Giveaways & Lessons from YA Author Elana Johnson

Update: Winners for the giveaways are posted in the 7/12/13 Publishing Pulse.

Eight hundred posts ago, on December 28, 2008, the QueryTracker Blog became a team effort for five aspiring writers.  Since then, a lot has changed, both in the makeup of the QTB and in the careers of those aspiring writers. Not everyone in the original team is still writing or seeking publication, but everyone has learned from their time in the trenches. We thought it was time for a series of posts sharing where everyone started, where they are now, and what they learned along the way.

To kick things off, we asked Elana Johnson, author of the YA Possession series (Simon Pulse) to tell us about her writing and publishing journey beginning with her time with the QTB (12/2008 – 7/2010) and bringing us up to date on where she is now!

Elana has graciously agreed to do a couple of giveaways as part of her interview. There are two different prizes, which will go to two different people. 

First, one of her books. If you are new to her Possession series, she will send you the first book, Possession  If you are already a fan, she will send you the latest in the series, Abandon (published June 2013). If you are in the US, you will receive a hard copy of the book; if you are outside of the US, a digital copy.

Second, Elana is a query-letter expert! She teaches classes across the country and online on how to write a killer query, and she is going to critique one lucky winner's query.

Please see entry instructions at the end of this post.

Where I Started and How QT Helped Me

I spent so much time with QueryTracker, researching agents, critiquing query letters, obsessing and celebrating in the forums, and reading and writing for the QT Blog. I still refer people to QT every chance I get.

When I started writing for the QT Blog, I didn’t have a literary agent. I’d been writing seriously for about a year, and my first project had just met its death in the query trenches. I had another book I was gearing up for querying, and since I loved blogging, taking on the QT blog was something that was natural and enjoyable.

Being part of the QT team gave me the courage to step outside my comfort zone. The first thing I did was co-organize one of the first QT agent opportunities with Joanna Stampfel-Volpe. It was amazing corresponding with agents without trying to pitch them my work. This helped me realize that agents are people too.

Signing with My Agent

I blogged with QT for 11 months before I signed with my agent, Michelle Andelman. During that time, being a QT blogger helped me establish my credibility in the writing world. I’ve been asked to teach at professional conferences based on some of the posts I wrote for the QT blog, and I still have friendships and contacts that I met “way back when” I was blogging at QueryTracker.

Publication

Since then, I’ve released three books (my Possession series –3 full-length novels + 2 short stories— was just completed with the release of ABANDON this past June!), co-launched another group blog (The League of Extraordinary Writers, which is dedicated to science fiction and fantasy), and co-founded the biggest writing conference on the Internet, WriteOnCon.

My Approach to Writing: Then and Now

What has stayed the same? I still blog a couple days a week at my own blog. I’m still with Michelle, and we’re still selling books. I still teach elementary school, and I’m still squeezing writing into the 15 minutes I have before school, or my 30-minute lunch break.

The biggest difference is that now I write under a deadline. I don’t have as much time to get my work up to par—probably the most challenging thing I’ve had to endure in this publishing gig! For those who are unpublished as of yet, enjoy this time to get your craft polished. The possibilities for you are endless. Enjoy the time you have to learn, to grow, and to make mistakes. I still do all of that (it’s not like every word I write comes out golden), but I don’t have as much time to enjoy it as pre-published authors do.

I feel like I’ve come a long way in my personal confidence. When I first started at QT, I thought, “Why would anyone listen to what I have to say?” Now, I teach classes at a variety of conferences—I’ve become the expert! I’ve been working as a freelance query letter writer for a few years, and recently went out on my own in this venture. I’ve even taken my in-person-only query letter writing workshop and launched it on the Internet.

I’m also an independent publicist, something I really enjoy. I’ve always liked doing the marketing side of writing, setting up promotions and chats and giveaways for my own books. It seemed natural to take my contacts and skills and transfer them to another author’s book. I love working with authors and book bloggers in this capacity. (You can find out about my blog tours and blitzes, as well as cover reveals, here.)

