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The Query Letter Workshop
This workshop will demystify the dreaded query letter—the standard cover letter which should accompany any submission authors make to an agent or publisher, and the first thing agents and publishers read. Taryn Fagerness of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency will teach authors about the main parts of the query letter and how to WOW with that letter. She’ll bring examples of good and bad letters, talk about finding “ammunition” to help your letter hit harder and about how to distill the essence of your project into this one important page. She’ll also do on-the-spot critiques of participants’ letters. To get the most from this workshop, participants should bring their finished query letters. Register early! This workshop is sure to fill. Taryn says, “I look for a spark, something the instantly connects to my mind and/or my heart. I’m particularly drawn to highly original concepts and voices; I like an element of the unexpected in fiction. I want to think: I would never have thought of that in a million years! I want to learn something about our world or about myself that I never knew. But above all I look for great writing, great story, and a great ending. In non-fiction and memoir I look for ‘quirky’ topics (think competitive eating, cadavers or earth worms) and narrative, even in a serious environmental project I like an over-arching story.” Read Taryn's "Ten Tips on How to Approach a Literary Agent," in the Writer magazine.
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Taryn Fagerness works for the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, an agency known for guiding the careers of many best-selling authors including Amy Tan, Maxine Hong Kingston, Kate White, Irvin Yalom, Eric Foner, Peter Irons, Diane Mott Davidson, and Janell Cannon. Taryn is the subrights manager handling foreign rights, film, audio and merchandising rights and she is also an agent working with both unsolicited and solicited project submissions. She specializes in mainstream fiction, women’s fiction, memoir, narrative and ‘quirky’ non-fiction particularly that with a science or environmental angle and, occasionally, gift books.
