Im in ur acknowledgment page checkin ur namez
Sorry for the LOL-cat-speak in the title, but it’s been a while since I got to play with the “Im in ur blank blanking ur blank” meme. I never got sick of that one.
Last week I worked on my query letter. This week I face the thought that I’ll actually have to send the query letter out. As a MiGWriter friend reminded me, it’s all about targeting.
There are lots of ways to find out who you want to send your query to, but one way is to study the acknowledgment pages of the novels you read. Many authors, especially debut authors, thank their agents and editors in the acknowledgment. It also helps to match books with their publishers. That gives you an idea of who is publishing more commercial or more literary, more YA romance or more middle grade adventure. Checking the agents’ names is a great way to see who has experience selling quiet books, or historical, or high fantasy, without searching through a paid subscription to Publisher’s Lunch. The trick for me is getting into the habit of writing down the names in the acknowledgment pages before I return my library books.
The extra bonus you get from studying acknowledgment pages as a regular part of your reading: the enjoyment of querying an agent or editor and being able to say that you loved one of their (or their client’s) books.
- Kate
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I keep telling myself to start a spreadsheet, but I haven’t yet. Is that bad or what? But you are so right! Matching your book to a similar style book in print is a great happy start to agent searching. Good luck!
Great advice if you’re job-searching, too, and you want to end up in the publishing industry!