Winter Workshop: Building the Nonfiction Book Proposal

Hey friends.

So my first attempt at a self-run workshop this summer was a really wonderful success. A few dozen folks signed up, we worked on query letters and opening pages, and at the end of the six weeks, I felt really great about all the work we’d done.

And well, I’d like to do another one of these. The summer workshop gave me the wiggle room to keep up my agency’s free events and workshops, and I’d like that to continue into the New Year.

So! This time we’ll be zeroing in on what a lot of you have asked me for… non-fiction, specifically the book proposal. By the end of the workshop, the goal is to wrangle up a book proposal and query that you’re proud of, full of notes and edits from me. And this will include notes on your first ten pages of the actual book.

And if you’re new and just stumbling on me via social media, you can get a sense of my non-fiction projects in my agent life here.

You can register here, and it’ll be four weeks (spread over November and December) of Zooms, emails, workshops, and critiques.

11/3: Welcome Zoom, Proposal Basics: We’ll kick things off by getting to know each other a bit and discuss what you’re working on, answer some questions, and then we’ll dig into book proposal basics. Already have a book proposal in-progress? Well this will help you start getting it polished up.

11/17: Advanced Proposal Bits and Live Discussion: This week we’ll get into the intricate specifics of the proposal. Let’s talk platform (it’s not just social media!), comparative titles, what a marketing and media sheet looks like, and more. And if you’re brave enough to want to share your proposal, we’ll talk about a few of your proposals, what works, what doesn’t.

12/1: Pitching Your Proposal: It’s one thing to have a perfect book proposal, it’s another thing to shrink it down into a query letter. We’ll discuss queries for non-fiction, go over a few in real time (for those brave enough to share!). At this point, you should have a solid draft of your book proposal ready to send to me for detailed notes.

12/15: Final AMA with Industry Friends: This week you’ll get your proposal sent back to you with notes and feedback, and we’ll have a final Zoom to chat with industry pros about what they look for. Because sure, I have a lot of advice, but agents all look for a little something different.

Registration is $125, and you can sign up here. Spaces are super limited (it’s gonna be a lot for me to read and critique!), so grab your spot while you can. I’m gonna go ahead and put a registration button after this paragraph too to make it clearer:

Register Here!

And please, if the price point is a problem, know that you can reach out to me for a spot. Accessibility is important to me. Oh! And an update, the Zooms will be recorded if you have to miss one.

Perfect Pitch: Leslie J. Anderson's Query for The Unmothers

So, this is a bit of a wild realization…

I haven’t shared a “perfect pitch” post in a full year.

The last one I posted here was for Tawny Lara’s Dry Humping, a non-fiction sobriety book, back in July 2023. Between then and now, a lot of clients have had option books get scooped up (second, third, fourth books with their current publisher), which has kept me pretty busy. Those clients aren’t really querying, we’re busy with their proposals.

So please, friends. Books are still happening! I’ve got a bundle to-be-announced, that’ll have posts like this in the future. And thankfully, Leslie J. Anderson was willing to share the original query for THE UNMOTHERS, which is due out with Quirk Books on August 6th. With a starred review from Library Journal, an Indie Next Pick from the ABA, some awards already in-hand, it’s a debut that is posed to make a big impact, and I hope you pick it up.

In fact, if this is helpful, please consider preordering (or if you’re reading this after pub date, ordering) Leslie’s stunning folk-horror novel.

Let’s jump in.

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Dear Eric,

Thank you for your kind response to my last book, [Redacted!]. I truly appreciated it. You told me to let you know when I had a new project, and here it is! People of the Horse, a dark fantasy will appeal to fans of The Southern Reach Trilogy, Pet Sematary, and The Lamb will Slaughter the Lion. The book is about 75,000 words. 

Carolyn Marshall (chain-smoker, cynical journalist, recent widow) is being punished by her editor, sent to a small town to investigate a frivolous, tabloid story of a horse that gave birth to a human baby. Despite her resentment for the assignment, she begins to wonder if the story might be true. Pulled into the mystery, Marshall finds a town that births its own monsters and refuses to face its own sins and secrets. 

