THE OUTSIDE's query letter
Everything Is True
Ada Hoffmann's author newsletter
Since I’ve handed in the copy edits to THE INFINITE - and since there’s been talk about the querying process going around on Twitter - I thought I’d share with you a copy of the query letter that got me an agent, and eventually a midsize publisher, for the first book in the series.
You’ll see that the book in the query has a different title than the one it was eventually published under. (This is common - the original title was too close to the titles of some other recent books by the same publisher.)
You’ll also note that, while this letter follows the usual recommended structure and format of query letters, I didn’t stress too much over some of the things that people on Twitter will tell you to stress over. For instance, I kinda have comp titles, but they’re really just comparable authors’ names, and they’re not in the gimmicky “X meets Y” format that we’re often told to use these days.
After doing a lot of research into various agents and putting them all into a priority order, I sent out between 10 and 15 queries to the top agents on my list. (I’ve lost the records that would have told me the exact number.) This was a mix of well established agents with newer ones who seemed like they wanted to specialize in the kind of writing I was doing or that kind of author I am. From this batch of queries I got 3 full manuscript requests and 1 offer - from a wonderful agent who was already one of my top picks.
This is a faster process than most, but it’s not a complete outlier. There’s a lot of variation in what the querying process is like for different authors, for all sorts of reasons. I don’t have an easy explanation for why mine was faster than average - it wasn’t because of any specific pre-existing social connection to anyone at the agency involved. It just happened that way.
Keep in mind, of course, that I originally sent this query in late 2015. The industry changes quickly (and it did take a long time after signing with my agent to find an actual publisher).
Here’s the letter:
Yasira Shien, a young autistic physicist, just wants to do science. But when her new reactor catastrophically malfunctions, she finds herself hunted by "angels" - powerful cyborg servants of the quantum supercomputers that Yasira's society worships as Gods.
According to the angels, Yasira's reactor is just one incident in a rising tide of disasters - an intentional pattern designed to break the fabric of reality and usher in horrific beings from beyond space. They believe that the woman behind it is Yasira's long-vanished mentor, Evianna Talirr. A woman Yasira thought she could trust. A woman that, according to the angels, only she can find and bring to justice.
Spirited off to the edge of the galaxy and with her whole planet's fate potentially hanging in the balance, Yasira must quickly decide who to trust. The ruthless angels she was taught to obey without question - or the heretic scientist whose plans could change everything she knows.
False Gods is a complete novel at 120,000 words. Its suspenseful space opera with a Lovecraftian twist will appeal to fans of Elizabeth Bear and Ann Leckie. It contains diverse #ownvoices characters including more than one queer autistic woman written by a queer autistic author. It is the first in a planned trilogy.
I am writing under the pen name Ada Hoffmann. My short stories and poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in venues such as Strange Horizons, Asimov's, Uncanny, and Shimmer. My short story "You Have to Follow the Rules" was long-listed for a 2013 BSFA Award.
Thank you very much for your time.