Author Tip #1: Email your query, not Snail...Why? Read on!

I hesitated about publishing this post, as agency secrets are best when kept, you know, secrets. Nonetheless, I decided that there was enough personal interest here to warrant filling in y'all weary (and wary) authors to a few suggestions. You may be asking yourself, "Should I email my query, or should I snail mail it?" Well, the answer is a resounding Email.  

Here's why. Say we get a query in the mail, in which the requisite 10 pages are not included (tsk tsk). Should we find your submission even the barest shade of interesting, we are less inclined to print out a request asking for those ten pages. However, if you send your query via email, it's just a quick reply. 

Scenario 2: Perhaps I read an unsolicited query that piques my attention, but that we cannot take on for one reason or another. If the query had been emailed, I might write a brief note stating our thoughts, which I am happy to do from time to time. However, if it is unsolicited snail mail, the convenience of it all is dampened; it is unlikely that I will print out a personalized note to SASE back to the author, when the pile of such mail grows and grows like Act II of Little Shop of Horrors.

Lastly, it's environmentally friendly. And we here at Linn Prentis believe that somewhere, perhaps in the Puyo region of the Amazon, there is a brightly colored bird that has a brain like R.A. Lafferty, or is perhaps the incarnation of Lafferty, or is a distant-but-genius relation of Lafferty, and if we cut down his home, we will be without one of Linn's favorite Sci-fi authors. Again. 

Good luck, fair Authors,
Amy Hayden

T H R O U G H   N O V E M B E R   1 7,   2 0 0 9

Linn Prentis Literary would like to congratulate 

our authors on their success!

  Patricia Briggs

Her mass market paperback entitled  Hunting Ground, the second in the Alpha and Omega series, just shipped 20,000 copies (Ace/Penguin). It was also ranked #6 on the Customer Choice Science Fiction/Fantasy list for Amazon's Best 2009.

Bone Crossed is #5 on on the Customer Choice Science Fiction/Fantasy list for Amazon's Best 2009.

Moon Called reached #6 on the Taiwanese Best-Seller list.

Briggs's graphic novel, Mercy Thompson: Homecoming, has been listed as NYT bestselling graphic novel for 12 weeks.

Amazon's Best Books of 2009 (Graphic Novel/Comic category) listed Mercy Thompson: Homecoming as Customer Pick #4, identifying it as the fourth bestselling graphic novel of the year on their site.

  Kage Baker

 

House of the Stag was nominated for the 2008 World Fantasy Award.

The short story Caverns of Mystery, published in the collection Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy, was also nominated for the 2008 World Fantasy Award, in the short story category.

  A.M. Dellamonica

Indigo Springs has "unreserved praise" from Booklist, and rave reviews from both Kirkus and Romantic Times, among others.

After only two weeks on the market, Indigo Springs went back to the presses. 

Author Submission Guidelines

Fiction - Query With:

Query Letter
Synopsis
First 10 Pages

Non-Fiction - Query With:
Query Letter
Outline
First 10 Pages

Instructions:

The Query Letter should include the titles, genre and word count of your manuscript, previous writing credits, your goals as an author and "a modicum of other personal information and commentary." A single page letter is preferred.

A note on the query letter: though it may be tempting to write your query as though it were a book jacket, we want to know how the plot is resolved. Nay, we need to know!

The Synopsis should be less than 2 pages, single spaced. We also like to see the first 10 Pages of your submission. You may send you submissions via snail mail or e-mail. 

Snail mail should be sent to:
Amy Hayden, Acquisitions Director
155 E. 116th St.
New York, NY  10029

Please include e-mail address in your query letter, as that is the preferred method of communication.


Submission materials should be considered disposable. However, if you include an SASE that is large enough, we will mail them back to you. What is an SASE? A self addressed stamped envelope. You include the postage, and mark your address as the return address.

E-mail should be sent to:  ahayden@linnprentis.com
You may attach your synopsis and first ten pages, or you may include them in the body of the e-mail.

While we certainly try to reply to all submissions, you can be sure that if we re interested in your work, you will be contacted.