Query Advice from KT Literary
ədˈvīs/
noun
1.
guidance or recommendations concerning prudent future action, typically given by someone regarded as knowledgeable or authoritative.
Need help writing the perfect query for your middle grades or YA novel?
Go to this website, hosted by KT Literary. (They represent Maureen Johnson and Stephanie Perkins, two big names in YA.)
Every Friday, in the column About My Query, they critique a query letter from the slushpile.
Here are some tidbits:
– I’d also always cut any mention of future books in a series in the query letter — save that for once you actually have an agent interested in the story.
– My first thought: Hooray! We won’t have to deal with a YA heroine looking in a mirror to describe herself!
– What I’d want to see in the author’s query is what sets it apart from the expected. In general, look to find a way to give us the details that make the main character’s specific story interesting, and her character one we’d like to hang out with for the length of a novel.
So helpful and addictive! Enjoy!
