I am in a querying mood these days, but then I have a new book, The Talking Table, I believe deserves more attention and a bigger readership than I could do on my own. That means reaching out to agents, who have access to the big-time publishers, and publishing houses that don’t require one, plus doing research on their requirements before I send out my pretty please query.
Let me back up a little and tell you about The Talking Table, which is a light fantasy Young Adult book I believe adults might want to read as well. What’s it about? One publisher challenges querying authors to write a three-sentence synopsis. Here’s mine.
Fifteen-year-old Vivien Winslow is on a quest to find her father, a troubled author famous for one great book, when help comes from an unusual source — a spirit named Phoebe — in THE TALKING TABLE, a light fantasy Young Adult novel. Vivien lives with her mother and brother in a trailer park on a seacoast town, which is all they can afford. A lonely girl, Vivien’s situation changes when she befriends Lucy Franz and her family, who let her join their conversations with Phoebe, whose communications are as simple as a table rising and falling on two legs for yes-or-no answers or automatic writing for more complex ones — including information about her father.
Having an agent doesn’t guarantee a publisher will take your book. I learned that when I had two consecutive agents. Instead I signed with two publishers, darkstroke books, which unfortunately closed in 2024, and Bloodhound Books, which has the first three books of my Isabel Long Mystery Series. I published the rest on my own, even doing the formatting, so I am a hybrid author. It’s time to reach out for a publisher that takes on YA books.
So, I researched which agents and publishers who are open to submissions and what they would need from me. Most want a query letter and a certain amount of pages, say 5 to 25 pages in the body of the email. A few ask that the full manuscript be attached and a couple, comparable titles. Some use Query Tracker or have electronic forms on their website.
Then there are those who want a full synopsis, and outside of writing the book, this requires serious work.
I looked online about formatting and word count — no more than a thousand. That’s a challenge considering The Talking Table weighs in at 71,000 words.
So, I dropped the full query synopsis into a Word doc and worked from there, being as concise as possible, yet trying to make it an enjoyable read. I printed the synopsis and got out my red pen — oh, so many times until I was finally satisfied. The synopsis has 889 words. Yes, I was able to shrink this book. It took several days but I did it.
I began querying last week. I have two more submissions to go. In all there are a dozen.
Now, the waiting game begins. I declined to query the ones that say it would take months for a response or “if you don’t hear from us, consider it a no.” Ugh, no thanks. Most say it might take a few weeks although I have already received two rejections. Alas, they weren’t the right ones.
In the meantime, I will continue to promote my most recently published mystery thriller, The Unforgiving Town. I plan to finish the third Twin Jinn book, this one set in New Mexico, and work with John McGibbon on our screenwriting projects, including one for my novel, Northern Comfort. Yes, I like being busy.
Wish me success.
ABOUT THE PHOTO ABOVE: Querying is little like trying to catch fish — hence, the photo I took of small orange carp swimming in a contained pool at an old mill in my village that was converted into artist and office spaces. You can see its windows reflected in the water.