Query Workshop
- By: Jessica Faust | Date: Feb 15 2011
I’ve had numerous requests for another query contest, something we haven’t done in quite a long time. Since these contests typically take time and a lot of work on our part, I’ve been trying to come up with a way to host them that gives you the guidance you seek without creating too much more work for us.
So here’s how it works:
1. Each week (as long as we have time that week) we will post a fully critiqued query on our blog.
2. Queries will be picked at random from those submitted to us on the blog (address below). We will pick those that are good, bad, and ugly to give you an idea not only of what an agent’s in-box looks like, but also to really help you all learn what it takes to write a strong query. If your query isn’t picked, don’t take it personally. We simply ran out of time.
3. No queries submitted to the workshop will be considered queries submitted for consideration. In other words, if you want to query BookEnds, follow our submission guidelines. If you want your query workshopped, follow the workshop guidelines. If you want to submit to both, go right ahead.
4. All authors submitting their query to the query workshop are giving BookEnds permission to post the query, in its entirety, to our blog for critique. We will delete all personal information (name and contact information) if you haven’t already.
5. To be considered for the workshop, you should email your query to blog@bookends-inc.com and put “query workshop” in the subject line. All queries submitted to that address without that subject line will be deleted.
Happy workshopping!
Jessica
Cool! I love query workshops.
That's cuz you ace them, Josin. (The one you did for Query Shark was a gem!)
You just continue to prove how totally classy and helpful you are. Thank you 😀
This is fabulous! Thanks for the opportunity AND online 'course' 😉
Will you accept queries here for genres not considered by BookEnds?
Thanks so much! This is such a generous thing to do.
Brilliant! Totally agree with @Kat above – a classier form of altruism I never did see. Thank you, and I've already submitted my query!
Cool, looking forward to seeing your thoughts!
Things like this are so helpful even to those who don't submit. Thank you!
I can't wait to read the critiques. Thank you!!!
Thanks for doing a query workshop! The similar exercises you've done in the past were so helpful. Looking forward to this!
Wow! This is so generous. Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity.
HollyD
Coolness! I'm excited for this. One quick question, can we submit more than one query if we have more than one Work in Progress?
Very cool. I don't think I'll be submitting one just yet, but I am very interested to read what a good query looks like.
Woo hoo! I've been sweating over my query for quite a while. Thanks!
Great Idea! I love these.
Thank you for this opportunity!
Thank you for the generous offer. I am sure, we will learn a lot even if someone else's query is chosen.
Ahhh! I wish I was ready to query. This would be an awesome opportunity. Must continue to write and revise so I can participate next time.
Anyone who accuses agents of being heartless and lazy should be ashamed after seeing this sort of thing!
This is awesome. Thanks so much for doing it!
Yay! This is so awesome, Jessica. Thank you!
Tracey
Thank you so much for hosting this workshop! Can't wait to see what tips you'll have to offer…especially if mine is picked!
SWEEEEET!! Thanks so much for doing this. Everyone learns!!
Great! Getting feedback from critique partners is always useful, but hearing from agents is even better!
Thanks for doing this!
Thank you for the opportunity.
Looking forward to submitting. Thank you for the opportunity!
This is fantastic and very generous!
Appreciate it guys. Can't wait to see what you guys say in regards to my query. I absolutely am thankful for your time and help.
A very generous offer, thank you!
Just sent mine, hoping for some help. Starting to get a little down even though I have only recieved 8 no's.
Angie–I'm right there with ya. I've only heard back from 4 (all'no's')which made my feet freeze. I ceased sending out queries (at around a count of 13) so that I can regroup.
As long as you don't let Riggins critique mine, consider me good for your Query Workshop. I don't believe Riggins has every read a single thing I've sent him. Your other agents are great. I look forward to their comments.
Thanks so much for doing this! I was getting ready to send a query letter already, nails bitten to the quick! This will help tremendously!
Fantastic! Thanks so much for investing this extra time just to help us all out 🙂 It is appreciated, just in case you couldn't tell from all of the previous comments 😉
A friend directed me to your blogs, and I'm so glad she did, as I've found it one of the more helpful tools to guide me through the submission process. The dreaded query letter is one hurdle I (personally) cannot seem to leap. I so look forward to this workshop, regardless if mine makes it out of the gate. 🙂
Where can we read the queries that are chosen?
Hey, question about the workshop. You say an author should only send a query to an agent after they've polished the manuscript. But for the workshop, can we submit queries for a novel that we're still writing?
Thank you – can we submit more than one?
[…] Thanks to all of your contributions, Workshop Wednesday has been a success. We’re going to continue on with it for as long as we have entries and the energy to comment on them. If you haven’t yet submitted but are still interested, don’t be afraid to participate as per the guidelines in our original post. […]
[…] By repeated request we’ve started Workshop Wednesday. It will definitely play out through 2011, and beyond that we’ll just have to see. We’ve received well over 200 queries at this point, but we are choosing at random, so don’t be afraid to participate as per the guidelines in our original post. […]