Don't forget to post the actual query letter. :)
Dear Ms. Smith:
I am a psychiatrist, published author, optioned screenwriter and expert for the national media seeking representation for my memoir entitled, QUEEN OF THE ROAD: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus With a Will of Its Own for which I have a proposal and two sample chapters. Because you are interested in memoir and women's stories, I thought we might be a good match.
When Tim first announced he wanted to "chuck it all" and travel around the country in a converted bus for a year, I gave this profound and potentially life-altering notion all the thoughtful consideration it deserved.
"Why can't you be like a normal husband with a midlife crisis and have an affair or buy a Corvette?" I demanded, adding, "I will never, ever, EVER live on a bus."
What do you get when you cram married shrinks -- one in a midlife crisis, the other his materialistic, wise-cracking wife -- two cats who hate each other and a Standard Poodle who loves licking them all, into a bus for a year? QUEEN OF THE ROAD is a memoir of my dysfunctional, multi-species family's travels to and travails in 47 states.
As millions of baby boomers reach middle age, they reflect back on their lives, as well as look ahead to what retirement will bring. QUEEN OF THE ROAD is a much needed tale about not settling: in life, at work, or in relationships. It is about choosing the unconventional road and surviving the ruts and wrong turns along the way. It is a sassy, heart-felt account of married, mid-40s psychiatrists (and polar opposites) who seem to have it all, only to squeeze it all into 340 square feet. It is not only a memoir of adventure and misadventure (fire, armed robbery and finding ourselves in a nudist RV park, to name a few) throughout America, but the story of a Long Island Princess becoming less materialistic, in spite of that never being one of her life goals, while her Type A husband toils relentlessly to become mellow. The transformational aspect of our trip will resonate with a diverse audience and as psychiatrists, readers will especially love getting into our heads and marriage, hopefully gaining insight into their own lives along the way.
As a psychiatrist, award-winning author (I Know You Really Love Me, Macmillan/Dell), book review editor (The Journal of Threat Assessment), optioned screenwriter, national lecturer, faculty member (University of Colorado Medical School) and frequent media expert on psychiatric topics, (including Larry King, GMA, 48 Hours, The New York Times and People Magazine among many, many others), my life has centered on introspection, analysis and storytelling. Yet, I count among my greatest accomplishments that last year, our bus was featured as the centerfold of Bus Conversions Magazine, thus fulfilling my life-long ambition of becoming a Miss September.
The story of our year-long adventure is already garnering interest in the media and has been mentioned in AMA News (circulation 250,000, and this journal of the American Medical Association has already agreed to review the book with an author interview when it comes out), Woman's Day, Quick and Simple, Match.com and Best Life Magazine. An upcoming Parade Magazine article on the growing phenomenon of mid-life career breaks (who knew I was a trend setter?) will include a photo of Tim and me, along with our story. My blog of our trip has also been mentioned in Andy Serwer's Street Life ecolumn (Fortune Magazine).
I hope you are interested in seeing the proposal and if so, would be most happy to send it to you.
Doreen Orion
We didn't just dream of the road...
www.queenoftheroadthebook.com
To the group -
What I learned with trial and error and a LOT of reading about writing queries:
1) End of first paragraph, say why you are querying this particular agent.
2) Show don't tell (this actually applies to query letters, too). ie, I'm writing a humor book. I'd better make 'em laugh in the query letter.
3) Who is the audience for the book (and hopefully, it's large).
4) What are your credentials for writing the book?
5) What can you do to publicize the book?
This last one is SO important. It's really hard to get published these days. Agents and publishers want to know your "platform." They want to know that there is built-in publicity for your book. So, over my long, long period of rejections, I built my platform by blogging, giving interviews about our trip and laying the groundwork for future requested interviews.
Play up whatever credentials you have. Notice I did not volunteer that my screenwriting options have been for little to no money!
Again, I hope this is helpful to the group and might save someone some of my steep learning curve.
-Doreen
Sorry JaQuel,
Husband wanted to know what he should cook for dinner. With an offer like that...
I also did not volunteer in the query that my last media appearance was something like 5 years before. All that media I did was for my first book, which had nothing to do with the book I was querying about. So, while it might seem like being on those shows, etc. would be helpful, I really think it was even more helpful that I'd started building a platform for my current book.
This is well done. Great query.
This is valuable and informative, thank you for posting and sharing your experience with us newbies.
What an outstanding query! I smiled all the way through it. I can see why this would grab an agent. Now what about those of us who don't have national exposure or any built-in publicity? Any tips on how to build ourselves up and generate interest without embellishing?
So glad this was helpful.
I added my "disclaimer" about how all that publicity was for my first book and years ago, because I didn't want to discourage others. I think all it did was reassure agents and editors that I was what is called, "media friendly," ie, I don't have a third eye. But again, that book had nothing to do with this one and everyone knew that just because I'd gotten all that past publicity didn't mean much in terms of getting publicity for this book.
That said, one of the best books I've read on querying, getting an agent and building platform is by Susan Page, "Shortest Distance Between You and a Published Book." I used it a lot during my process.
In terms of building platform, it's different for fiction than nonfiction (including memoir). For nonfiction you need to build up your credentials as an expert. Start small (geez, I mean, I became the travel writer for Bus Conversions magazine, just so I could put that in my query. I called up, asked to speak to the editor - he informed me I already was - told him I'd like to write a monthly travel article for his mag. Before I could tell him I didn't have clips to send, he said, "Great! But we can't pay you." Not a problem, boss. There must be other small, esoteric mags like that out there that a platform can start with.) What about a column, op ed, piece in your local hometown paper? What about appearing on your local cable access channel as an expert? Guest blogging on a blog that deals with your topic? Writing articles for an online site that's related? Start small and build up.
To illustrate why this platform stuff is so important (I'm not familiar with fiction, although being known/having an audience for your writing couldn't hurt) even with all that past media stuff and a manuscript that editors said they loved, they could not get the book past their sales forces. My agent had several editors who wanted to bid on it, but after talking to the sales force, they were vetoed because they didn't think it would sell - the platform thing again (I guess they looked up Bus Conversions mag's circulation numbers :). Fortunately, it did sell to an acquiring editor who was a VP at Doubleday (I guess she had ultimate veto power).
A wonderful (free) web resource for all kinds of questions, including how to build platform is
view link . You can search for query, platform, whatever.
Dear Doreen:
Thank you for sharing your letter. It is an excellent resource.
Diane
This is wonderful!!! Thank you for sharing. It will certainly help many of us.
Such wonderful resources we have in this group, thank you Queen and thank you all....
I wanted to bump this to the top because I think it is an excellent example of a query. For anyone who would like to share there queries, feel free to do so. Just as a favor, please put the letter in your reply. Thanks!