Advice to Unpublished Writers

I don’t believe the unpublished should rush into publishing. Really take the time to perfect your craft, and when you do, the rewards will come. Publishing is not a race.

My best advice for those looking to promote their books is to be as active as you can in the online community. Recently, someone asked me how I met all the book bloggers I know. I honestly couldn’t answer. It’s not like there was one specific event where I met everyone. It was something that happened over the years as I read their blogs, clicked over to their cover reveals, followed them on Twitter, and emailed them about my own books. So if you’re looking to make contacts in the publishing world, you have to be willing to spend time where publishing people hang out—and the QT forum is a great place to do that!

When the original QTB team interviewed agents and authors, we often did something we called a Fast Five—five fun, quick questions. For a while the question of the day was “Courier or Times New Roman?” but we had to move on when it became clear that the industry standard had become TNR! So here is a fresh Fast Five for our alum:

Fast Five with Elana Johnson

1. Mac or PC? Macs rule!
2. Favorite Social Media Platform? Um, Facebook? Yeah, let’s go with Facebook.
3. Writing Pet Peeve? Grammar. I always sacrifice grammar for voice and style, baby!
4. Guilty Pleasure? Mini chewy sweet tarts
5. Can’t Live Without? Lightning-fast Internet!

Entering the Giveaways

1. Comment on this post and tell us something YOU have learned from being part of the QueryTracker community. This can be from the QueryTracker Blog, the main QueryTracker site, or the QueryTracker forums. By commenting, you give us permission to quote you any of the aforementioned QueryTracker sites.
2. We will take comment entries through Wednesday, July 10th. 
3. Winners will be chosen at random and announced on Friday, July 12th in the Publishing Pulse. Please watch for this announcement, as I (Carolyn) will need the winners to contact me. I will include instructions on how to do so in that Publishing Pulse.

Carolyn Kaufman, PsyD's book, THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment, and Human Behavior helps writers avoid common misconceptions and inaccuracies and "get the psych right" in their stories. You can learn more about The Writer's Guide to Psychology, check out Dr. K's blog on Psychology Today, or follow her on Facebook! 

Why You Should Critique Other People's Queries

A Publishing Nerd is Born

I learned to be an editor by accident.

As a 19 year-old college student, I already knew that the world of publishing called to me. So the fact that students at my college wrote and edited an annual edition of The Insider’s Guide to Colleges for St. Martin’s press was a boon to me. I needed that on my resume.

Strangely, proto publishing nerds are not thick on the ground even at Yale. So the fact that I’d turned in five or six three-page college write-ups on time attracted attention. “Hey, you! Quiet girl in the corner—do you want to be an editor?”

Me?

I was wise enough to say yes, and my editing career was born. But I came to the task with a certain amount of trepidation. As I eyed that first stack of 800 word articles, I had no idea what it was I brought to the table. After all, the writer of each one had all the information, right? What use would it be to stick my nose in?

But then I began to read them. And before half an hour had passed, I was rearranging sentences and scribbling notes, asking for clarity. At least 50% of an editor’s job was simply to not be the person who wrote the thing. The job was to be unfamiliar enough with the material to know when things weren’t right. To not be blinded by my own intentions.

Fast forward *mumble mumble* years, and I found myself haunting the hallways of the Query Tracker Forum. At first, I critiqued queries on the board because it seemed like the helpful thing to do. Since I received assistance there, it seemed only right to chime in. But the critiquing I did there quickly began to strengthen my own query efforts. Any reader of the query critique threads will recognize familiar mistakes more easily than someone who labors only on her own work.

Whenever you step in, attempting to smooth out someone’s sentence—rescuing that sparkly description from drowning in adverbs, or untangling modifiers—you’re editing for yourself, too. It is the rare query which contains only mistakes I’m past making for myself. There’s always something to learn.

