I think this series might be permanently moving to Sunday since Saturdays seem to disappear without me even thinking about the blog!
Today I’m pleased to welcome my agency sister, Caitlin Whitaker to Off the Page, sharing the query that landed her an agent.
Just a quick reminder about this feature…
- All these featured queries worked! Meaning they snagged the attention of an agent or editor. These books are now represented or published, or both.
- These queries are not perfect. They don’t have to be. This is to show aspiring authors the kind of query that works despite imperfections.
- These authors aren’t looking for critique on their queries since these books are already represented or published, but have kindly agreed to allow me to showcase these queries to help other authors currently playing the query game.
You are of course welcome to comment on all the queries!
Caitlin Whitaker is a displaced city girl and a highly caffeinated mother of five. Currently playing house in Cornhole, Tennessee, Caitlin spends her rare kid-free moments writing YA fiction and posting pictures of the pretty swirlies in her lattes. She loves zombies, dark chocolate, and her super hot husband. Her turn-offs include turtlenecks, anything curry, and Nissan Cubes.
Having been raised on a healthy diet of Stephen King and Anne Rice, Mrs. C cultivated a deep love of psychologically imbalanced antagonists and snogging scenes.
Find her blog here, tweets here, and short stories here.
And now for the query…
Maggie Parrish inherited her brown eyes, her sense of humor, and her cause of death. For Maggie, the old family farm seems like a place where she can finally fit in. She has no idea how much she looks like her grandma, who died years ago in a fire, or how much the small town still gossips about the Parrishes.
The boys from town only make complicate things. There’s serious heat with Kurt (the rich kid) but he gets clingy fast and Maggie ends up with an older guy, Will Riley. Before she can let Kurt down easy, rumors about his violent breakup with an ex-girlfriend get around to Maggie and she keeps quiet about Will. Kurt’s obsession with her reaches its boiling point when he finds out about Will and Maggie and he’s far more dangerous than they thought.What Maggie doesn’t know is that all of this—the dreams, her grandma, the boys–is leading up to one explosive night that has already played out on the Parrish farm. A night both Maggie and her grandma have been through once before.Maggie Parrish is going to burn.
Caitlin received four offers of representation before signing with Brittany Booker of the Booker Albert Agency.
So what do you think?
