TheBanyanTree: Writing a Query

[Monique Colver]

So here's the thing. Whether it's procrastination or not knowing how, or
whether it's thinking this just isn't going to work out, or whether it's
something else, my query still has not been written. And it should be.

Theoretically, since it's a memoir, the query should be like that for
fiction. So okay. I can do a fiction query. But it's not fiction. It's a
memoir.

I just like saying memoir. I could say it over and over again, if you like.

Memoir.

Anyway, so the thing about writing a query is putting the pertinent
information into one page. Not only pertinent, but compelling and perhaps,
even, interesting. Enough so that they ask for more. That's the whole point,
after all -- to get them to ask for more. I think the main reason people
self-publish is so they won't have to write a query. But I think it's an
important part of the process, to distill your work down into several
paragraphs and see what sticks. Some people say I should just self-publish,
but others, particularly my editor, say no, at least not until I've tried
the traditional avenues. Besides, self-pubbed books are often crap, which is
why people avoid them. Whether they are or not doesn't really matter much of
the time, it's guilt by association.

This book is a hard enough sell as it is.

And there's part of my problem. One of the main characters dies in the end.
That's not very cheerful. People like cheerful. They like happy endings, or
celebrity, or high drama. People are happy to pay for a book written by a
celebrity even if it's crap, but try being a non-celebrity, and the market
is greatly diminished.

But that shouldn't stop me. I mean, until I get a thousand rejections I
won't know I should go ahead and just self-pub, and I really ought to get
started because I have other things I want to do.

So I'll take a stab at it, and see if I can produce a query of some sort.
Then I'll let my editor take a look.

When I finish the query, I'll write you a story.



Monique Colver