Query Etiquette & Best Practices!

I'm covering the biggest DOs and DON'Ts of querying literary agents, including word count, personalization, comps, your bio paragraph and etitquette. FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES and don't be an auto-delete!
My Query Basics video: • Query Basics (How To G...
On Queries from my #HowToAuthor Wattpad series: www.wattpad.co...
Query Form examples downloadable pdf: alexadonne.com/...
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Twitter:
/ alexadonne
Instagram:
/ alexadonne
Website:
alexadonne.com/
Wattpad:
www.wattpad.co...

[@silverscreamers2305]

I sent my query letter out to about 10 agents before I noticed a stupid typo. I reread my letter before sending it every time yet it somehow escaped me. I nearly cried

[@odd-eyes9463]

Dis the same thing. Never heard anything back. Guess they didn't like my one typo.

[@fkdjdjcmckdjdjf3728]

...can i ask what the typo was

[@thoughtfuldevil6069]

Same here. It's so panic-inducing 0_0

[@xxsarahxcore]

I had to keep pausing and going back to rewatch because I was so distracted by Peeta and Teddy in the background... such cuties! This is honestly great information though. I still have another 30k to knock out before I can even THINK about queries, yet I'm obsessed with finding all the information on it I can... :)

[@evelynhail9534]

This is an excellent video about querying process, I will make surety take everything into account. Especially loved your advice that we have to show the agent that we are well read and that we understand the market. And then the whole personalisation moment was wonderfully described. I am slowly going through your videos from the founding of the channel, very enjoyable viewing so far 💜

[@EDDIELANE]

I so psyched to start querying.

[@carnelias1]

Your cats are so cute and adorable. I have a female cat her name is Ms. Eboni ; Thanks for making your videos :-)

[@Floridameerkat93]

Comps are confusing. I've heard we aren't suppose to use super successful books to compare to, but I recently got to the comp part of my query letter and, while doing research on which books would be good comp titles, I discovered that there is a very successful book series that would be the perfect comp. Is it safe for me to use it? Also my second comp title is another series that appears to have finished in 2016. Can I still use it or is too "old"?

[@mblake4007]

Great insight and advice. Thank you!

[@susanberg45]

Your videos are excellent, informative, engaging, and you look great!

[@kaylamcconkey551]

What is your best tip for a high school student writing a query letter? More so, what should we put into our bio? considering most of us are full time students

[@catkelly]

Two things. One, what if the query has more than 250 words? Mine has over 300 words but it's still within a page. Basically, it's Times New Roman and single-spaced. Using your formula; the Hook, the Book, and the Cook while using Character, Conflict, and Stakes, I've shortened my query but can't do anymore without making it too vague. Would this sort of thing be alright to submit or is it still too long? Two, what happens if you have nothing to say about your bio? I didn't study writing in school. I only participated in writing clubs helping to rewrite and review student's works. I only had one story submitted and published in my high school's magazine and one story published in my online college magazine.

[@rimshaj7309]

How to address to a publisher directly, if we are sending it through a submission email?

[@catbishop206]

Alexa! You are amazing! Thank you for this! Quick question! When submitting a children's book, how (the heck!) do you figure out how many pages to include when your entire story is less than 1000 words? A lot of times they are asking for a certain amount of pages and I can't figure out how to equate it. Children's books are obviously different than adult or YA, So what would you recommend? Thanks for everything :) -A friend in Seattle

[@ellismartiskainen7729]

Your cats are so cute!

[@camillerijess]

Totally distracted by the cats lol.

[@twobookteens]

At what point should you query your novel? After several rounds of edits and new drafts?

[@gililevy3541]

You said to include my social media, but what if it's really small? I'm not really popular on Instagram and I don't even have Twitter. Is it going to be a problem?

[@MentallyKnitting]

Alexa, what would be your suggestions for a full request at a conference email? Do you follow the same guidelines in this video? And you would attach a document right? Ps. Love your swearing

[@dear_totheheart]

Phenomenal!

[@TheWitchingHour13]

I have a question about describing you book in relation to it being a series or a stand alone. The book I'm working on is the first in a trilogy and wouldn't work as a stand alone. Would I still word it as "A stand alone with potential for a series" like you said or would you advise wording it differently in a case like mine? Thank you for your help.

[@AlexaDonne]

Well, presumably the first book does stand alone, as in it is a complete story? As long as that is the case, you can stay that it is a stand alone with series potential.

[@TheWitchingHour13]

Alexa Donne Thank you for replying so quickly. I guess I should have said that this is a fantasy series along the lines of Mistborn and Harry Potter. In this first book the villain is introduced and they toy with my MC's but the big battle doesn't take place till the third book aside from that the story lines that I do introduce in this first book will be nicely wrapped up by the end. So I think that can fall into the alternative definition of stand alone.

[@AlexaDonne]

I mean, the first Harry Potter book DOES stand alone. As does The Hunger Games. They have a complete plot and character arc, and there is a "showdown" of sorts with the villain and some kind of triumph... of course they tie into broader series and the ends of the books tease more to come, but the first books, had they been the only books published, would have worked. Think of it that way.

