[stylist] query letters

[Atty Rose]

I would love to read a few. I took a class on them a couple of years back. I 
wonder if I still have that stuff.

Thank you,
Atty

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Kuell" <ckuell at comcast.net>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 9:09 AM
Subject: Re: [stylist] bios and cover letters


> Hi Atty,
>
> I'm sure you will receive a plethora of opinions on this. Mine is that it 
> depends on you. Personally, I want to be known for my writing, and not for 
> my blindness, so I tend not to include anything about it. And I've had 
> some success taking that route. With my first novel, I was querying agents 
> and not mentioning my blindness. A friend of my mother's had a sister who 
> was an editor in Manhattan, and offered to give me feedback on my query 
> and first 3 chapters. Of course, I took her up on it. Her primary comment 
> about my query was--why aren't you mentioning that you're blind? So I 
> added it, and kept sending out queries. In total, I sent out 110 query 
> letters, and had 8 'nibbles'. Four came from my letters which didn't 
> mention my blindness, and four came from letters that did. So who knows.
>
> If you are submitting to magazines and journals, the fact that you are 
> blind probably plays well, makes your bio more interesting than the person 
> who is just an average Joe. However, I tend to think that with societal 
> misconceptions about blindness, you are probably better off not mentioning 
> it for book queries. With a book, you will be expected to market, give 
> readings, give interviews and so on, and the average agent/publisher 
> thinks there's no way you can do those things. There are always 
> exceptions, of course, and my feeling is that because I can do those 
> things, people will find me more interesting... if I ever get the chance.
>
> Good luck, and I'd be happy to share a query letter or two if you'd like.
>
> chris
>
>
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