Dear Writer:

You are officially invited to my Query Party.

What is a Query Party, you ask?

Well, a Query Party is an opportunity to replace the idea of querying as an onerous task with – yes, you guessed it – a PARTY!

Anybody want to play? Come on, you know you do…

There are several advantages:

1. You get lots of query letters out there. After all, industry advice is to ‘query widely,’ and the more good queries you send, the more likely you are to connect with your special agent.

DISCLAIMER: Before any stray agents come by my house to perform a drive by shooting, let me clarify. Querying widely does not mean sending out blanket queries to every agent you can find. It does not mean sending one email query with 300 agents CC’d, addressed to “Hey You,” or even “Dear Agent.” It does mean researching agents to make sure they are a good potential fit for what you are sending, and making sure you have a professional letter to send.

2. You get to feel virtuous about having done something to promote your work and get it published. And eat lots of candy. Don’t forget that, because it’s important. Buy your favorite snacks. Lay in a supply of good music. This is a fun day. Indulge yourself. (Just save the alcoholic beverages for later. Drunk querying is not recommended.)

3. You beat the post-November onslaught of crazed Nanowrimo completers who will flood agent slush piles in December with ill written queries. We do not want to query stressed and grumpy agents. If we could, we would provide rainbows and bluebirds and perfect chocolate to every agent who is about to read our queries. Some of you may have these magic powers. I do not. In their absence, I will try to query wisely.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not talking about responsible authors getting writing done with Nano. I love Nanowrimo. I’m talking about the idiots who apparently complete the rough draft and throw it in the mail without the re-reading, proofreading, beta reading and editing that are always necessary before moving to submission.

THE DETAILS:

Where: Why, wherever you choose to be. At home, at work, at the library or the coffee shop.

When:   Friday, November 6. Begin at 6 am, and stop at 6 pm.

Stop in here anytime during the day to report progress, ask questions, seek support or share candy.  If you’re on twitter, by all means hang out all day. You’ll find me there as @uppington.  Look for the hashtag #queryparty.

And that’s all folks. I hope you’ll join me. Now it is time to get back to my turtle paced revisions.