QueryTracker.net Weekly Roundup 1/23/09

Another week has come and gone. Exciting things have happened.

Things That Are:

Writing Query Letters. It seems everyone is focusing on this right now. Here's some link soup for letters and comments I found so insightful and useful that I printed them and added them to my files. I study these winning queries and use them as a guide whenever I sit down to write my own.

Kristen Riggle's Query found at Agent Kristin Nelson's blog
Courtney Milan's Query found at Agent Kristin Nelson's blog
A Query Letter by J.B. Stanley found at the BookEnds blog
A Query Letter by Bella Andre found at the BookEnds blog
A Query Letter by Karen MacInerney found at the BookEnds blog
A Query Letter by Gail Oust found at the BookEnds blog

I find it intriguing that agents are taking time to address the query letter. In January. It's almost like they're saying, "Get it right this year." Make your query the best it can be. The agents who point out specific things is a big help--and is rare. Take advantage of these posts to better your own query letter. (Hey! That rhymes!)


Patrick has added new agents to the database. You can always check when new agents are added by clicking on LITERARY AGENTS>NEW & UPDATED AGENTS from the main QT site.
Kendra Marcus of Bookstop Literary Agency
Craig Kayser of Movable Type Literary Group
Courtney Miller-Callihan of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates
Ellen Twaddell of Elaine Koster Literary Agency LLC
Minju Chang of Bookstop Literary Agency


Things Made of Awesome:

Leah Clifford, a long-time QueryTracker member and forum board moderator, gave her first interview this week! The interviewer, Karen Kincy, is an agented author conducting "Writers on the Rise" interviews. Congratulations Leah!

One of QueryTracker's first forum members, Jessica Verday, has just received her ARC! It has nothing to do with Noah, just so you know. It's an Advanced Reader Copy--basically her book. She has a post with pictures on her blog. Totally awesome, Jess!

This is an awesome post on how to get published. It's short, sweet, and totally made it into my file of things I'll be referencing often. Check it out. Seriously, the critique sheet is brilliant.


Things Made of Win:

Authoress revealed the Secret Agent for this month. Sarah Davies of Greenhouse Literary made kind and insightful comments on all 51 entries. Congratulations to the first, second, and third place winners. If you haven't jumped over to see what she's got going on over on her blog, you're really missing out. The first chapter critique is coming up next week.

Colleen Lindsey of The Swivet hosted a fun contest pitching a book in 140 characters or less. That includes spaces, punctuation, everything. Basically a twitter post. Click here to see the winning tweet. It was sheer brilliance.

Victoria Strauss, a contributor to the Writer Beware blog, has received the SFWA Service Award for her work in protecting aspiring authors. Check it out! Congratulations Victoria!

This week's winner of the QT Link Lotto is…Mary Jensen!
She posted a link to QueryTracker on her blog. Check it out. Congratulations Mary! Also, word to the wise, the contest runs through next Thursday, January 29, with the last winner announced next Friday, January 30. Click here for more details. Tweet your friends, spread the word!

That is all. Have a great weekend!