Marshall finds the baby’s father, Roswell, a damaged boy living in the shadow of his equally damaged mother. Undeterred, Marshall follows Roswell as he moves through the world of Horse People, helping to rescue horses, learning to ride, and facing the trauma of her own recent loss. Meanwhile, the strange tides of the town ebb and flow around her – a drug dealer tries to fight the monster in the woods, a young man struggles to rescue his friend from addiction, a pastor faces the secret violence done in the graveyard at night.

The dark truth, held in trust by generations of Raeford women, is that the creature of the woods is more than a legend. [Redacted Spoilers!] Its very presence brings old disputes to a boil and the town begins to tear at the seams, unable to escape deep-rooted hatreds and the creature they cannot bring themselves to name. Marshall and Roswell claw a way out while the infighting in the town provides a new target for the monster’s wrath.

My writing has appeared in Asimov’s, Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, Daily Science Fiction, and Apex, to name a few. My collection of poetry, An Inheritance of Stone was nominated for an Elgin Award and poems from it were nominated for Rhysling Awards. I am also a cowriter and frequent collaborator on The CryptoNaturalist Podcast which has nearly 80,000 listeners and followers across social media platforms, garnering media attention from The AV Club and The BBC. 

I have a Creative Writing M.A. from Ohio University and currently work as a marketing and communications manager for a healthcare business analytics firm. I am eager to be an engaged and collaborative partner in promoting my work and building a career in popular fiction. I live in a small, white house beside a cemetery with my partner, three good dogs, and a Roomba.

I included the first ten pages.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Best Regards,

Leslie J. Anderson

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Okay, okay. First. Let’s discuss the redacted bits.

• One, I don’t really want to dish details about Leslie’s other book, which we are still planning to pitch around. “But didn’t you pass on it?” Sure, but now we are working together and digging into that book and getting it ready for a new life. This is a thing that happens. Shelved books aren’t always shelved forever, friends.

• Two, the query does giveaway a bit of the plot, in a way that I really liked in the pitch letter, and that I used to pitch editors, but we didn’t opt to dish on the jacket copy of the actual book with the publisher. So, no spoilers, sorry friends.

Now, let’s talk about what this query does so wildly well, and why it grabbed me.

When Agents Say Send the Next Thing, They Mean It: Seriously. I don’t say it wildly often, but every now and again I read a whole manuscript that is so stunning and powerful, but I don’t quite know how to sell it, or I have something similar to it, and I just know I want to hear from this writer again. I’d said it to Adam Sass when he queried Surrender Your Sons, and that went very well. Same thing here.

I knew I wanted to see anything Leslie wrote next, and it was this book. And seeing as I was already a wild fan of her writing from that first project, I inhaled this immediately.

So please. When we say to email that next book, please do. We’re not just being nice. Though a lot of us are nice.

Perfect Comparative Titles: We have nods to Jeff VanderMeer, Stephen King, and Margaret Killjoy. I knew immediately the vibe Leslie was going for with this book, and it absolutely delivered. “But aren’t those authors too popular?” Please, I’m begging you, dear writers. If a comparative title or author is perfect, use the popular one.

When pitching around Jill Baguchinsky’s So Witches We Became, we comped it to Stephen King’s The Mist. It was fine. In fact, it says that on the jacket copy. When we pitched K. Ancrum’s Icarus around, I comped it to The Goldfinch. Again, we did just fine.

A Big Cast, Perfectly Pitched: One of the many remarkable things about Leslie’s book, is that it has a huge cast of characters. Writers often get worried about querying their big shifting POV cast books, but here, she gives us a quick peppering of the people we’re going to meet, without going all in on them. And she sticks to the core of the story… a reporter investigating something strange.

Bringing Up Relevant Writing: I love it when writers dish a little bit about where they’ve been actively publishing. Not everyone does it, because not everyone has that, and that’s fine. But when you do have something to share, bring it up. We like to see that there has been buy-in for your writing in the spaces you’re writing in.

