From the excitement of a sale to watching a book arrive on the shelves is such a whirlwind! The only thing to really top it off is when one of those books hits the New York Times Bestseller list. This month, we have news that spans our authors’ careers — from sales to releases to reviews to YUP the New York Times. There is celebrating to be done all around!

TIPS FROM THE SLUSH PILE by Sara Megibow
My son has a favorite song about a choo-choo train that goes, “Chug-a, Chug-a, CHUG-A!” And, that’s what I feel like I’ve been doing this month — chug-a-chugging through lots and lots of query letters and sample pages. We’ve seen some outstanding submissions — how exciting!

This month’s “tip” has to do with those query letters and how to relax a bit when it comes to submitting them. Frequently, I see a letter which opens like this, “This isn’t your standard query letter…” and I think, “But WHY, when the format we set out works so well for us?” So, my advice is — relax. Read our submission guidelines and follow them. A well-written query letter with great writing and a unique concept stands out on its own. You don’t have to add fancy pictures, background colors, gimmicks, youtube clips, etc. in order to grab my attention. Simply follow our format and trust that there is a reason we do it that way.

So, now you may be asking, “So what’s the reason?” Here’s a little breakdown of our format and why we use it. I hope this helps!

1) We ask for a one-page query letter. That’s right — short! A few sentences to introduce your project (word count, completion status, genre), then a paragraph to describe the work. Why? Primarily because of the volume of submissions we receive (100-200 query letters a day currently). We want writers to capture their story as if they were writing the back cover copy of a novel on the bookshelves. We know this process works, because the vast majority of our current clients ( New York Times Bestsellers included) came through the query in-box.

2) We ask writers to email the query letter. No phone calls, no office visits and no snail mail. Why? Because it’s faster. We have all of our tools on our computers, so we can get to your query letter more quickly and with more focus.

3) Here’s a simple one that we list on our website — put the word “Query” and the title of your work in the subject line of your email. This helps me know that your email is really a query and not spam. Also, I tend to reread great query letters before asking for 30 pages and when I ask for 30 pages I use a standard email reply. If the name of your project is right there in the subject line it makes it easier for me to respond quickly.

4) Last of all — with that email query, no attachments please. Our server deletes these emails (which may be why you haven’t gotten a response from us). Also, we don’t open attachments because of the danger from viruses.

Writers who go for “this is a unique query letter” are not doing themselves any favors. If it is easy for us, then it’s worth doing (and I mean that only from a productivity and efficiency standpoint). So, read our submission guidelines and relax — follow the directions and trust that there is a reason we do things this way. It works! Put your energy into composing an awesome pitch paragraph that nails the heart of your story, and don’t worry any more about the gimmicks.

Sincerely,

Sara Megibow

WHAT’S HOT by Kristin Nelson
When we started the year, I, and many other agents, rather assumed it was going to be a slow start with the economy and all. That hasn’t been the case at all! In the months of February and March, NLA did something like 5 deals and here’s the breakdown. We did a YA deal for a sequel to VAMPED, a great book that is releasing this May. We sold a debut science fiction author (who knew that could happen?) to Eos. We sold the third book in the Alexia Tarabotti urban fantasy series and heck, the first book doesn’t release from Orbit until this October. The editor just had to have it. And we sold another YA title that is the fourth and probably final installment in the Mancusi Blood Coven series.

So what I’m saying is that stuff is still selling. For us, YA and Genre stuff mostly.

It’s been months since we had an empty slot for a new release for our eNewsletter. We certainly can't let this field be blank so we decided to highlight a release that’s not necessarily new but is recent. It’s worth a spotlight because this novel is gaining some serious momentum. You might want to pick up a copy to find out why.

THE STORY BEHIND THE SALE by Kristin Nelson
With such obvious success, editors must have been lining up to buy this book, right? Not necessarily.

Looking back at our submission file, we received comments like these:

“Not my cup of tea.”
“Loved Simone’s writing but didn’t like this one enough to take on”
“Loved Simone’s writing (sensing a theme here!) but didn’t think the premise was different enough”
“I never really connected with the main characters”
“Characters are compelling but I didn’t fall completely in love”
“Novel didn’t feel special enough”

With the current sales figures, I guess the readers don’t agree.

Emily Easton at Walker/Bloomsbury is the very lucky editor for this title. There was also an editor at HarperCollins who was passionate about the book but couldn’t get the in-house support. Same for another editor at Houghton Mifflin Children’s.

I guess now they can say “I told you so.” Nicely, of course.

KRISTIN’S BOOK CLUB
We have been such huge deadbeats! My club hasn’t even voted on our next book. In fact, I’m sending out an email today to say vote or else!

So have I been reading anything in the meantime? Nope. Just pushing through client manuscripts. I just caught up and now I plan to tackle some fun reading.

ON SARA’S NIGHTSTAND
Sometimes I think how a book ends up on my to-read list is interesting (‘course, maybe it’s only interesting to me). Anyway, I’ve been genre hopping this month with three wonderful results. It’s rare that I read three books in a row by new-to-me authors and absolutely adore all three books. Well, I guess that means it’s a pretty awesome month!

Science fiction winner of the month: KOP by Warren Hammond. I saw the Publishers Weekly review for EX-KOP a few months ago (a starred review). KOP was the first book in the story, so I picked it up. What a triumph! I found the world complex and unique and the characters totally engaging (and again — unique). I highly recommend KOP and can’t wait to go out and get a copy of the sequel. See — great reviews do sell books!

Young Adult winner of the month: THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS by E. Lockhart. I have a BA in women’s studies from Northwestern University. My feminist literature class was packed with Nobel and Pulitzer prize winning novels that I loved reading. Well, this book should be right there in the mix — holy cow does the author absolutely nail some fabulous and illuminating “truths” about a young woman’s experience of herself. I picked up this book because it won the National Book Award (see — awards sell books too!).

Women’s Fiction winner of the month: BELONG TO ME by Marisa de los Santos. The editor at William Morrow (Laurie Chittenden) recommended this to us and I was so glad that I read it. I feel like I see a lot of women’s fiction with heroines who are recently divorced. I fell in love with this book from the start because the heroine and hero are happily (passionately) in love and that unique spin really endeared them to me. So, isn’t it nice to know that recommendations sell books too!

All in all, lots of great reading — enjoy!

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