All about the Writer's Aid pack.
Literary agents are a bit like gold dust. For many writers, simply getting an agent is a bigger goal — and a bigger hurdle — than getting published. The trouble is that agents are incredibly busy. Most are utterly flooded with queries. Just acknowledging all the submissions can be a full-time job.
The quickest way to thin out the stack is to discard any query that has any notable imperfection, regardless of the content. That means most agents first read queries looking for any excuse to say no. Yes, they want great books, but they don’t have time to read a chapter of everything.
We’ll be direct: writing a query letter is an exercise in advertising, not writing. The goal is to make the agent curious, and get them to take a closer look — at which point, your fantastic manuscript can hook them. A query letter isn’t there to detail every aspect of your book, or explain how much you want to be a writer, or offer endorsements from second-hand friends. The only goal is to sell the agent on the idea of reading more.
Unfortunately, advertising is a very different beast to prose. Many of the great writers would never have been published if they had been forced to compete for agent attention in the current publishing climate. The skill-set required is just too different, and a lot of authors just aren’t all that good at self-promotion.
We can help. Yes, our editors have written and published more than 100 books, worked as publishers, editors, proof-readers, and as agents. We’ve also worked in advertising — poster campaigns, radio slots, newsprint ads, flyers, mailings, and so on. We know what’s needed to get agents to take your book seriously, and we have the ability to prepare all the material you need.
The Writer’s Aid pack includes:
The cost is based on the length of your manuscript. Due to the amount of work involved, the Writer’s Aid pack is 0.85c per word of your novel. Once you factor in reading the book carefully a couple of times, each pack takes several days to prepare and polish. Email a query (or your manuscript, if you’re keen!) via the contact page we’ll confirm a fee with you for payment via PayPal.
The quickest way to thin out the stack is to discard any query that has any notable imperfection, regardless of the content. That means most agents first read queries looking for any excuse to say no. Yes, they want great books, but they don’t have time to read a chapter of everything.
We’ll be direct: writing a query letter is an exercise in advertising, not writing. The goal is to make the agent curious, and get them to take a closer look — at which point, your fantastic manuscript can hook them. A query letter isn’t there to detail every aspect of your book, or explain how much you want to be a writer, or offer endorsements from second-hand friends. The only goal is to sell the agent on the idea of reading more.
Unfortunately, advertising is a very different beast to prose. Many of the great writers would never have been published if they had been forced to compete for agent attention in the current publishing climate. The skill-set required is just too different, and a lot of authors just aren’t all that good at self-promotion.
We can help. Yes, our editors have written and published more than 100 books, worked as publishers, editors, proof-readers, and as agents. We’ve also worked in advertising — poster campaigns, radio slots, newsprint ads, flyers, mailings, and so on. We know what’s needed to get agents to take your book seriously, and we have the ability to prepare all the material you need.
The Writer’s Aid pack includes:
- A compelling query letter.
- A punchy one-sentence ‘log line’ that sums up your book.
- A half-page summary of your manuscript.
- A one-page synopsis.
- A selection of works that your book is comparable to, and the differences that make it stand out.
- Detailed information on how to target your query letter to individual agents.
The cost is based on the length of your manuscript. Due to the amount of work involved, the Writer’s Aid pack is 0.85c per word of your novel. Once you factor in reading the book carefully a couple of times, each pack takes several days to prepare and polish. Email a query (or your manuscript, if you’re keen!) via the contact page we’ll confirm a fee with you for payment via PayPal.