A Note on the Title: Yes, yes, it’s not called People of the Horse anymore. Writers, don’t get too hooked onto your titles. They do often change.

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Alright, that’s all we got here.

I hope you found this helpful, and please, order Leslie’s book. It’s astonishing.

With or Without You: The Book Tour

Well, With or Without You is right around the corner (don’t forget to preorder and get free stickers!), and I’m hitting the road for a few days to meetup with readers and talk about why mushrooms do not belong on cheesesteaks.

Ahem. I digress.

Here’s where you can catch me for that book, as well as a virtual event for Nicole Chung and Shannon Gibney’s astonishing When We Become Ours anthology, which is out this month (right after my birthday!).

You might notice a little “giveaway” note below every day. If you’re not in publishing, you might not have heard about Harlequin shuttering Inkyard Press, the imprint that’s published a number of my YA novels (Don’t Read the Comments, You Can Go Your Own Way, and well, this one I’m touring for). There are a few debut authors this year who suddenly find their imprint and support gone, so…

I’m taking their books with me.

The first few folks to the stop to see me, will also get a free book by Davaun Sanders, James Ramos, Ivelisse Housman, or Ananya Devarajan, depending on the stop. It’s definitely a “while supplies last” kinda thing, so come nudge me or a bookseller the second you pop in.

Thursday, October 19th
Harrisburg Book Festival (Harrisburg, PA)
In Conversation with Chloe Gong + Alix E. Harrow
Early copies of With or Without You will be available!

Tuesday, November 7th
Harriett’s Bookshop (Philadelphia, PA), 7PM
In Conversation with Farah Naz Rishi
Giveaway: Keynan Masters and the Peerless Magic Crew by Davaun Sanders

Wednesday, November 8th
One More Page (DC / Arlington, VA), 7PM
In Conversation with Amanda Quain
Giveaway: The Wrong Kind of Weird by James Ramos

Thursday, November 9th
Word Bookshop (Jersey City, NJ), 7PM.
In Conversation with Navdeep Singh Dhillon
Giveaway: The Kismat Connection by Ananya Devarajan

Saturday, November 11th
The Fountain (Richmond, VA), 1PM
In Conversation with Lamar Giles
Giveaway: Unseelie by Ivelisse Housman.

Monday, November 13th 
Tampa-Hillsborough County Library (Tampa, FL, Virtual!)
A Reading for When We Become Ours with Nicole Chung, Shannon Gibey, and Stefany Ramirez

See you soon!

Crafting the Non-Fiction Book Proposal: Tawny Lara and Dry Humping

And we’re back with another article about writing non-fiction book proposals!

The last few I’ve dished on here have been non-fiction titles about video games and cookbooks, and I’m excited to have another sort of project to share. A wellness title, from the Sober Sexpert, Tawny Lara.

Her debut, Dry Humping, publishes this month with Quirk Books (you can thank Tawny for this post by ordering her book from your favorite retailer!). It’s a wellness guide that talks about sober dating, and digs into navigating new relationships and sex while living a sober lifestyle.

Friends and colleagues have been curious about this one because I’ve talked about how this pitch arrived in my inbox and I offered on it later in the day. And then the book sold in two months. The question is always the same…

What did she do in that book proposal?

Well. Let’s take a look.

In other book proposals I’ve showcased on here, you’ve seen what they look like after I’ve had some time with them. Updating details like platform and market. Tawny’s book proposal, however, came to me with all of that stuff already in there. She had done the work, both on the proposal and on herself as an expert in the space she wanted to write in.

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THE BASICS

Okay, I’ve broken down the basics of what makes a good non-fiction book proposal in all of the other ones. We get an overview of the project, details about the author, relevance in the market and media, information about the author’s platform and expertise, and manuscript overview bits.

You can see examples of that in these recent shares, with Mary Kenney’s Gamer Girls and Aiden Moher’s Fight Magic Items.