[@TheWitchingHour13]

Thinking of it that way it makes more sense to me now and I don't know why it didn't compute before. The way I have my ending in the first book now there is a "showdown" but it alludes to more story to follow. For whatever reason my brain refused to see this first book as being able to stand alone. Thank you so much I get so much out of your videos and you are always so helpful when I do have questions. It's nice to be able to get advice from someone who's gone through this intimidating process. Thanks again.

[@DaWeelSlamShoddy]

Alexa this is awesome! Thank you so much. One question - which sounds sort of stupid: is it okay to use a first name for the agent your querying or is it too informal. I wonder about whether to just write Ms, if unsure if Miss or Mrs or Ms. Trivial, yes. Insensibly occupying my mind, yes. Thanks again for your great videos.

[@AlexaDonne]

It is OK for many agents, but to be honest, in order to play it safe I addressed everyone more formally. I use Ms universally, regardless of age or marital state--it became acceptable to use it for any/all women a while back, and is the safest bet for literary agents.

[@MegaToonzNetwork]

Who threatens agents? WHY????

[@benjaminmahon9388]

Alexa, dumb question (I'm sure you mentioned this in other videos already): should the query be IN the email, or should it be sent as an attachment? Also, should I automatically include a few chapters in my email, or wait until agents ask for them? Thanks for all that you do!

[@Skorpi00007]

What is a manuscript?

[@kailabishop7886]

Question on mentioning the book as part of a series! My plot and story are built around a journey. Simply put, the journey doesn't finish within the first book. There is a climax and resolution at the end of the book, but the goal isn't completed. It can stand alone, but the story is obviously uncompleted. Is that a problem? When I mention the book being a first with series potential, do I remain with "can stand alone" although it's built for multiple? Queries terrify me!! I recently found your videos and have been writing down more notes from them than from any other videos and lessons I've been watching lately!

[@AlexaDonne]

Great question! I'd say in this case you can still get away with "standalone with series potential" because you've at least wrapped up some story in book one, and squeak by... but an alternative for when it truly MUST be a series is to say "It is the first in a planned series." It's not a dealbreaker for agents that something is part of a series, they just like to know that the first book has a complete story. Good luck!

[@kailabishop7886]

Thank you so much for the quick reply! Perfect, that's the line I'd been kinda playing with, but I really don't want to mess up a query of all things!

[@ViewCube]

Thanks for the great videos. Question: I have around 20 queries out on an MG project as of 2 weeks ago. Since those were sent, I dove into getting reviews (Readers’ Favorite (x5), Kirkus, Self Published Review, Online Book Club, BookLife). The first review came back as 5 stars today. If most or all come back glowing, is that a worthy basis to nudge agents with an update specifically touting all of those reviews?

[@odd-eyes9463]

Care to tell me how you do this? I've got two novels I intend to get published. I feel silly asking, but I'm genuinely curious

[@autumnadams4574]

Should the query be in the body of the email too if attachments aren’t accepted?

[@musicbyella3769]

My legal name is Eleanor but I go by Ella irl and in writing. Which would be better to sign my email with?

[@jordanc2648]

Quick question. For example if they ask for the first 10 pages, does that include the prologue or skip that and go straight to chapter 1?

[@AlexaDonne]

If you have a prologue, send the prologue. They want wherever the book starts.

[@silverscreamers2305]

@@AlexaDonne would the prologue count as a chapter then? So if they ask for 3 chapters should you send the prologue and first three chapters, or send the prologue and 2 chapters?

[@cityman2312]

Amazing that there are applicants who don't follow submission guidelines.

[@susanberg45]

When I copy and paste the pages of my novel into email the format gets messed up. I end up with single-spaced lines, then double spaced, and other issues. Is there a fix for this? I have Word doc and tried using Rich Text format which does not fix it. Thank you.

[@thekamiakai]

Have a question. You say not to respond back to a rejection, but is it unprofessional to respond back with a thank you for your time or not?

[@sakura4331]

Hi Alexa, I have a question about the queries, mainly about sending sample chapters in the queries. I already format my manuscript and the agents I'm going to send asked for a sample chapter in their guidelines. When I paste it in my email, do I include the title with the contact/address info and word count or do I just send the chapters without it?

[@kristenlong9450]

Hi Alexa! Hope you are doing well. I was wondering if you could give me some advice on submitting a self-published novel to an agent for possible representation. Is this even possible? Thank you for your time!

[@uroborosjose6572]

how your voice is so different among all these videos???

[@Emo_Squirtle]

When agents ask for pages do you mean the standard page size that is default on MS Word or some other size? Also, for Scrivener, would you just compile and import back to MS or is there a way to nail down pages using that program? Also: Yikes! Threatening agents? I just don't get the point of that.

[@AlexaDonne]

Standard would be 12 pt Times New Roman double spaced. I export from Scrivener into a Word Doc every day (backups!) so I copy the pages from the Word Doc--easier to keep track of! And yeah there are some truly unhealthy people who write books/want to get published! There was a story some years back of a guy who tracked an agent down and confronted her by her car :/

[@rayliur]

I'm getting ready to send out my first query and I'm so nervous 😬😬😬😬