Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Trust your gut instincts. In the end, you are the writer and it's your story. I disagree. I don't think you should trust your gut instincts. Nor is it your story in the end. Just kidding. I completely agree with Meredith. Don't allow other voices to become so loud that your work becomes someone els...

Hi all. I posted a query for this story at the end of last year, but now my revisions are coming to an end, I've given it another shot. I'd love to hear what anyone thinks and any improvements I can make to it. This my query so far: Hello Mr. agent Man/Ms agent Lady Twelve year-old Sarah discovers ...

"Seventeen-year-old Sara Charles has always been clumsy and shy to the point of passing out [.] In the middle of her junior year of high school she discovers why --she's cursed. Nice hook. Several hundred years ago, a Native American sorcerer severed the link between the four elements and the ...

There needs to be enough plot, no more no less. The truth is that there's no formula to writing a query. I advise people to shoot for 250 - 350 words, and there should be more about the plot than about you (the plot description is more important than the writer's qualifications), but there's no one...

I think your story sounds exciting. Are you reluctant to call it a thriller? In any event, I started tinkering with the first query, which I preferred, and maybe it'll give you some ideas: I am seeking representation for ALONE WITH EVERYONE, a 70,000-word literary novel. Amanda's parents won't let h...

When I wrote my query, I set out to write two crisp, six-sentence paragraphs. The first paragraph endeavors to peak a reader's desire to read more; the second is a biographical paragraph that (hopefully) demonstrates I've acquired the skills and experience necessary to write my book with some profic...

atdeluca wrote:What John?!

I took a stab at rewriting the first half of your query, but then I ran out of steam. Sorry if it wasn't more helpful. I'm still pretty new at this.

---- [AGENT], Nicholas Pierce is missing five years of his childhood. Thankfully, the rest of his life is complete. He has his obsessive compulsive disorder in check, he likes his job, and his adoptive family loves him. When an unexplained package shows up on his front step, however, Nicholas' forgo...

Nathan Thanks for all you do for aspiring authors. Your work ethic is commendable. You appear tireless. In any event, I have reviewed your FAQ's and read through this entire thread, but haven't seen the answer to my question, so here we go: If an agent, accepts both email queries and snail mail quer...

I'm new around here and I'm still getting my sea legs. I've scanned a few queries in here and none of the ones I've seen include a biographical paragraph. Is that because, (1) here in the Bransford forums, it's understood that forum users redact/omit bio paragraphs for privacy considerations or (2) ...

Invitations sent to my three year-old daughter's pre-school classmates for her fourth birthday party: 15
Rejections: 1
No response: 14
RSVP deadline: 7/25


This is much more depressing than getting a query shot down.

It sounds to me like a perfect illustration of how absurd the whole query process seems to be. I believe, even with the most professional agents, your chance of success depends largely on your timing. Did your query hit the agent's inbox when she was bored in an airport on the way back from a great ...

I created a spreadsheet of 150 agents who represent my genre and accept email queries. I sent out my first query on June 1. Between June 1st and July 8th I sent out about ten queries. In the last ten days I've sent out fifteen more for a total of 25. I generally send out about three at a time, but I...