Last year, I heard a New Yorker Out Loud podcast on the subject of Twitter, in which the editors stunned me with their utter lack at horror over the idea of spending an afternoon trying to write the perfect tweet. Really? These masters of the long form would stoop so low? “It’s time in the batting cage,” one of them rationalized. And that’s what query critiquing can do for us all. Genre be damned.

And after you’ve read your 100th would-be query, a second layer of utility begins to form alongside all your new editing skills. By reading those threads, you’re putting yourself in the agent’s chair. Is this the fifth query you’ve seen which begins: “MC wants nothing more from summer vacation than a deep tan and an invitation to the beach jam, but…?”  Note to self! That opener, while perfectly sound, has been around the block a few times. I’d better not employ it myself. You will also start to spot common query ills—the dropping of too many character names, the compression of too much plot, the overly chatty bio ‘graf. Even if you’ve read up from excellent sources on the “Glamour Don’ts” of query writing, witnessing them in real time is starlingly educational.

Lastly, the art of critique is, in and of itself, an essential writerly skill. I have learned to start every critique by saying one positive thing. Even if the query needs buckets of work (and even if you suspect the manuscript does, too) there is always something encouraging to say.

At my children's school, the first grade teacher closes the day with a verse that the children stand at their desks to recite. The last two lines are keepers: "Every kind word makes me stronger. Every kind deed sets me free." What's true on the playground also works in queryland. Good luck out there!

Sarah Pinneo  is a novelist, food writer and book publicity specialist. Her most recent book is Julia’s Child. Follow her on twitter at @SarahPinneo.

Publishing Pulse: 9/25/09

Big News - We're Launching QueryTracker 3.0 This Weekend!

QueryTracker.net will be getting a great new look -- and some fantastic new features -- this weekend!  As part of the move to QT3, we'll also be updating the QueryTracker Blog with a fab new look.  We're really excited about our remodeling and upgrades -- and we know you're going to love our changes!

Here's the schedule:

On Saturday afternoon, we'll be making the changes to the QueryTracker.net Blog. We expect this to take between 1 and 2 hours.  You'll still be able to link to and read posts, but some of the widgets you're used to may be down during the transition.  Any links or bookmarks you have to our blog will continue to work, both over the weekend and going forward.

On Sunday morning, QueryTracker.net will be down for 3 to 4 hours while we make the upgrade.  The QueryTracker.net Forum will not be affected and will continue to run as normal.

Want a sneak peek right now? Check out these videos!

Great Posts From Around the Web

Rachelle Gardner asks, Is Your Novel's Main Character Proactive or Reactive? and reminds us that a good query should explain what happens in the story in Tell Me the STORY.

Kristin Nelson reminds us that Agents Get Rejected Too (and that attitude is everything!)

Planning to pitch an agent at a conference?  Coach Larina Kase, PsyD gives you The 5 P's to Powerful Presence.

Dr. Carolyn Kaufman is a clinical psychologist and professor residing in Columbus, Ohio. A published writer, she runs Archetype Writing: Psychology for Fiction Writers and an associated blog. She is often quoted by the media as an expert resource. 

Have a psychology/writing question? Send it to me (using my email address to the right) and you may see it answered on the QueryTracker.net Blog!

Have You Ever...?

Posted your blog entry by accident? Yeah, that happened to me on Sunday. Sorry for the unintended sneak peek. I'm sure you were all on the edge of your seats to see what that link was going to lead to.

Today, I wanted to talk about the use of questions in queries. I’m not going to go Nathan Bransford on you (click here to see how he feels about opening with a question), or even Tina Wexler (who also has an opinion on questions to start a query), but those are great reads for opening your query with a question. Or rather, not opening your query with a question.

I posted on the QueryTracker forum a while back about starting with a question. A lot of people say don’t do it. But as I was researching for this post, these were the only two agents I could find who have actually said this. This hardly constitutes “a lot” even though Mr. Bransford is quite popular (and we love him here on the blog) and Ms. Wexler is nothing if not fabulous. So if you know of any more, please post their blog links in the comments.

