Querypalooza 2024
2 Parts | Tuesday, July 9 and Tuesday July 16, 2024 | 5:30 – 7:30 pm
$70 Members | $90 Non-Members
James River Writers is bringing back this popular program that provides an in-depth Master Class on query letters, plus a one-on-one meeting with a query expert to get personalized feedback on your finished product. See the details of each component below. A recording of the master class will be provided to all registrants for a limited time following the close of the program.
Part 1: QUERY LETTER MASTER CLASS (Online) with Literary Agent JENNIFER UDDEN
Tuesday, July 9, 2024 | 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm Eastern
Join instructor/literary agent JENNIFER UDDEN as she helps you demystify the querying process. Learn what to include in your letter to agents and what to skip, how long it should be, and what to say if you don’t have many (or any) writing credits. You’ll leave with a new level of comfort and a road map for making your query the best it can be.
Once the class is finished, apply what you’ve learned to your query letter and be prepared to submit it ahead of your one-on-one meeting with a query expert. You’ll be provided instructions on how to submit your query letter when you register. This will allow your query expert to review your query letter ahead of your private meeting.
LITERARY AGENT JENNIFER UDDEN Your Master Class Instructor
With over a decade of experience agenting, including time spent at the Donald Maass Agency, the Barry Goldblatt Agency, and New Leaf Literary, Jennifer Udden is very excited to now join the team at Laura Dail Literary Agency. She has worked with a wide variety of notable authors of genre fiction, among them New York Times bestsellers and Hugo award finalists and winners. She’s also worn many other hats, including comics recruiter, freelance editor, and romance novelist, has a soft spot for the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, and runs a weekly newsletter about publishing & writing called “A Faster No.” |
Part 2: Query Letter Private Consultation (Online)
Tuesday, July 16, 2024 | 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm Eastern
Once you’ve completed the master class and apply what you’ve learned, you’ll have the opportunity to meet with an expert to get private, valuable feedback on your own query letter. You’ll meet for 15 minutes via the Zoom platform. Having submitted your query letter to your expert ahead of your meeting, you will be able to use your time together to give you personalized feedback to apply to your letter. Appointment times will be scheduled first come, first served, and space is limited. Don’t miss out! Details about your one-on-one appointments, including your assigned time slot, will be sent via email. We are unable to take requests for specific time slots or experts. When you register you will be asked to provide your genre so we can use that information to pair you with the best query expert possible.
Query Letter Experts
Bill Blume
Bill Blume’s love for the written word started in high school with an addiction to comics that was later hijacked by novels such as Frankenstein and Dragonflight. The first book in his young adult, vampire hunter series, Gidion’s Hunt, was published back in 2013. His adult fantasy debut, West of Apocalypse, was released in August 2023, and nominated for an Indieverse Award. The Dragon Spy, his young adult Cold War novel, comes out this October.
MM "Peggy" Finck
| MM Finck is a niche editor who specializes in queries, pitches, opening pages, and overall story analysis, doing business as the Query Quill, established 2014. She was granted the first ever interview with the Editor-in-Chief of Amazon’s Lake Union Publishing. Among MM’s clients’ and interviewees’ successes are chart rankings, bestsellers, and two adaptations to television series – one Apple, one Prime. Her own work is represented by Katie Shea Boutillier of the Donald Maass Literary Agency. She cherishes connecting with writers. By all means, find her on social media. |
Tracey Livesay
Tracey Livesay’s latest release, The Duchess Effect, is the sequel to 2022’s American Royalty, which evokes the real-life romance between Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle, if Meghan was Megan Thee Stallion. She’s been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Entertainment Weekly. A former criminal defense attorney, she lives in Virginia with her husband—who she met on the very first day of law school—and her three kids.
Melissa Scott Sinclair
Melissa Scott Sinclair is a fiction writer, essayist, and journalist. She is the recipient of the 2023 Lit/South Award in Fiction and the 2021 Michael Kenneth Smith Novel Fellowship. Melissa’s bylines have appeared in The Washington Post, Audubon, Richmond magazine, and other publications. Look for her piece about the ancestral dens of the timber rattlesnake in WILD LIFE, a book forthcoming in 2024 from Atlas Obscura.