Affair and many other books.  He sent Eyre
> carefully to markets he kinew well.  No go.  he slowly spread out, still
> being careful to learn about the publishers and agents and studying them 
> to
> find out if they would be a fit.  Still no go.  It was only after he said
> "Screw it" and machine-gunned his query all over the place, getting
> seventy-six rejections before he hit gold, and oh boy was it real gold! 
> He
> is very wealthy now.
>
> Unless I have a previous relationship, like I was published there before,
> and unless I really had one place in mind before I even wrote the first
> words, the machine gun method has always worked the best for me. 
> Tiptoeing
> around and waiting around for months to get a response before trying 
> another
> one does no good at all.
>
> There are people who are PAID to screen stuff, so let them do their job.
> You're not getting paid unless you have a hit.  They get paid anyway, any
> way it goes.  So my advice is to fire away.
>
> John
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of The Crowd
> Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 7:40 AM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: [stylist] Agent questions
>
> In an article by Kristen Auclair, a literary agent of Graybill and 
> English,
> the FIVE QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE SENDING YOUR QUERY LETTER:
>
>    1.  Is it polished, error-free, and professional?
>    2.  Does the tone of your query letter reflect the tone of your book?
>    3.  Are you sure that the agent you're pitching works on this type of
> project?
>    4.  Do you know your market?
>    5.  Are you emphasizing the best aspects of your project?
>
> Taking a moment to send this inbetween packing my apartment!
>
> A
>
> Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it.
>
> Life is short ...forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly,
> laugh uncontrollably...
> and never regret anything that made you smile
>
> "Qui docet, discit."
> "He who teaches, learns"
>
> I have learned that people will forget what you said,
> people will forget what you did,
> but people will never forget how you made them feel.
> Maya Angelou
>
>
>
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