Sunday Spotlight Blog: Query Shark

Posted by Michelle Schusterman Oct 4, 2009

You know you should never query a novel without first finishing said novel. Didn't know that? Well, take note! Never query a novel without finishing the novel first!

However, sometimes it's tempting – even helpful – to write the query before the first draft is complete. Some even recommend it as an exercise, a way to focus on what you want the story to be, a guide to use as a reference while you write.

Once the query is written, it can be so tempting to "test the waters" and send the query to just a few agents. Will they even like the story idea? Are you on the right track?

The danger, of course, is that they will like it, they will request to read more...and there you are with only half of the book written. And worse, unedited. But there is a way to hear one agent's opinion, and a brutally honest one at that.

This Sunday's Spotlight is on the Query Shark, a blog run by Janet Reid of Fine Print Literary. Ms. Reid devotes this blog solely to helping aspiring authors who submit their queries in the hopes that she will tear it apart and help them reconstruct a new one, bit by bit.

Beware: Ms. Reid is straightforward and brutally honest. She will do a line-by-line criticism of the query, naming both good and bad qualities, and end with how she as an agent would respond (form rejection, partial request, etc.) A query to the Shark is not a query to Ms. Reid herself, but remember, by sending you are giving her permission to publicly post (and shred) your query.

Perhaps the nicest part of the Query Shark is that once a query has been reduced to chum, writers are allowed to rewrite based on her suggestions and resubmit. Many queries have gone from immediate form rejection to something that might stand out in the slushpile thanks to Ms. Reid.

Got a query that you're itching to show to an agent? Throw it to the Shark!