Comments on: odds, ends & query letters

By: courtney

courtney — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:31:22 +0000

whitney: I love YOU. And AHAAHAHAHHAHA. LULZ. You know, you can always email me hilarious gifs, bb.

sruble: Thank you! I had a pretty even split on rejections for this one too (compared to the other query letters I wrote for other books), but this was the one that worked. And it was v. Parker of her, wasn’t it? ;)

tyecat: that’s how I wrotes it! Thank you. I’m glad it worked. And I only briefly mentioned that Bailey was a Harrier. I am pretty vague in descriptions bc I like readers to take what’s there and run with it. It’s fun to think of Bailey being a cocker spaniel too!

LW: Ooh!! I’d totally be up for that… that’s not the complete playlist though. I can get it for you. Playlists are AWESOME. Thanks for the offer! You rock. ~*~

pseudosu: AWW. Hearts to you, bb!!! Heh. Disastrous SHOULD have that E in there. I will firmly believe that forever. And I still remember your query. The book sounded so good. I’m glad your part of the YA crowd, bb.

Dan: single line notes FTW!

DA: Hee!! Let’s face it. It was the exclamation mark. It had to be.

By: DeadlyAccurate

DeadlyAccurate — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:21:29 +0000

That was a fantastic query, Courtney. But now we’ll never know, was it the query or the exclamation mark that garnered the full manuscript request? We need a control group.

By: Dan Krokos

Dan Krokos — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:44:48 +0000

Sooooooo coooool. I love posts like these, where the author gives us a peek into their process. I take notes like that, just a couple lines, and they become scenes.

By: pseudosu

pseudosu — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:31:08 +0000

OMFG– I heart you more all the time. HEART. Can I just say I love that you misspelled disastrous? I actually spelled it wrong just now and had to scroll up to see the wrong and correct spelling. (facepalm) Thanks for posting your query, and for that time you gave me your 2 cents on my own way back when. I’ve gotten a bit better at that now. :) CUTB was such an awesome book. It was he first time I read something that made me feel I’d found my lost tribe and showed me what YA really was and how what I was writing fit in.

By: Little Willow

Little Willow — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:08:12 +0000

I love seeing the little bits that didn’t make the final version!

Let me know if you want me to post the playlist at my blog. I have a ton of book playlists that I’ve created and posted, as well as others that authors created.

By: tyecat

tyecat — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:57:57 +0000

So thats how you write a query letter huh? I always wondered bout that.
I would have asked for full copy too, you did a brilliant job of selling it!

One thing though, Im confused, in my head for some strange reason, Bailey is a cocker spaniel…why did I do that???? I am so close to the end of CUTB. I am gonna flick through and try to figure out why I mispicked Baileys breed…

By: sruble

sruble — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:05:49 +0000

That query letter is awesome. Even though it’s longer than most, it totally grabs you and makes you keep reading. No wonder it got your agent’s attention! It was even more fun to read, having read the book.

Thanks for sharing all your notes and stuff. I love the way the, “I wasn’t raped” scene plays out in the book. It made me laugh when I read it (then and now). Only Parker would think to ask if it was a come on.

By: whitney

whitney — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:01:34 +0000

First, I love you. Thanks for posting this. It is immensely interesting and informative and adorable.

Second, I see your gif and raise you F*CK I CAN’T UPLOAD MY OWN IN THIS SPACE. GARRRH.

By: courtney

courtney — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:47:50 +0000

Annika: Well, I think we have already ascertained that ~I cannot refuse you~.

Tiffany: Awww, shucks. You rock. And… MAYBE.

angela: Thank YOU for reading it!

Kody: I saw your query letter! It was great and sharp and to-the-point. And yay for authors with playlists!

Phronk: Aw, you are too kind sir! That is very nice to say in the face of my twitter insecurity about it. YOU rule!!!! !!!!

Emily: Hee, I remember when you said Bailey worked for you after you read CUTB because I KNEW YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE TALKIN’ ABOUT. And omg, STILL lulzing over S. Ahahahahahaha. KODAK MOMENT.

Daisy: Now I have no mystery left!

Kristin: Hee, glad you enjoyed that line! And also… sorry for giving a visual example of poor Bailey. I am cruel! And yaaay, I’m glad the query would’ve passed muster with you. I know you’ve got a discerning eye!

A: I TOTALLY THOUGHT OF YOU when I posted this. I was like I bet A will like that line. :D

C.K.: Hee, poor Parker. And exclamation marks should totally be implied if they can’t be used! Eclipse is totally the third book, where Bella and Edward get all engaged and stuff. I don’t blame you for lumping them altogether. It cannot be a fault of the weather! After three books all the angst begins to blend like a beautiful picture. Or something. ;)

Sonja: IT SO IS. And no worries, I edited out the link. :)

By: sonja

sonja — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:52:20 +0000

ah… sorry that thing tacked on the end there again…stupid work computer… >:(