Remember, agents are going to have different things listed on their submission guidelines. Make sure you double check what they’re asking for, before taking what I say here as the go-to bit of advice.

And when it comes to non-fiction, it can change up book to book. If this was a cookbook or a cocktail book, you’d have sample photography. If you were a social media influencer, you’d have a lot of details about your social following.

Tawny’s book is a wellness project. It leans in heavily on her platform as an expert in the space she’s writing and existing it. The proposal had to show an agent, editor, and publisher that yes, this is THE person to be writing this book.

And with the proposal she sent over, she absolutely did that. It’s why I wanted to get on the phone immediately.

Now, let’s break down the proposal Tawny sent over. I’ll include summaries of what she discussed in the proposal as well as some screenshots, which I hope will give you a helpful overview of what goes into one of these, from an author who did it herself.

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THE OVERVIEW

Tawny’s stellar book proposal opened with exactly the thing I always ask for… an overview. In it, she talked about the why of the book. She used examples from pop culture to discuss drinking and relationships, and how often it’s shown to be effective vs. the reality. The way it’s reinforced, and why discussing this is important.

The overview went on to talk about the title of the book, the research she did to put it together, and how it would function as a how-to wellness guide for people navigating relationships, dating, and sex while sober.

This wrapped up at just about three pages, and much of it we ended up using in the actual pitch for the book.

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THE AUTHOR

In Tawny’s proposal, she had the whole platform section and meet-the-author bit combined, telling potential agents who she was, how she was an expert on her topic, and what her platform looked like.

Now remember, and I stress this all the time, platform isn’t just tied to social media followings. Tawny’s platform that she pressed was a long list of all the places she had published articles and continued to write for, details about her podcast, a list of speaking engagements and relationships… your numbers are temporary, friends. The platform you build through publishing and engagements, that’s forever. It’s the platform you own.

Tawny’s about section didn’t just tell me about her.

It told me why she was the perfect person to write this book.

When it came time to revise this proposal before sending it out, I revamped a lot of this section to really focus on her platform in publication. It worked really well.

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AUDIENCE + MARKET

I always like to see a bit about the market in a book proposal. Usually this ties into media relevance, where a writer will share news articles and the like, showing that people are talking about this topic… but that’s not required for me. After-all, I kinda think that’s my job! And I put those sheets together for clients often.

But here, in Tawny’s proposal that she sent over, she detailed the readership in a really thoughtful way, as well as discussed the market for the book. She delivered some really interesting stats, and then, broke down comparative titles.

One thing I really want to highlight here is how wonderfully Tawny dished her comp titles.

All too often I see comparative titles that talk down about other books, explaining why the one being pitched is way better… and in Tawny’s proposal, she talked about the many people who came before her, why their books were so amazing, and how her book would continue to contribute to the conversation. It was really lovely.

For those wondering what the media interest bit tends to look like, here’s the revised version of that section that I put together, when we shopped the book.

Again, I don’t entirely think this is necessary in a proposal that you are writing on your own, but it’s something that as an agent, I use to show to publicity and marketing folks that are in acquisitions meetings.

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MANUSCRIPT OVERVIEW + SAMPLE PAGES

And now, the actual sample text.

For Tawny’s book proposal, she had a solid 10,000 words of sample chapters and a fully fleshed out breakdown of what would be in every chapter. This is a must in your proposal. We have to see that you’re not just the person to write the book… but that you can actually write the book.

Tawny included a table of contents, a chapter by chapter summary (screenshot above), and then finally, two full chapters.

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And a quick bonus tidbit. I can’t share a screenshot from this because it contains contact information and the like, but it’s very much worth bringing up.

Marketing & Promotion Plans: One really interesting thing Tawny talked about in the proposal in a section that you don’t necessarily have to provide, but if you can it’s amazing, was her plan to push the book. Tawny has an extensive network of friends and colleagues in the world of sobriety influencers. From folks who work at NA distilleries to celebrated podcasters. I loved seeing this, and sharing it with potential publishers was a great way to demonstrate platform.

