Before You Query - Part II

Industry

A couple weeks ago I kicked off this duo of articles with Before You Query - Part I. If you haven’t read that yet, I encourage you to catch up before diving in here!

Fun fact about me: My freshman year in high school, I tried out for every single athletic team (except cross country—I was not a runner). And, every single team cut me. But what I lacked in skill, I made up for in enthusiasm, and in one final, last-ditch effort to belong, I attended cheerleading tryouts. And made it! I was a basketball cheerleader all four years of high school, and a lot of that joie de vivre and community spirit has stuck with me to this day. I think that is one of the reasons I love coaching aspiring authors. I believe in you and I want you to succeed. Not only that, I’ll do everything I can to demystify and invite you in. I will cheer you on.

Including as you prepare to query. I talk with writers every week who feel slightly baffled and very intimidated by the querying process. If you’ve completed steps 1-5, here are the next five things to do before you send off that query letter.