When I spoke about sending my MS off with a letter of introduction in my last post; of course I meant the dreaded query letter. There's so much advice flying around out there, I had no idea what to do for the best.
But the thing I took from the numerous blog posts and books I read, was that the agent/publisher doesn't want to hear about you, the author, they want to hear about your book. They have to look at it from a business sense, bottom line, is it going to sell? Is it worth their blood sweat and tears? After all the reader doesn't really care if you have horns and two heads, but they may want to know if your characters do. The reader wants a good story, and rightly so. I know I do, when I pick up a book.
So when I decided to send my MS off, I took on board what the experts were saying. I made the focus of my letter, my book, and not me. Even when the rejections came in, I still stuck with the same letter. I was tempted to alter it, or start again, but I didn't.
I never took any of the rejections I received personally. I told myself, that the sender doesn't know me, it's not me they're rejecting, it's my story. There's plenty more stories whizzing around in my head, therefore if I don't succeed with this one, I will with another. But I wasn't about to give up on this one yet.
Every time I checked my inbox my heart missed a beat. Then there it was, an offer of a contract from a publisher, I jumped up and down with excitement. Then the day after that I received another, then the next day another. I was spoilt for choice. I did the right thing and stuck to my plan.
I'm not about to tell you how to write query a letter, I wouldn't dare. But please take on board the advice from the experts and once you've written your letter, stick with it for a reasonable length of time. For goodness sake don't take comments, or rejections personally.
Do you have a similar story you'd like to share with us? Or do you have useful advice for aspiring authors?
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