Get Ready to Query Your Novel (in-person seminar series)

Instructor: Sara Read
$60 Members | $65 Nonmembers
Saturdays, 6/11/22 and 6/18/22| 2:00– 4:15 p.m.

Before signing up for this in-person class, please read the following statement about requirements to enroll:

All in-person students must be fully vaccinated and provide WriterHouse staff with proof of vaccination. For summer term, masks are optional, but in the event of significant Covid-19 upticks, students must be prepared for the mask policy to change and to transition to a virtual platform if necessary. No refunds will be issued if in-person classes/seminars need to transition to an online format.

This seminar series is designed for writers who are or will be seeking literary representation for middle-grade through adult fiction. This seminar will cover some general information on the landscape of traditional publishing but will be focused mostly on the nuts and bolts of putting together a query package and strategy. We will discuss and practice how to write (or rewrite) a query letter, how to think about “first pages” i.e. the first 5-50 pages of your book, how to find agents who might be a good fit for your work, how to vet them, how to stay organized, and how to maintain your mental health through the highs and lows of the querying process. This seminar is appropriate for writers who are already querying, but want to up their game, as well as writers who have a finished, or nearly finished, a manuscript and are planning to start querying in the near future.

Sara Read writes contemporary fiction that aims for both the heart and the mind. Her debut novel, Johanna Porter Is Not Sorry, comes out March 7, 2023, on Graydon House Books (HarperCollins/HQN). Sara’s short stories have been featured in The Missouri Review, Beloit Fiction Journal, and Zone 3 Press, and she has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is represented by Laura Bradford of Bradford Literary Agency.

Before she started writing fiction, Sara got a degree in Women’s Studies from U.C. Santa Cruz. She tried the nine-to-five life for about a nanosecond before moving to rural Virginia to become a flute-maker’s apprentice and traditional fiddle player. Some years and two babies later, she returned to school for a master’s in nursing. A cancer survivor herself, she now has the distinct privilege of caring for cancer patients.

Sara lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband, two teens, a terrier, and three snarky cats. She loves a long run, a long road trip, and a long talk with a friend.

Registration for this seminar series is closed.