The May SCBWI meeting in Columbus featured Juliana Lee. Juliana is both a writer and a literary
assistant at The Purcell Agency. She spoke with our group about her experience
working with agent Tina P. Schwartz and offered advice on
how to craft and submit a winning query letter.
Juliana decided that she wanted to focus on her publishing dreams when she retired from teaching. She joined SCBWI and attended conferences, ultimately meeting Tina through a webinar. They hit it off and Juliana became a reader for Tina, which led to her growing into the role of a literary assistant. (And Tina eventually became her agent, too!)
As a literary assistant, Juliana reads query letters and
manuscript submissions, weeding out the bad submissions (i.e. those that don’t
follow directions, are addressed to the wrong person, etc.), and passing along
ones that she thinks have promise.
Juliana made it clear that Tina has the last say; she likened herself to
a sounding board and trusted advisor. Juliana explained that agents have to
make really tough choices, especially when many of the submissions they receive
are GREAT. But Tina helped her think about “the best of the best” in a new way:
pretend you're at the book store with $20. What will you buy? Although there are many
wonderful books, you can’t purchase everything.
You have to be picky and choose wisely, even if you really want to buy everything on the shelves.
So how can you make your submission stand out? Juliana shared some great suggestions based
on the fantastic submissions (and terrible ones) that have come across her
desk:
1) Make sure you follow the agency’s submission guidelines,
especially when it comes to attachments, accepted genres, and information they
request to see in the query. Each agency has different policies, so be sure to
do your research.
2) Make your query as short and to-the-point as
possible. Agents receive dozens—even hundreds—of
queries a day. Remember that your manuscript will speak for itself, so keep your
letter short and sweet so the reader can dive right into the good stuff!
3) If you met the agent at a conference or have some other
personal connection, be sure to note that in the query.
4) If you’re querying multiple agents (which is the norm
nowadays), DO remember to change the name in your letter! Agent Y does not want
to receive a letter addressed to Agent X—and it happens more often than you
think. (Yikes!)
Lastly, Juliana reminded us all to keep submitting and never
give up. The publishing industry is a subjective business, and just because one
agent says, “No,” doesn’t mean that every agent will say “No.” (And remember
that anytime you get personal feedback from an agent, it means they saw promise in your work and you’re on the right track!) She
sagely recommended listening to the Beatles’ song “Hey Jude” and thinking about the lyrics in terms of the
submission and revision process:
Hey Jude, don't make
it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better
A big thank you to Juliana for sharing her experience and advice
with the group! You can find out more
about Juliana on The Purcell Agency’s website at thepurcellagency.com and her personal author
website at julianaleewriter.com.
If you want to learn more about COSCBWI, be sure to visit the group website at http://ohiocensouth.scbwi.org/
If you want to learn more about COSCBWI, be sure to visit the group website at http://ohiocensouth.scbwi.org/
Note: Juliana Lee's photo is from The Purcell Agency's website: thepurcellagency.com
