Okay, okay. First. Let’s discuss the redacted bits.
One, I don’t really want to dish details about Leslie’s other book, which we are still planning to pitch around. “But didn’t you pass on it?” Sure, but now we are working together and digging into that book and getting it ready for a new life. This is a thing that happens. Shelved books aren’t always shelved forever, friends.
Two, the query does giveaway a bit of the plot, in a way that I really liked in the pitch letter, and that I used to pitch editors, but we didn’t opt to dish on the jacket copy of the actual book with the publisher. So, no spoilers, sorry friends.
Now, let’s talk about what this query does so wildly well, and why it grabbed me.
When Agents Say Send the Next Thing, They Mean It: Seriously. I don’t say it wildly often, but every now and again I read a whole manuscript that is so stunning and powerful, but I don’t quite know how to sell it, or I have something similar to it, and I just know I want to hear from this writer again. I’d said it to Adam Sass when he queried Surrender Your Sons, and that went very well. Same thing here.
I knew I wanted to see anything Leslie wrote next, and it was this book. And seeing as I was already a wild fan of her writing from that first project, I inhaled this immediately.
So please. When we say to email that next book, please do. We’re not just being nice. Though a lot of us are nice.
Perfect Comparative Titles: We have nods to Jeff VanderMeer, Stephen King, and Margaret Killjoy. I knew immediately the vibe Leslie was going for with this book, and it absolutely delivered. “But aren’t those authors too popular?” Please, I’m begging you, dear writers. If a comparative title or author is perfect, use the popular one.
When pitching around Jill Baguchinsky’s So Witches We Became, we comped it to Stephen King’s The Mist. It was fine. In fact, it says that on the jacket copy. When we pitched K. Ancrum’s Icarus around, I comped it to The Goldfinch. Again, we did just fine.
A Big Cast, Perfectly Pitched: One of the many remarkable things about Leslie’s book, is that it has a huge cast of characters. Writers often get worried about querying their big shifting POV cast books, but here, she gives us a quick peppering of the people we’re going to meet, without going all in on them. And she sticks to the core of the story… a reporter investigating something strange.
Bringing Up Relevant Writing: I love it when writers dish a little bit about where they’ve been actively publishing. Not everyone does it, because not everyone has that, and that’s fine. But when you do have something to share, bring it up. We like to see that there has been buy-in for your writing in the spaces you’re writing in.
A Note on the Title: Yes, yes, it’s not called People of the Horse anymore. Writers, don’t get too hooked onto your titles. They do often change.
