video1.0<iframe src="https://www.loom.com/embed/4c865bf113734dce85f2e749d3bedc0d" frameborder="0" width="640" height="480" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>480640Loomhttps://www.loom.com480640https://cdn.loom.com/sessions/thumbnails/4c865bf113734dce85f2e749d3bedc0d-full-1685474535844.jpg3705.48Got this link from a fabulous writer friend? Welcome, we're glad you're here! Get the live and replay links in your inbox by signing up at www.thewritersbridge.com. Additional answers for questions in the chat that we didn't get to live! Answered by Jessica Waite: How did you get past the lit agent slush pile without a platform? As much as possible, I took advantage of opportunities for professional feedback (Writer-in-Residence at my local library, blue pencil sessions, pitchfest etc.) A professional writer saw enough promise in my story to refer me to their agent. Sometimes a referral can bump you to the top of the slush pile. KAREN adds: I did get in through the slush pile with many agents. I worked hard on my query and went to a conference (the Muse and the Marketplace in Boston) just to work on it. I also researched each agent thoroughly and tailored each query to them. I think this helped them to be read. I googled each agent and read any interviews with them, as well as looking at their Twitter/Instagram feeds and their agent websites. Time consuming, but worthwhile. The first sentence went something like this: Dear specific agent, Due to your interest is xyz (i.e. "stories with heart" or "serious non-fiction" or whatever) and your representation of specfic author (or some other similar specific i.e. your love of cats), I hope you might be a good fit for my memoir. ___ Did you ask for permission from folks before you quoted them on your website? Yes. ___ Jessica mentioned people who have read her book but if the book hasn't come out yet, how do you get people to read it? Also, can you put excerpts of your book on your website? Like Allison & Karen mentioned, I exchanged pages with Beta readers as I was developing the manuscript. I also gave (almost) everyone who was mentioned in the story a chance to read it in advance. (Not saying everyone should do that—be careful who you share with!) One person binged and shared the manuscript with someone who binged and shared it, and that person binged shared it again. I had to gently ask them to stop sharing it. (Wouldn’t it be awesome and devastating to have the Word doc of your memoir go viral?) I mentioned the bingeing & sharing in my proposal (an example of what I meant by “social proof.”) You can put excerpts of your book on your website, and have them published in other outlets too. ___ Jessica, what was your query process re agents or did you have one thank you I did a very small, tiered-submission strategy. The query letter seemed to be working because I had several requests to read the full ms. Nice rejections came in from the agents who passed. I leveraged their feedback into my successful query. The “cheeky” part of that query was that I essentially wrote, “Here are the nice things other agents are saying about my book. I suspect they’re not signing me because they don’t see how I can be a profitable client. Here’s how you can make money with me…” then I laid out a very low-risk plan to team up and send one email together. That agent ended up signing me and we did a full submission, not just a one-shot. ___ Jessica, your title was BRILLIANT. How much did that figure in getting attention from agent and eventual publication? Thank you so much. I think it made a big difference because the irreverent tone takes the edge off a story that’s quite sad at times. And the anger in the title is an invitation to people who may have felt hurt, betrayed or abandoned. ___ Jessica, I’m curious, because I’m also dealing with the weight of family disapproval and just honoring their feelings— if you had the chance to title your book differently now, would you? And what would the new title be? It’s hard to honor our families and be true to our own stories too. I’m happy with the title as it is (and our son is okay with it) I have a high degree of confidence that my husband would be proud that I was strategic about it. Titles have a big impact on the fate of the book. are I talk a bit about the family reaction, title decision (and at least one of the former titles) in this podcast if you’re interested in knowing more: https://www.trackingyes.com/the-creative-power-of-memory-and-how-it-shapes-our-lives-with-jessica-waite/