Remember, editors aren’t the only one making the decisions when it comes to acquiring a book. Having discussions with marketing and publicity, and showing this kind of extra material, can go a long way.

And that’s a wrap my friends. A book proposal created by the author, pre-edits (save for that media link page), so you can see that you can do it on your own too.

If you thought this was helpful, please consider ordering Tawny’s book, wherever books are sold. It’s out this month with Quirk Books.

Preorder or Request With or Without You, Get the Cutest Stickers

With the news surrounding what’s happening to Inkyard, my publisher, a lot of folks have been checking to see how they can support. And while I didn’t plan on revealing this preorder campaign until later, with events being canceled and all, now seems like the best time.

With or Without You, my next YA novel, is heading your way this November, and I had the cutest stickers done up by A. Andrews.

You can scope out A. Andrews’ work here via their official website. You’ve likely caught some of their art on Autostraddle, Refinery29, Buzzfeed, Bustle, and more. Just look at this gorgeous stuff. My goodness. Hire them for everything. They also designed the logos for the Philly Bookstore Crawl, happening in August.

So! Here’s the thing. If you preorder the book from any retailer or request it from your local library, I’ll send you this adorable sticker pack and a signed food-filled bookplate.

Doesn’t matter where you are, this is international.

Sticker Pack (Designed by A.Andrews)

Signed Bookplate

Cute, right?

And yes, again, this all counts for international folks! Here’s the quick directions:

• Preorders: Order a copy of the book from any bookish retailer, and send your receipt on over to ericsmithrocks@gmail.com. That’s it! It can be the eBook, the audiobook, the physical hardcover, whatever. I’ll mail stickers out shortly after the book publishes in November.

• Library Requests: Ask your local library to stock the book! You can do this online or in person, and just email me to let me know, with a proof of the email or a photo of the request. Whatever is easiest. I know there isn’t always proof for this, so no worries there. Honor system. I trust you. <3

• Booksellers: If you’d like some stickers to give out at your bookstore with the title, please let me know. I will happily hook you up.

And that’s it! If you have any questions, do feel free to reach out. Thank you! Here are some links!

• Amazon

• Apple

• Barnes & Noble

• Books a Million

• Bookshop

• Chapters Indigo

• IndieBound

Perfect Pitch: Tawny Lara's Query Letter for Dry Humping

Oh hey! It’s a query letter for a non-fiction project!

I get asked about these fairly often, so say thank you to the incredible and brilliant Tawny Lara by preordering her book, DRY HUMPING, which will be in bookstores everywhere September 19th with Quirk Books!

Seriously. These queries only get shared because my clients are willing to share them.

Now, let’s jump in, and showcase why this is such an excellent query letter, particularly for someone writing non-fiction.

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One stand out story about this query is that Tawny sent it to me in the morning, I requested it that day, read the proposal that afternoon, and offered representation on my walk home from the office.

What made me jump on this project immediately? First, the project sounded great, the sample pages were fantastic, and the proposal Tawny put together was astonishing. The non-fiction book proposal is a post for another day, but we will be sharing it.

But also, her platform. And the query letter here told me exactly why Tawny was THE PERSON to be writing this book. It’s also something publishers responded well to. Tawny’s book went on submission in August and had an offer in November.

Let’s see it.

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Hi Eric, 

I'm currently seeking representation for my book, Dry Humping: How to Get Laid Without Getting Wasted. It's a feminist guidebook to sober dating, sex, and relationships. Below is a brief query. My full proposal is available upon request. P.S. I also have a rock n roll heart! Dad's a metal musician and I co-host a podcast about sobriety and rock n roll.

Have you ever taken a shot of whiskey or had a glass of wine to curb those first date jitters, desperately waiting for the liquid courage to kick in? I have. It wasn't until my 30th birthday that I decided to take a step back, stop binge drinking, and figure out what I actually wanted from a date or a romantic relationship. But then all of a sudden I had a problem: How do I date, let alone have sex, now that I’m sober? Dry Humping: How to Get Laid Without Getting Wasted is the how-to guide I wish I had. Now that millions participate in Dry January and “sober curiosity” is a household term, we all need a lesson in the art of sober dating in a world consumed by hookup culture. Dry Humping is about the liberation one experiences once they ditch alcohol in an increasingly sex-positive society. 

