Ways Authors Can Navigate Querying in Traditional Publishing

12 min read

When authors choose to publish traditionally, they need to consider their querying process

Traditional publishing is a journey that everyone knows and is used to.

The first step of traditional publishing is the process of finding a literary agent who believes in your book. Once this agent has you on their roster, they pitch your book to publishing houses to see who is interested in your project.

Sounds simple enough, right?

As successful as many authors have been in using this process be aware that this process can take months to years to see your book out in the market. Traditional Publishing means playing the very very long game.

I say this because, even if you find an agent willing to take on your project, the search continues to find a publishing house that also has a free spot for your project. The payoff can be great. So don’t give up!

What are the pros of traditional publishing?

  • You have the potential to reach thousands of readers with the help of a publisher.

  • You have a better chance of getting into bookstores.

  • They provide editors, cover designers, and some marketing.

What are the cons of traditional publishing?

  • The process is sometimes long, lasting years until you find the right agent, publishing house, and deal.

  • You still have to market yourself and build your audience, the deal just opens the door to more readers.

  • There is the possibility the publisher will require you to make changes to your story to better fit the market.

However, don’t fret about how long traditional publishing takes. We can make this process simpler on your end and help you organize everything on your journey.

Creating a synopsis

While your book is fresh in your mind we are going to start out by creating a synopsis for your book.

A synopsis is a detailed summary of your book that covers the plot, and the characters and reveals the ending of the book. As hard as it is to give this away, having the synopsis finished is crucial to helping an agent want your book. In fact, many agents want this ahead of time, as it helps them to see your story arch.

You know how the book goes, but how do you condense it all to fit onto one to two pages?

What are the key components of a synopsis?

Your first step is to identify your protagonist. You want to explain what motivates the protagonist to propel the story. What happens to the protagonist to create their current state of being? Once this is done, whoever is reading the synopsis knows how events began.

Your next steps are going to proceed paragraph by paragraph. From there, follow your manuscript timeline to talk about important scenes and the cause and effects of events in the story

By the end of the synopsis, the reader should know how the conflicts are resolved and where the protagonist ends up.

To fit this all on one to two pages, you need to tell the events of your story that are key to the reader knowing your full story arch. This means leaving out small details that don’t directly affect these events.

If you are having trouble creating a synopsis, you can look at other synopses for books in your genre for inspiration. You can also search for formulas proven to work in your genre. This can steer you in the right direction.

Getting an Agent

If you choose to have your book traditionally published, before you can even think about putting your book in front of a publishing house, you need to find an agent.

An agent is the go-between person who is there to help navigate the publishing world.

When looking for an agent, writers need to be wary of scammer situations. There are people out there who pose as an agent, and charge fees for query submissions or to look over your work. There should never be a fee or a charge for them to look at your book because agents don’t make any money until the book is picked up by a publishing house.

When making a submission to an agent, you simply follow the query requirements they list and send them a query letter with a sample of your writing. (They typically ask for the first 5 pages to the first 3 chapters.)

As you start to get lost in the sea of the literary world please remember one thing. There IS one person out there who will love and believe in your book, you just have to find them.

Here are some places to look:

Here is an example of my own query letter, this was my first attempt.

Dear Ms. Ross,

All 18-year-old Leena wants to do her last summer after high school is to save up enough money to attend college. Her relationship with her distant longtime boyfriend slips through her fingers and the rocky relationship with her alcoholic Mom finally crumbles leaving her sleeping in her car.

Just when she thinks she has hit rock bottom Leena’s best friend Sydney offers to move into an apartment with her. This helps Leena start a brand new chapter in her life. Just as she gains her barings her ex-boyfriend’s best friend Garret steps in becoming a friend she never thought she needed helping her make a list of 30 things to do that she missed during her childhood.

As she feels she is gaining traction, wild card Brent walks into her life sweeping her off her feet. Just when she thinks things are going well, Brent’s reckless decisions hit Leena a little too close to home causing her to question judgment.

Anywhere Else (60,183 words) with a genre of new adult and romance is a story that talks about finding your way during a time of uncertainty. I believe you would be a great agent to represent my book because you appreciate contemporary romances with a unique hook.

