The Evil Editor

One YA Author’s Journey to Publication

I’ve blogged about journaling, my most influential teacher, and the research that went into querying, it’s now time to take a deep breath and delve into one of the most painful steps I took while searching for my agent.

I submitted my query to the Evil Editor. (gulp)

In case you don’t know him, the Evil Editor is this wonderfully . . . evil, terribly brilliant guy in the publishing industry who chooses to remain anonymous. You can submit your query to him (via email) for review and critique. The Evil Editor breaks down your query letter and gives you suggestions for improvement. Which doesn’t sound so bad, right? The thing is that the Evil Editor has a wicked sense of humor. Which is why there is such a crazy-huge following of evil minions on his blog. The hard part is when your query is the subject of the Evil Editor’s dark humor. Because no matter how tight and well written your query is, the Evil Editor will find a way to make people laugh about something in there. I promise.

I’ve submitted three queries to the Evil Editor. The first response made me cry. And I do not cry easily. The second went a little better. But I’m not sure if that’s just because I was still, a year later, reeling from the wounds I’d acquired over query one. It was one of those the-anticipation-is-worse-than-the-actual-event kind of moments. The response for query three went better still.

Okay, I’ve talked about the pain. And if you are brave enough to sumbit a query to the Evil Editor, you will feel pain. But I must now explain the pleasure. Because there is that as well.

The Evil Editor and his minions (who respond in the comments, giving you additional revision suggestions) don’t just rip you to shreds and leave you to bleed out in a puddle of your own tears. They point out the strengths of your query, and most importantly, give you strong suggestions for revision. Each time I submitted, I was overwhelmed by the helpful responses when I asked a question in the comments section. Though it’s an amusing format, and the process is bound to leave you feeling as you’ve just been ripped open, it served a very important purpose in my quest for an agent.

Bottom line: Because of the Evil Editor and his evil minions, I wrote a strong enough query to attract the attention of my dream agent, Alyssa Eisner Henkin of Trident Media Group. She plucked me from her slush pile and offered me representation during our first call (you might still hear the echo of my SQUEE bouncing around the universe). A call that I’m pretty sure never would have happened if not for the Evil Editor.

So, thank you, Evil Editor. And thank you minions. Without you, I’m guessing I wouldn’t have my awesome agent, a 2-book deal with Egmont USA, or a publication date of May 25, 2010 for my debut novel, a YA titled The Tension of Opposites!

If you’re in the query process, I highly recommend that you submit to the Evil Editor. First, though, check out his blog and get to know the way he works. And, PLEASE, before you sumbit, make sure you’re well aware of the rules for writing a query letter. (Questions about those rules? Check out my previous blog post “Query Away! 3 Essentials That Helped Me Land My Dream Agent”.)

And now, I introduce you to the delightfully evil Evil Editor: http://evileditor.blogspot.com/

Check out the FAQ’s for an explanation of how it all works and directions on how to submit: http://evileditorsgallimaufry.blogspot.com/2006/06/how-evil-editors-blog-works-faq.html

And since this wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t share my original, totally non-revised query for The Tension of Opposites (which was then titled Buried), here it is: http://evileditor.blogspot.com/2007/10/face-lift-482.html It’s almost hysterical to read because the finished product contains almost NONE of these plot threads. There’s the kidnapped-and-returned Noelle, yes. And the new guy, Max, who Tessa is struggling over. But that’s about it! (I just noticed that one of the evil minions who commented on my query is Maggie Stiefvater! How seriously cool is that?! Thanks, Maggie!)

Good luck!

K