No, what this post is about is questions in the consequence section of your query. At the end. I’m going to go out on my limb and say: don’t do it.

Why?

Because the question can almost always be answered—and not in a good way. It’s not thrilling. It’s not a cliffhanger. It’s not enticing me to read more. And, you run the risk of the agent answering incorrectly. All of these are bad, in my opinion.

Let’s look at some examples. I made these up, so if you see any relation to your own work, it is purely coincidental.

Example: Will she make it in time?
Answer: *yawn* Yes. Form rejection.

Example: Will she follow the sexy Diesel and become the Dark Lord’s protégé, or will she use her abilities to save Vin, the man she has come to love?
Answer: Ugh. Who cares? Deletage.

Example: Will Clarence find the will to survive?
Answer: Undoubtedly, or you wouldn’t be writing it. And...reject.

Example: Can she outwit the murderer and find James in time?
Answer: Yes. Next.

I think asking a question as the consequence robs your entire query of power. You want that last section to be screaming “Read me! Request and read me now!” You don’t want the agent to already know what’s going to happen because you failed to entice them with a powerful ending sentence that includes a consequence.

So let’s change those blah’s into powerful statements.

Example: Will she make it in time?

Powerful statement with a consequence: Penna will have to find a way to outwit her tax advisor before he makes off with her ginormous return. If not, it won’t matter how much money she has—the dead don’t need accountants.

It must have a consequence. In this one, Penna will die if she doesn’t thwart her tax advisor. (Toldja I made these up.)

Example: Will she follow the sexy Diesel and become the Dark Lord’s protégé, or will she use her power to save Vin, the man she has come to love?

Powerful statement with a consequence: Annika is faced with the impossible choice: become Diesel’s protégé or use her abilities to save Vin. Either way, her newfound power could end up consuming her.

Example: Will Clarence find the will to survive?

Powerful statement with a consequence: Clarence must search inside himself to find the will to carry on or risk losing his daughter forever.

Example: Can she outwit the murderer and find James in time?

Powerful statement with a consequence: On the run from the mafia, Hannah will have to call the one person she detests—her father—in order to save James. Better that, than six feet under.

So here’s the QT Blog challenge: Open your query. We’ll wait. Read it. Any questions? Eliminate them. All of them. Write powerful statements instead. Questions should be saved for when you get The Call.

So…questions? (lol) Post them in the comments!

Or if you've got an aura of questioning about you today, don't sit down to write your query, simply click here to enter your questions in our current contest. We're dying (literally, dying) to hear from you!

RallyStorm - Taking the World by Storm One Forum at a Time

What is Rally Storm?

Whether writing related or not, we all have forums we love to spend time on. Some forums have the power to change lives. One of my favorites is the QueryTracker forum. It is there that I met Patrick, the owner of all things QueryTracker. (I also met the awesome gals I blog with.)

Patrick also owns a most amazing site called RallyStorm. RallyStorm is a combination social networking site (such as MySpace or Facebook) and group site (such as Yahoo Groups and Google Groups.) By combining the features of both of these concepts, RallyStorm offers a complete platform where you can contact and interact with others. Groups take the form of forums. These forums can be public, private, or any degree in between. To add the icing to an already delicious cake, RallyStorm is completely FREE! It's simple to join. All you need is a user name, email address, and password.



What types of forums can I create?

• Your favorite hobby

• Work-related sites
  

• Clubs and organization

• To keep in touch with friends and family

• Writing and critique groups

• Any type of forum you can dream up!

Imagine owning your very own forum. You can choose your own private members or open it up to the public. You can create the boards within your forum and easily upload photos to share with friends and family.

Let me tell you about the family I grew up in. Seven kids. Seven! The youngest is in college, and the oldest is, well, me. (I'm wearing the orange plaid shirt in the photo.) With so many kids, Mom finds it hard to remember who she's told what. Entrer RallyStorm. Our Online Family Room forum is the place we go to offer support, share news, and upload photos. Mom doesn't have to worry any more about who's heard what. Each child has their own board where they can start multiple topics.

