Monday, June 18, 2012

Someone New To Read Your Query

Any time someone new arrives at a literary agency, it's time for you to submit.

New hires want to make their mark. They want to find something brilliant in the slush pile that proves their worth.

Start polishing your query letter. Shine up the opening pages of your manuscript.

Susan Golomb is in the market for a new assistant whose duties include manuscript evaluation. Yes, it just might be your manuscript that gets evaluated, and by a fresh pair of eyes.

Sounds easy, but what you don't know is when that new assistant will be on the job, so you don't really know when to hit 'send'.

Too soon, and it's an overtaxed Ms. Golomb reading the thing, and rejecting it because she just doesn't have the time to consider another client. Too late, and that new assistant will already be jaded, with eyes falling out of his or her head from reading so much jibberish.

So polish the query, shine up the manuscript, and rub your lucky rabbit's foot. There's always an element of luck involved on the rocky road to publishin'.


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