Combining pop culture criticism, interviews with sex therapists and dating coaches, sober sexual assault survivors, sober LGBQIA+ folks, sober BIPOC folks, and my own experience navigating sex, dating, and relationships as a sober millennial. I take readers through the modern sober dating scene. Then we go deeper into the sober sex conversation: learning about sober sex workers, the link between sexual assault and alcohol, and what sober sex-positivity looks like. The book ends with the reader learning how to navigate the stresses of later-in-life events like weddings, estate planning, home buying, divorce, family planning, and more—while also keeping sobriety as priority number one.

I'm an NYC-based Bisexual millennial who writes about the intersection of relationships, sex, and sobriety. My work is featured in Men’s Health, Playboy, Huffington Post, Writer’s Digest, The Temper, Audiofemme, a sex column for SheSaid, and two essay collections: The Addiction Diaries (LaunchPad 2020) and the forthcoming reimagining of Sex and the Single Girl (Harper Perennial 2022).

I am also the co-host of Recovery Rocks podcast and story developer for Webby-Award winning F*cking Sober podcast. I’ve been profiled in Men’s Health, WebMD, Refinery 29, Parents, and more. Additional bylines and press features available at tawnylara.com.

I’d love to see Dry Humping on your list, especially as the conversation about sobriety and sex-positivity continues to become more mainstream. Below are 10 pages of the marketing section for said proposal.

Thanks again!

Tawny

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There’s so much Tawny does right with this pitch.

There’s a personal flourish (rock and roll heart, which yes, I have!), which when you can make it, is always nice. Remember, not all literary agents or industry professionals are as, shall we say, Very Online as myself, so you can’t always make that fun connect. But when you can, go for it!

The" jacket-esque-copy” explaining the book is wildly good, because not only does it explain what’s inside, it tells us why Tawny is the person writing it. It’s a wellness and personal guide that comes from a place of experience and care. When you’re pitching non-fiction, give us that. Why it’s so important to you to be writing this.

And the last bit, which is probably the most important takeaway here for my non-fiction friends, is the platform hook.

I'm an NYC-based Bisexual millennial who writes about the intersection of relationships, sex, and sobriety. My work is featured in Men’s Health, Playboy, Huffington Post, Writer’s Digest, The Temper, Audiofemme, a sex column for SheSaid, and two essay collections: The Addiction Diaries (LaunchPad 2020) and the forthcoming reimagining of Sex and the Single Girl (Harper Perennial 2022).

I am also the co-host of Recovery Rocks podcast and story developer for Webby-Award winning F*cking Sober podcast. I’ve been profiled in Men’s Health, WebMD, Refinery 29, Parents, and more. Additional bylines and press features available at tawnylara.com.

So here, Tawny stresses all the outlets where she has written about the exact thing in her book. Sobriety, relationships, sex. Not only that, she digs into the platform that she’s built herself, her podcast, which won some awards this year as well.

We’re in this weird era of social media falling apart. Remember, and I say this all the time, platform isn’t just your following on places like Twitter (or Threads, Bluesky, whatever the hell we’re running to next). It’s the platform you own.

Publications and things you create, that can’t necessarily be taken away if a social media outlet falls apart. Writing non-fiction? Memoir? Essay collections? Pop history? Just look at the proposals I shared for Aidan Moher’s Fight Magic Items and Mary Kenney’s Gamer Girls. Their platform through publication and career… that means infinitely more than social media following.

Tawny’s another perfect example of that.

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I hope this query letter was helpful to you and your publishing journey, friends.

Do thank Tawny by preordering Dry Humping or requesting it at your local library. And stay tuned! We’ll share the book proposal as publication gets closer.