Now imagine your dream critique forum. With private forums and easy pasting and editing of your work, RallyStorm is a great place to turn your little lump of coal into a multi-faceted diamond. Critiques are so easy to read, you can glance through other member's work and learn at an accelerated pace. There are several critique forums on RallyStorm if you'd like to join an existing one. Or come on over and create your own! RallyStorm is so easy to use, even a child could navigate it with ease. (Please note, however, RallyStorm is for users ages 13 and up.)

So join RallyStorm and then come check out the QueryTracker Blog Activities Forum. Many QTers have begun posting their work for critique in the Showing vs. Telling board. (Mary wrote a great post about the subject.) Here are a few pics to help you find your way around and give you a feel for the simplicity that IS RallyStorm:

This is what the QTblog Activites Forum main page looks like. It lists all the different boards that are in this forum:

And here is what the Showing vs. Telling Board looks like. It lists all the topics in this particular board:



Here's the first post in the Topic Overview (don't you just love Mary's splat frog?):


Now you know where we dwell when we're not here on the blog. Come hang out with us! We would love to get to know you better. (Psssst... let me know when you've arrived. I would love to give you a special online "gift" to welcome you! (More about RallyStorm gifts in the near future. *wink*))

Open Mic Monday and QueryTracker.net Feature of the Week

New Monthly Blog Feature : Open Mic Monday! 

The first Monday of each month (That's today!), the QueryTracker Blog Team will take questions about writing and the journey to publication.  If you have any question you want answered, even if it is something subjective that solicits an opinion answer, throw it at us.  We will research and compile our answers to be posted the following Monday, the second Monday of the month.  

Please post your questions in the comments of this post or email your questions to one of us by using the email addresses on the right side of this blog.  If your question is urgent, like about a full submission that has to be sent out immediately, state that, and we will contact you personally with the answer so you don't have to wait until the next Monday's post.  

We appreciate our blog readers and want to thank you for joining us.  Our subscribership keeps growing and we are grateful for your support.  

And now, for our weekly QueryTracker featured feature:

The QueryTracker Forum

One of my favorite QueryTracker.net features is the QueryTracker Forum.  To access it, select the "FORUM" button on top right of he QueryTracker Home Page.  

The Forum features discussion topics like:

Query Letter Review
First Five Pages Review
Synopsis Review
Publishing
Agents
Success Stories
Fiction Writing
Non-Fiction Writing
Resources for Writers
Book Talk

If you want an excellent critique of your query letter or synopsis, the QueryTracker Forum is your place. You also come into contact with other writers in different stages of the publishing process. The Forum has members ranging from newbies to published authors. I met many of my online friends on the QueryTracker forum including my co-authors on this blog.

The Forum is my favorite QueryTracker feature. If you are a writer, I can't recommend it highly enough. Get on over there and join.  

And don't forget to throw us some questions for Open Mic Monday by posting them in the comment section of this post or emailing us.  Have a great week, everyone!  

Mary

Mary Lindsey writes paranormal fiction for children and adults. Prior to attending University of Houston Law School, she received a B.A. in English Literature with a minor in Drama.

Mary can also be found on her website.

Let's talk premium!

Thanks to all who entered our Suggestions Contest! Watch for future posts inspired by your great ideas. And stay tuned – at the end of this post the contest winners will be announced!


The basic features of a free QueryTracker.net membership have been covered by Elana, Heather, Suzette, and Mary. Now let’s talk about PREMIUM FEATURES! Today we’ll cover a few of the basics:


NO ADVERTISEMENTS – Becoming a Premium Member not only gets rid of those annoying ads, but also speeds up your page loads.


AGENCY CROSS-REFERENCE – At a glance you can see who else is in a particular agency – and whether you’ve queried (or been rejected by) them!



ORGANIZATION - There's no limit to the number of folders you can create, which allows limitless opportunities for you to arrange your data how deem best.


