Hi there Fuse fans!
I’ve been catching up on my query inbox lately, and I thought I’d talk about something I’ve been encountering a lot, which is ‘personalization’ in a query that actually detracts from the query itself.
It’s conventional wisdom in any number of how-to guides and query workshop classes that it’s always a good idea to tailor your query for the specific agent you’re emailing. This can be as simple as talking about how you follow us on our social media, or how you met us at a conference, or that you love a book we sold. This shows us that you’ve done your research and makes us feel like you chose us for a reason, rather than picking agent names out of a hat. It does make a query stand out in the pile.
That said, it’s very easy for this to go awry.
Here are some common mistakes I’ve seen in my own inbox:
- “You have a proven history of publishing great books.” — Statements like this, general compliments without anything specific, don’t help you. It looks like something you’ve written to appeal to any agent you email, and the ‘you’ here feels dishonest. I’d rather you not say anything personal at all than say something ostensibly personal that feels like a catch-all trick. If there’s a specific title or author of mine that you enjoy, mention them by name.
- “I’m writing because you have had much success in [genre I haven’t sold any books in].” — A variant of the above, except worse because it reminds me of my own failures. 🙁
- “I first heard about you in 2011, when…” — Whatever your context, I didn’t work in publishing yet in 2011. Don’t make up scenarios! I’ll know you’re lying to try to butter me up, and opening with a lie is a bad way to start a business relationship.
- “My novel is a lot like your book [TITLE], because [explanation that does not make sense].” — If you’re going to cite a title of mine specifically in comparison to your book, have a reason why. Otherwise it just sounds like you Googled me, found one of my titles, and filled in a blank on a Mad-Libs query you wrote for any and all agents.
- “We met at [a conference I did not attend].” — I wasn’t there!
- “You’re very good-looking.” — Thank you, but this is creepy. (This is not a humblebrag; I swear, people do this.)
Basically: a little personal touch can be both flattering and attention-grabbing. Just make sure you’ve done your research and the touch is actually personal. We can tell when you’re trying to retrofit a form letter and make it look personal, and I find that to be more of a turn-off than a query with no personalization at all.
– C