June Brain Pick: Agenting & Writing Thrillers with Jennifer Herrera at Indy Hall

Friends, it’s been a long time.

Back in 2019, when I moved back to Philadelphia, I hosted these small publishing AMA events at Indy Hall, my beloved coworking space. When things shut down in 2020, these events went virtual for a spell, and eventually morphed into the Philly Writing Discord that I started with my pal Swapna Krishna.

Ask me for a link.

But. I missed those in-person events terribly. The energy. The questions. The networking. Publishing is a notoriously inaccessible business to understand, so these events were my way to help writers in my local community. Ah, it was a delight. And now that my buddies Alex and Adam (thank you dudes!) are doing events again in their beautiful new space in Northern Liberties, it’s time to bring them back.

Join me at Indy Hall on June 26th at 6:30PM for the return of these in-person brain picks. The first guest is my pal, Jennifer Herrera.

A literary agent at David Black, Jennifer works on some truly amazing nonfiction titles, and is drawn to “smart, issue-driven books, especially those from journalists as well as writers with professional expertise, including science, psychology, philosophy, economics, prescriptive, lifestyle, history, and the stories of underrepresented groups.”

She’s also an acclaimed author, as her debut, The Hunter, published with Putnam earlier this year. As someone who read and devoured it, let me tell you. It’s staggeringly brilliant.

The format is simple. I’ll ask Jennifer a few questions to get everyone grounded in who she is and what she does, and then the audience can ask questions for an hour. Show up ready to chat and meet other writers, these make for wonderful networking opportunities. Ask questions! Make friends! Eat some snacks!

You can RSVP to the event here, and please RSVP, it’s how you will get the code to get inside the building. It’s at 709 N 2nd St, on the 3rd Floor, in Northern Liberties.

RSVP

As always, these are completely free. And always will be.

See you there. And if you’d like to stay updated on future events like these, be sure to subscribe to my little newsletter that I almost never update.

Perfect Pitch: Kate Fussner's Query Letter for The Song of Us

So, it’s been a minute since I had one of these query letters to showcase!

It’s not because there haven’t been new books sold and out and about since 2021 when I did the last post (James Tate Hill’s for his memoir), it’s that a lot of recent projects have been books from clients I’ve been working with for a while, or non-fiction projects I put together alongside the authors.

So there haven’t been queries for those. You can see the proposals for some of them (like Magic Fight Items and Gamer Girls, by Aidan Moher and Mary Kenney) though.

I’ll have some new queries to showcase soon, I promise! For now, let’s dig into the pitch for Kate Fussner’s absolutely stunning Middle Grade in verse, THE SONG OF US, which publishes this month. If this helps you on your querying journey, I encourage you to thank Kate by preordering her book via your favorite retailer, or request it at your local library.

Let’s jump in, and see what you can learn from this successful query letter:

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Dear Eric Smith,

 O&E is a queer novel-in-verse adaptation of the tragic Greek myth “Orpheus and Eurydice.” A story of two middle school heroines learning to love themselves when they lose each other, O&E is the lyrical poetry of Sonya Sones’ WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW meets the journey to self-acceptance of Ashley Herring Blake’s IVY ABERDEEN’S LETTER TO THE WORLD. It is 16,000 words of first kisses, love poetry for sale, understanding mental health, and one very dramatic school dance.

Impetuous seventh grade poet Olivia knows her words never fail her; that is, until she impulsively breaks up with her first girlfriend, Eden. Full of self-doubt caused by her homophobic father and her heartbreak, closeted Eden sets out on an Underworld-like journey to find herself with a new group of risk-taking friends. Meanwhile Olivia plots to win Eden back by planning a Poetry Night that will end in a sweeping romantic apology. But when the cost of the event drives Olivia into a complicated money-making scheme that lands her in deep trouble, Olivia is forced to make promises to the principal that ultimately out Eden to her father, destroy their relationship, and separate the young sweethearts forever.