At the moment this book is standalone, however, I could easily see myself creating a book for Garret or Sydney as they both show some interesting stories.

My name is Kayla Hicks. I have also self-published a few books called Kale Stone: An Outliers Tale, Ventures and Visions: A Short Story Collection, and The BackUp Superhero. I have a website at http://kayla-hicks.com/.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read through my query letter. You can reach me at my email [email protected] or by phone at (insert phone number).

Sincerely

Kayla Hicks

When writing a query letter you are going to be giving an agent the very first impression of you and your book, so let’s make it good.

Opening your query letter you are going to start off with a hook, followed by a short description of your book.

What is a hook?

This is a strong first sentence that grabs the attention of the reader and a one-sentence description of your story. This is a hard thing to create. To start working to create your hook, try writing three different hooks and have someone else read them and ask which one grabbed them. Also, ask them to explain why it grabbed them. Getting this feedback can make your hook the best it can be.

In the photo example of my first query letter, my hook and opening are actually a little long in my opinion, so I reworked it to make it better. I also asked other people I knew to look it over and this was the end result. Which one grabs your attention more?

First Hook:

All 18-year-old Leena wants to do her last summer after high school is to save up enough money to attend college.

Second Hook:

Leena’s life crumbles when Leena’s distant boyfriend breaks her heart and her alcoholic mother kicks her out. Her best friend Sydney steps in and helps her restart her life.

What does a short description of your book look like?

This is going to be a one-to-two-paragraph maximum explanation of your book, giving the agent a little bit more information. Don’t keep them guessing about how it ends, it’s okay to tell them here too. This could be the thing that makes their decision.

Next, you are going to list your title, word count, and genre.

Example: My title is The Backup Superhero with a genre of Action/ Fantasy and a word count of 12,444 words.

After this, I like to write how my targeted audience will connect to this book (literally you just need this in one sentence, no longer.) It doesn’t hurt to add three books similar to yours so that the agent has a clearer picture of your project.

This next section is where you want to tell this agent why they would be the best fit to represent your book. Without this, oftentimes many agents feel as if you have just sent them a copy and paste of the same letter you have sent to a hundred others. Do not do this.

DO the research on them and tell them why they are the key to making this work. Do NOT beg them to take on your book.

Lastly, you want to tell them a little bit about you. If you have other works, list them. Tell them you have a website and if you have any education in writing, list it.

Close it with a thank you for your time and a nice signature.

Your email signature should contain your name, author, links, etc.

Here is an example of mine:

Here I have my name and author, and underneath that clickable links to all of my social media handles and website. This is an easy way of giving your other information without being pushy.

Many agents will be curious about your following on social media as it helps them determine how many potential sales you could bring in. Even if you are represented by a publisher and an agent, you are still expected to market to your audience and engage with them. So agents will see how big of an audience you are marketing to.

Keeping track of your query letters

One of the toughest parts of the querying process is keeping track of who you queried for a book project. There are so many agents for each genre but realistically, the list isn’t endless. To ensure that you don’t send an agent a query twice, create a handy little list.

You can use anything to create it. Pen and paper, Excel, Word, or Google Docs. Personally, I used Google Docs to create a chart.

In the left-hand column, I list the agent I queried. Along the top of the graph, I listed queries in one column, accepted in another, and declined in another. Each time that I received a reply, I would simply add the appropriate information to my chart.

You may also be able to add to the handy chart any waiting periods that the agent lists on their agency’s site or the agent’s profile. Sometimes they list that you can expect to hear from them within 3 to 6 months due to the volume of inquiries they receive.

Some agents or agencies have you use a query site platform where you enter the required information in the indicated fields and then submit. If they choose this query platform there is usually a link you can check to see the status of your query.


Let’s review here:

If you choose traditional publishing, you want to:

  • Have your query letter and synopsis ready

  • Carefully vet agents who will be a good advocate for your book

  • Create a tracking system for querying


This was an excerpt from my book Starting Your Publishing Journey: A Beginners Guide.

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