There is a Method to the Querying Madness

Literary agents Jessica Faust and James McGowan discuss the reasons behind some of the most common querying "rules."

BookEnds is dedicated to making publishing a book traditionally a more transparent process, and it starts with these videos!

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Jessica Faust’s love for books is what first brought her to open BookEnds Literary Agency. It is her desire to be an advocate for all authors that pushed her to create her blog, the BookEnds YouTube channel and to maintain a vibrant presence on Twitter.

Jessica is proud to have grown BookEnds to an agency that represents authors of all genres for children and adults, allowing her to reach more readers and help more authors and illustrators achieve their dreams.
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James McGowan is a Literary Agent at BookEnds and writer for children. He began working with the agency as an intern in the summer of 2015, and basically never left. He represents a talented group of authors and illustrators working in everything from board books to middle grade graphic novels. He also works in adult nonfiction, and adult mystery and suspense projects. James is the author of GOOD NIGHT OPPY, which is available now.

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[MorganForteMakeup]

I just want you guys to know I learned everything about publishing from you, and appreciate you so much!!! I started watching this channel when I had an incomplete first draft, and I am now on submission with my debut and signed with a top kidlit agency! You guys are seriously the best

[Unreversall]

Any chance you could read out some of the best query letters you got and tell us why those one resonated with you?
Thanks a lot for all your work. Your content is really helpful and it's an amazing platform for us to connect with other authors.

[morganstrehlow]

"Our job is not to read. Our job is to sell books." YES JAMES. Thank you. I'm a newer agent who feels perpetually guilty for not reading more.

[MrDanroche]

I remember when you had under 200 followers. Congrats on 17, 000!

[hiplessboy]

Even if you went off on a rant there - it's so useful! The truth is always better than an encouraging lie!

[tinaheard]

The two of you are always so helpful! Thank You !

[ashleygrey]

I'm in the query trenches now. This was so helpful! Thank you.

[AexBOfficial]

Oh yes, I've seen agent guidelines who still take snail mail (often alongside/as an option to emailing). Less so in fiction and especially my genres SFF, for sure, but they're out there!
Also, hearing Jessica say she had a bookshelf for her snail mail reminds me of when the company I work for took over a private company 4 years ago and decided to digitise everything. So much paper on shelves that we had to dig through...

[terrilikens]

I'm still working on the book, but your videos are such a help in getting me ready for the next steps. I'm grateful. Also thanks for your tough love and humor.

[michaeldeangray]

I love you guys so much and appreciate all the tips and the insight into the publishing world!

[pamelareese]

Thank you. I have a blurb...now I will kick the best pitch I can into shape. You are very encouraging and give us a lot of insight that is so helpful.

[BastianTime]

I adore both of you and watch your videos religiously. I followed all of the rules and jumped through all of the hoops and got an agent. Thank god, because it was HELL.

BUT (you knew that was coming, didn't you) this video really rubbed me the wrong way. The concept of "the query process has worked for a billion years so why change it?" doesn't take into consideration that better processes can always replace outdated ones.

Also, the concept of "you as the author need to learn how to sell your book" feels off to me. My job as the writer is to write and revise. I feel like an agent would be the salesperson. My skillset is in creating; I do not have the sales gene (if I did, I would be a personal fitness trainer to the stars). I should not be expected to know how to sell my art, that is the job of a salesperson, which is basically what an agent does.

I think the query process is upside down. Query Manager should be inside out: authors upload their MS and query letter analogs and synopsis and agents can filter based on category and genre and such to see if they're grabbed by the first pages and so on and then, ultimately, offer, if they so desire.

Anyway. While I DID jump through all the hoops and play all the games and secured an agent, I felt like it was utterly convoluted and backwards.

[veronicacarloni-qd]

This is so helpful as I am learning the process. I can keep all these things in mind as i write my story and eventually query.

[gwynnathawinna]

500 queries a month, each?! That's insanity!

[michaelakainz]

I have been following your channel for a while and it will for sure help me a lot when I start querying this summer. Thank you!
If there isn't already (and I missed it), I would like to know how to handle trigger topics in a query - if at all - or how to avoid that you get a rejection because the agent just wasn't aware of it. Some agents have it on their pages as "Not the best agent for topics xyz..." - so can I assume it's ok for anyone else? How about marketability of such topics? Thank you for any insight on this!

[Canadaalways]

Great video again, guys! I'm in the querying stage. I do have a question, and maybe it difers with different agents, but what initially grabs your attention when sifting thru queries?

[saxbend]

I have a few questions:

Do you think an author should limit querying to agents in the same country, or is it worth submitting queries to agents all across the author's linguistic sphere?

Perhaps you and other agents you know regularly receive queries from abroad? Do you have opinions on that if so?

And would you say that agents generally work in very similar ways in most countries?

Thanks for all the helpful videos!

[StevenMathews-tzto]

A question about Query Manager submissions. When I paste my submission pages into the appropriate block, I copy them from a Microsoft Word document, double-spaced and appropriately formatted. Does it retain the proper formatting in Query Manager when you access it to read the pages?

[sabrinaterry]

Are you guys open for hiring literary agents or your mentorship program? Into the new year.

[elissahunt]

I love writers who don't want to follow the process. They make me look better in comparison. 😁