I am sending you my work because of your interest in middle grade novels and #ownvoices work. In addition, as a woman who was born and raised in the Philadelphia area, I can’t help but appreciate your great taste in cities. As for me, I teach high school English, am currently earning my MFA in Creative Writing for Young People at Lesley University (anticipated graduation: June 2021), and spend time with my wife and our cocker spaniel mix, Mrs. Weasley. My personal essays have appeared in The Boston Globe, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, and elsewhere. This is my first novel.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

All my best,
Kate Fussner

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One immediate takeaway you might have caught here is the title.

So, I tell this to folks all the time… but don’t get too attached to your book titles. They often change, from the stage with your agent to your editor to the sales team… the list goes on, of folks that sign off on a title working for one reason or another. You can see this in queries for Road Out of Winter by Alison Stine and Rise of the Red Hand by Olivia Chadha. Kate and her brilliant editor (hi Sara!) came to this title as a team. The likelihood of you landing on a title you hate is so slim. Your team wants you to have a title you’re happy with.

There’s so much about this query letter that works so well, and grabbed me out of the gate.

For one, look at that opening hook:

 O&E is a queer novel-in-verse adaptation of the tragic Greek myth “Orpheus and Eurydice.” A story of two middle school heroines learning to love themselves when they lose each other, O&E is the lyrical poetry of Sonya Sones’ WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW meets the journey to self-acceptance of Ashley Herring Blake’s IVY ABERDEEN’S LETTER TO THE WORLD. It is 16,000 words of first kisses, love poetry for sale, understanding mental health, and one very dramatic school dance.

Right away, I’m hit with so much of what I need to know whether or not this book is right for me. Kate gets right to it. We have excellent comp titles here, we get a quick blip about the story, we get grounded in the category, the genre. She works in what it’s a retelling of. We’ve got a word count, themes. The hook totals in at just THREE SENTENCES. It’s masterful.

Hooks are so important in a good query letter. So many editors and agents are on the go, reading queries when they can, scrambling to catch up. A hook has the potential to grab them right away.

Further into the query, Kate digs into the plot of the book in one spectacular paragraph, though please note, it’s very okay to write a bit more about your plot here. I often see writers trying to squeeze their story into that singular paragraph, when if you look at most jacket copy, it’s a good two or three paragraphs giving readers the plot. Don’t be afraid to say a little more.

I also want to call attention to Kate’s bio here:

As for me, I teach high school English, am currently earning my MFA in Creative Writing for Young People at Lesley University (anticipated graduation: June 2021), and spend time with my wife and our cocker spaniel mix, Mrs. Weasley. My personal essays have appeared in The Boston Globe, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, and elsewhere. This is my first novel.

I often hear from writers that they are worried about their bio not being focused on publications, like books and the like, as this is their first novel. Kate’s is a great example of how to do that as a debut. She talks about her job, what she’s been doing with school, spending time with her wife and pup. And then she talks about her personal essays, which while they might not have to do with writing Middle Grade, show buy-in for her work.

A favorite example of this is in Mike Chen’s query letter, where he talks about the journalism he did in the hockey world. Did that have to do with writing adult sci-fi? Nope. But it showed interest in his writing. Dish that stuff.

An additional bit of advice here outside of the query though?

I get asked a lot about nudging and following up with agents. First, always check submission guidelines, there might be some details in there that’ll let you know what’s appropriate with that agent. With me, I encourage nudges. A quick followup. A brief email to say “hey just checking in to see if you were able to read this” and the like.

Kate was one of those nudges.

I had actually missed her initial query, and when she checked in and it bounced back up to the top of my inbox, I gasped. This was my kind of book! What happened! How did I miss this? I dug in immediately.

Please. Don’t be afraid to nudge, dear writer friends. Agents spend SO MUCH TIME nudging editors about projects. We are used to a nudge. Don’t overthink it. The worst thing that happens, is that the project wasn’t a good fit and that’s why they didn’t respond.

The best case? They missed it, want to read it, and then your debut novel is due out a few years later. You never know.

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I hope this was helpful! And please, preorder Kate’s beautiful book.