Query Chat returns with Special Guests!!

[Regan Leigh]

#QueryChat returns Wednesday 09/15 at 9pm EST.

This week's guests are:

MacAllister Stone -- Writer and owner of Absolute Write (@AbsoluteWrite, http://absolutewrite.com/forums/ )
Victoria Strauss -- Novelist and co-founder of Writer Beware (@VictoriaStrauss, http://www.sff.net/people/victoriastrauss/index.htp )
Cassandra Marshall -- An agent intern and regular contributor to #QueryChat (@CA_Marshall, http://www.camarshall.com/ )



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If you don’t already know, #QueryChat is a Twitter chat that takes place every couple of weeks. It’s a time for writers to gather so that they can ask questions and give advice to each other. It also includes helpful links and special guests, like agents or published authors. And sometimes we just vent about our latest query related emotional breakdown. I moderate #QueryChat, if you have any questions.

How do you join? Sign in to Twitter at the announced time (see @QueryChat, that’s me) and follow #QueryChat to watch the questions and answers fly. To participate, make sure to add #QueryChat in your tweets or we won’t see them! More detail here: http://www.reganleigh.com/?p=1472

[Mira]

Regan - is this something you organize? It looks very cool. Great guests!

I think this is terrific that you're doing something like this. :)

[Regan Leigh]

Regan - is this something you organize? It looks very cool. Great guests!

I think this is terrific that you're doing something like this. :)

Yes, I started it a while back. :) Thanks!

It's always a lot of fun and I even learn answers to questions I'd never thought to ask. I was chatting with a couple of writers online one night about doing something like a chat for query questions. (There is an #AskAgent chat now and then, but they preface the chat with no query questions allowed. ;)) I took the idea and ran with it. Cassandra -- an intern for an agent -- has become my partner in crime for the chats. ;)

And this weeks guests are phenomenal women who will be a gold mine of advice. :)

[charlotte49ers]

I feel like such a crap friend that I never participate. One day I will be ready to query…one day…

You always have the best guests! Maybe you could wrangle Nathan one day… ;-)

[Regan Leigh]

I feel like such a crap friend that I never participate. One day I will be ready to query…one day…

You always have the best guests! Maybe you could wrangle Nathan one day… ;-)

Bah, I guess I'll keep you around. ;)

And Nathan is welcome any time, but something tells me he's busy. ;). He's practically a part of it since I pimp his blog and forum so much.



Um, I totally had a high class prostitute joke in my head from Flight of the Conchords, but then I realized that most may not get the reference and I'd look like an idiot.

[Regan Leigh]

By the way, tweeps who follow #querychat...no promoting paid services in the chat. Or trolling. :)

Thanks to all who joined in! Great chat!

[Nathan Bransford]

I feel like such a crap friend that I never participate. One day I will be ready to query…one day…

You always have the best guests! Maybe you could wrangle Nathan one day… ;-)

Bah, I guess I'll keep you around. ;)

And Nathan is welcome any time, but something tells me he's busy. ;). He's practically a part of it since I pimp his blog and forum so much.



Um, I totally had a high class prostitute joke in my head from Flight of the Conchords, but then I realized that most may not get the reference and I'd look like an idiot.

Haha - love that song! "In the whole wide room."

I will stop by one of these weeks! 6pm Pacific is tricky because I'm usually still working, but one of these weeks I'll be good to go.

[Regan Leigh]

I feel like such a crap friend that I never participate. One day I will be ready to query…one day…

You always have the best guests! Maybe you could wrangle Nathan one day… ;-)

Bah, I guess I'll keep you around. ;)

And Nathan is welcome any time, but something tells me he's busy. ;). He's practically a part of it since I pimp his blog and forum so much.



Um, I totally had a high class prostitute joke in my head from Flight of the Conchords, but then I realized that most may not get the reference and I'd look like an idiot.

Haha - love that song! "In the whole wide room."

I will stop by one of these weeks! 6pm Pacific is tricky because I'm usually still working, but one of these weeks I'll be good to go.

Wonderful! I'd love to have you join. That would be awesome. I'll let you know when the next one comes up. I usually try to do them every two weeks on either a Wednesday or a Thursday. (I've bumped it to 10pm EST at times, too.)

Haha, glad you got the joke. :) I tend to get weird comments when I write on a friend's FB wall that she's pretty like a tree and could be a part time model. *shrug*

(For those wondering what in the world we're talking about...)

[Mira]

Nathan, you are so cool.

I missed this one, but I hope you let us know about the next one. I'd really like to join in if I can.

I think this is a really nice service that you do, Regan.

[Regan Leigh]

Nathan, you are so cool.

I missed this one, but I hope you let us know about the next one. I'd really like to join in if I can.

I think this is a really nice service that you do, Regan.

Thank you, Mira. :) I do enjoy it and I've met some great people through the chat.

You did miss quite a lively chat this week. A very rude troll type jumped in the chat and was giving horrible advice. (Like learn the rules to querying and the agent guidelines, then break them. All just to "stand out" and sell the author as the product, not the book.) The guests also completely disagreed with him. Most of us ended up blocking him, but with Twitter there is no way to push him out of a chat. So he's still able to spout his nonsense. He also claims Absolute Write is a paying site and accused me of being Mac. And now he calls us a scam. All while posting links to his blog to sell stuff. ;) Meanwhile, I have no book to sell, no services to push and I bring in legit guests. I created it solely as a free peer run chat. It all made me so angry because it seemed people were listening to him, but I realized the couple of people supporting him were obviously part of it.

You'd think that Twitter would have a better system for people that try and take over chats like that. Oh, well. Made it more interesting. :D

Nathan, do you have a blog post that discusses queries that go against the guidelines or try to sell themselves as an author rather than focusing on their book?

The advice we gave is that everyone should research the agents, learn their guidelines and stick to them. We also emphasized selling their novel first and not trying to sell themselves as an author. (That the product is NOT the author, but the book.)

[Jaime]

I feel like such a crap friend that I never participate. One day I will be ready to query…one day…

You always have the best guests! Maybe you could wrangle Nathan one day… ;-)

Bah, I guess I'll keep you around. ;)

And Nathan is welcome any time, but something tells me he's busy. ;). He's practically a part of it since I pimp his blog and forum so much.



Um, I totally had a high class prostitute joke in my head from Flight of the Conchords, but then I realized that most may not get the reference and I'd look like an idiot.

Haha - love that song! "In the whole wide room."

I will stop by one of these weeks! 6pm Pacific is tricky because I'm usually still working, but one of these weeks I'll be good to go.

Whenever New Zealand have someone/something good, us Aussies like to claim them as our own :) We're totally giving Russell Crowe back, though.