New to Substack so late to the party, but fantastic post. I became a full-time writer during the pandemic after wearing several hats in Corporate America for almost two decades. As someone from the business world, the idea of focusing on commercial value in a query letter never bothered me. Figuring out how to do it - especially for fiction (I've queried one novel unsuccessfully) - was another story. What you've done here, for lack of a more elegant term, is make a "business case." Because the query is data- and market-driven, you've shown there's an engaged customer base as well as demand. Bravo.
For fiction, my sense, as a novice, is comparable titles should help hook your agent, but getting them right seems exceedingly difficult. For example, I used Private Citizens as a comp - to capture millennial angst and the San Francisco setting - and one agent told me during a critique it probably killed any interest because it was a polarizing book. I liked the book and using it as a comp was recommended to me by an editor at Penguin Random House. *shrug*
Luck will always play a part, but data is the hard currency of reality. If you've got some, use it.
All of this is good, Catherine, and the first paragraph is a killer. Thanks for a great start to my day.
Super helpful, Cat. I'm passing it on to everyone I know who's a writer
This is so good. And that query letter is killer!!!! Thank you!!!!
Attended your webinar on 27 July and it was so very helpful. Now following up with all your references. Thanks!
New to Substack so late to the party, but fantastic post. I became a full-time writer during the pandemic after wearing several hats in Corporate America for almost two decades. As someone from the business world, the idea of focusing on commercial value in a query letter never bothered me. Figuring out how to do it - especially for fiction (I've queried one novel unsuccessfully) - was another story. What you've done here, for lack of a more elegant term, is make a "business case." Because the query is data- and market-driven, you've shown there's an engaged customer base as well as demand. Bravo.
For fiction, my sense, as a novice, is comparable titles should help hook your agent, but getting them right seems exceedingly difficult. For example, I used Private Citizens as a comp - to capture millennial angst and the San Francisco setting - and one agent told me during a critique it probably killed any interest because it was a polarizing book. I liked the book and using it as a comp was recommended to me by an editor at Penguin Random House. *shrug*
Luck will always play a part, but data is the hard currency of reality. If you've got some, use it.