Querying

Queries.

Are stressful things.

Not even just querying agents... which in and of itself is super nerve-wracking because you have to A) talk to people, B) talk about your baby, C) try and make your baby sound good, D) try and make yourself look good without coming across as a pompous asshole.

Despite all that, I'm actually talking about the process of writing a query.

Which, to my understanding is a ONE PAGE description of you and your book, nothing longer.  You start out with a grasping sentence about your book, then proceed to explain a little more in detail (think the backs of paperback books or the inside flap of hardcovers, except more detail than that if you have the space).  You're not trying to grab any old reader's attention here, you're trying to grab THE reader's attention here.  The AGENT's attention here.  Then, after that, you get a little blurb to make yourself sound good and professional and like you know what you're doing and what you're talking about.

If you're lucky, you're allowed an additional 1-2 page synopsis on top of the initial query letter.  This 1-2 pages must cover your ENTIRE book.  Imagine, taking a 300 page book and summarizing the whole thing in 2 pages? It's a right pain!

Sometimes though, you're not lucky.  Online query forms usually allow you a paragraph or two summary of your book and that's it.  Less than the query letter (from what I've seen.)

Writing my query letter and synopsis took me two weeks.

Thankfully, now that I'm done, I can send that out to a few people and see if I get responses.  Not at a point to write a new query letter just yet.  There's not many ways to change it, anyway.  Not without changing the whole book.

Did that once.