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Jacqueline C. Thomas - Romance Novelist

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Beta Reader

The Irony of a Query Letter

May 29, 2019 by jackiecthomas Leave a Comment

(Like the perfect cocktail, the ingredients for the perfect query letter must be just right)

 

When I wrote The Lake Michigan Affair, the book I am currently querying, I didn’t set out to write a book that I would want to publish. I had written my first book, ever and had loved the process. My husband encouraged me to do it again, to write another book. I wrote The Lake Michigan Affair during NaNoWriMo. I had a loose idea of the story and the first sentence when I started. I knew Rosalie, the main character really well, her voice was strong.

When I finished the book, I walked away in awe of what I had created. I never thought I would write a book, let alone two, up to that point, and in a month no less! I edited the book and handed it out to my two trusted beta readers. I braced myself, just because I thought it was good, didn’t mean they would. They both came back with constructive criticism, a sign of a true beta reader, but overall said I needed to publish the book, it was more than good enough.

I have spent the past two years, editing and revising, making it as perfect as I possibly can to go out in the wide world. Finally, after much prodding, I decided to try to publish the book. I knew I wanted to go the traditional route. Leave it to me to take the more difficult route, not that any publishing route is easy. I began to read any resource I could get my hands on to start crafting my query letter.

The query letter is the letter that you send to a potential agent about the book you have created and who you are. Basically, it is the sales pitch for your book, the first of many. I started back in February, naively thinking I had written a great letter. I sent the letter out in earnest. The first draft of the letter held most of the components needed, in a loose order as they should have been put. If I am being honest, it was a trainwreck.

Here is where the irony comes in, I am working on a Master’s in Public Relations, I know how to study and learn, I write marketing pieces every day, yet I cannot seem to get this letter correct. I was commenting to my husband my distress at not getting that magical cocktail that is the query letter correct, and my deepest fear that my query letter is destroying any real chance that the book will even get looked at.

What is even more ironic is not being able to sell my own work in a letter. I write marketing pieces almost daily.  I know that I really only have to get it right once! If an agent asks for the entire book or more pages, I know I have got the “query cocktail” right. Now, I am speaking completely out of my depth here, but I am hoping to only have to ever query an agent once. I have several books finished, and I do not want to go through this process for each one, I would like to be a wealth of work for my agent. This idea may be completely absurd, maybe each book has to go through the process each time.

As painful as it is, I could handle the work not being good enough but my fear is that the agents aren’t even getting past the letter. I continue to scour the internet for advice, tips, tricks. I am not a quitter and I know that the best things in life are earned. I am earning this, hopefully, each letter revision at a time. I feel like that famous line from, Game of Thrones, “You know nothing, John Snow,” but more like “You know nothing Jackie Thomas.”

There are no shortcuts to where I want to be, well maybe there are a few, but they are not in my reach. I can’t buy my way in, nor am I the child of any celebrity, so I am going to have to keep plugging away, head up, shoulders back and onward.

Filed Under: Beta Reader, Querying, The Lake Michigan Affair

An Open Letter to Beta Readers Everywhere

March 2, 2019 by jackiecthomas Leave a Comment

(Photo Credit: Image by Wokandapix from Pixabay )

If you have a writer in your life and you are close to them, chances are you have been asked to read and review their work. You are what is known as a Beta reader, the first ones who get to look at new work. I have been a beta reader for the author’s in my life and let me tell you this is never an easy job. Sure, it sounds like fun, reading something someone you know and love has created, but let me tell you the fun is fleeting.

I didn’t truly understand how to be a beta reader until I started writing on my own. Sure I would read and give some feedback when asked, but it wasn’t in depth and more importantly, it was not always honest. At the time I was more concerned about hurting the feeling of the author’s I loved rather than be totally honest and risk hurting their feelings. It wasn’t until I was asking my own beta readers for feedback that I realized I used to suck at being a beta reader.

The first time I asked others to read my work, I recognized the niceties that were being said. I had said the same things. Stephen King talks about writing for your ideal writer, one person that will be brutally honest. I am very lucky, I have two, who are also both authors. I remember when my sister read my first book, she called me and said, “Okay, we’ve got to talk about this scene.”

One of the characters in it has to go buy a car, she’s in college. She chose the car she bought because she told herself she did not need a family car.

My sister was blunt, “college girls are not thinking about family cars.” She was right and she was honest, and it stung. I remember thinking about all of the rationales why my character would have done that, telling myself I was right when I heard my inner voice say, “stop!” My sister was being an excellent beta reader, she was being honest, to the point and helpful. She didn’t call me with hurtful words, she called with a well thought out critique.

The whole experience was an ego check, something I think everyone needs, but no one likes. I learned to shut up, not argue and listen to the advice given. As a writer, I learned that when someone reads your work and does not give constructive feedback, it doesn’t help you grow as an author. It takes more love and care for a person and their work, to be honest with them.

Now when I am asked to beta read, I don’t jump in right away. I ask myself if I can be honest, really honest with the writer. Sometimes I know I can, and other times I can’t so I decline to read. I try to be an active beta reader and give useful feedback. With the author’s permission, I make notes. I want my reading to count, to be helpful.

I always tell my beta readers, “if I don’t know there is a problem, I cannot fix it.” I stand by this. I also prepare myself mentally for a reader to come back and trash the work. Luckily I have never had that happen, but I know it might someday. The point is that both the beta reader and the author are putting themselves out there, in a vulnerable spot.

So that being said here are my rules to test if you’d be a good beta reader.

  1. Can you be honest.. really honest? – If you can’t, don’t read the work.
  2. Be timely- I am terrible at this (sorry Lauren) The author is waiting for feedback.
  3. Be constructive in criticism- Give the author directions to work in
  4. Be detailed- “It needs work,” is not helpful. What exactly needs work?
  5. Be willing to re-read if necessary.

 

Filed Under: Beta Reader Tagged With: Beta Reader

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