✨The Evolution of Two Query Letters That Landed Agents; Moving On Rather Than Overhauling a Failed Project; & There are No 'Shoulds' in Writing✨
Plus, the last Shooting the Shit segment of the year is all about money, honey...
Happy Tuesday, all you marvelous people!
You don’t want to miss the last Shooting the Shit segment of the year in which Carly and CeCe crack open the money conversations writers are told not to have. Advances. Royalties. Envy. Agenting. It’s the no-holds-barred conversation you didn’t know you needed!
Then, we’ve got one of our new author Q&As (that you helped us put together with the questions you submitted) with Shaylin Gandhi, author of Love Letters for Other People who explains why she’s a big believer in not hiring an editor before querying your work if you’re pursuing the traditional route. 👀
“If a particular project has been queried widely and hasn’t gotten any bites, it’s probably a better use of the author’s time to write something new, rather than trying to overhaul a project that isn’t finding traction for whatever reason.”
Two TSNOTYAW Beta Reader Match Up Alums, Kristin Wollett, author of As a Last Resort and Aaron Kyte, author of A Christmas Inn, Maine write an excellent piece in which they show the step-by-step revision and evolution of two query letters that landed agents.
“I remember the single moment that changed everything in my querying journey. I showed my perfectly crafted query of the novel I’d spent a full year writing to a friend of mine (who has absolutely nothing to do with publishing), and she said, “But I don’t understand what happens.”
Let me back up… My book was done. I had what I thought was the perfect title (but willing to change it if absolutely necessary), and I was ready for agents to fight over such a ground-breaking story idea.
But first, the query. I had the same thought many of you have had: I already wrote 100,000 words! How am I supposed to sum it up in less than 400?!
I took a stab at it and shared it with her. After her initial response, I figured she simply didn’t understand the industry. That query letter resulted in exactly one manuscript request and seventy-six rejections.”
It’s an absolute must read!
Finally, Jen Braaksma, author of Befriending Betsy, shares an essay about planning to co-author a book with someone who died five years before Jen even knew she’d lived. She discusses how the impossible can become possible, and how There Are No ‘Shoulds’ in writing.
“I went back to the drawing board—aka writing advice. Soon I noticed a pattern. I should write every day. I should write for a large chunk of time. I should write whenever I had a few minutes. I should craft detailed backstories for all my fictional characters. I should dive deep into my own history for my memoir.
Should, should, should.
I almost crumbled under the weight of all those shoulds—especially when they were often contradictory. How could I figure out how to write when I couldn’t figure out how to write?”
Don’t forget the upcoming Deep Dive Virtual Retreat and what CeCe had to say about it on The Gram.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading and happy holidays! ❤️
❤️ The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team
This Week on ‘Shooting the Shit’
Money. Advances. Royalties. Envy. Agenting. In this no-holds-barred part one episode, Carly and CeCe crack open the money conversations writers are told not to have—and answer your most anonymous, anxiety-inducing questions about the business of publishing. From six-figure deal myths and what “earning out” actually means, to whether writing can be a job, how agents think about money, and why publishing is basically institutionalized gambling, nothing is off-limits. Honest, data-driven, funny, and deeply validating—this is the episode that pulls the financial curtain all the way back. Stay tuned for part two…coming soon.