QUERY STATS - My personal favorite! View a graph comparing your query statistics to those of the average QueryTracker user.


IS IT PRICEY??? Rest assured that our most amazing Patrick McDonald, who has been known to pen a novel or two himself, has our best interests at heart and wants to make these amazing tools affordable for everyone. $25. That’s the price of a Premium Membership. Per year. PER YEAR! That’s it.

For those of you who recognize me as SuzyQ on the Query Tracker Forum, I’ve been known to expound about my premium membership being the best $25 I’ve ever spent. I wasn’t kidding! Not only have these features made my life easier, they’ve upped my odds of landing an agent. An invaluable tool is the Premium Reports which Heather will address next week. In the mean time, for those of you who can't wait to find out more, take a peek at all the Premium features.

And now, for the winners of our Suggestions Contest…

The Grand Prize goes to Lady Glamis for her most amazing comment on question-and-answer sessions. We couldn't resist choosing a runner-up as well. Selestial-owg wins a prize for the sheer number of good ideas. Winners, send me an email (suzettesaxton@querytracker.net) for details on how to redeem your prize.

Thanks to all who entered. We'll be sure to have another contest of this kind in the future!

The Query Tracker Weekly Roundup

Industry News
2008 ended on a positive note not only for QueryTracker, but industry-wide as well. PublishersLunch Weekly reported approximately 530 publishing deals for the month of December.

Agent News
Foundry Literary + Media recently acquired its eighth agent; Stephen Barbara, formerly of Donald Mass Agency, has joined their staff. According to Guide to Literary Agents, Mr. Barbara "represents all categories of books for young readers (from YA to middle-grade to chapter and picture books) in addition to servicing writers for the adult market."

QueryTracker News
QueryTracker.net saw eight agents offer representation to its members in December. (In a moment I’ll reveal a top secret tip on how to land your own agent*).

Fellow QTer Gretchen McNeil’s first manuscript received 130 rejections before she shelved the project. Her second manuscript, The Witch’s Eye, garnered the interest of several agents. Within two weeks of beginning the querying process, she signed with Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown. You can read Gretchen’s success story on QueryTracker, which she used exclusively to track her submissions. She recently said in her most amazing blog, “I owe a great debt of gratitude to the wonderful folks at QueryTracker, to Patrick who gives so much of his own time to maintain this Mecca of Databases, and to Mary and Elana who diligently work the QT blog. Thanks, guys.”

Link Lottery Winner
The first winner of our Weekly Link Lottery is Maggie Lynch. I hope she enjoys her year of free Premium Membership and that the additional tools help her to land her dream agent. Congratulations Maggie and good luck.

Maggie's link was on her blog at maggies-meanderings.blogspot.com

We'll pull another link out of the hat next Friday, so get your links up there.

So, how can you win? Place a link to QueryTracker.net anyplace on the Internet. To make sure we find the link, send an email to links@QueryTracker.net and tell us where it is and who you are.

Full details on the lottery are available here.

Increase your odds by placing links in multiple places. The more links, the better your chance to win.

Already a premium member? Not a problem. You could win an additional year of membership or give it as a gift to someone else.

Contests of Interest
The fifth "Secret Agent, Are You Hooked?" contest has been announced by the lovely Authoress on Miss Snark’s First Victim. For aspiring authors of children’s books, the contest will include everything EXCEPT poetry and picture books. It will open on Monday, January 12th and is limited to fifty entries, so be sure to submit early.

*Now I will reveal the little-known secret. The Query Tracker Forum opened its doors to the public on June 16, 2007. Since that time, nearly all the original forum members have signed with agents. How is this amazing feat possible? The folks at the QT Forum all pitch in to help each other polish both query letters and manuscripts, making a finer finished product, which improves your chances of catching an agent’s attention. The tight-knit community of friends is always happy to welcome new members. Be sure to say you found us via the QT blog!

Suzette Saxton is a freelance writer with both fiction and nonfiction publishing credits. Besides writing for the QueryTracker Blog, she loves to write books for children of all ages.