Relevant Credits vs TMI in Queries

If I’m an unpublished author and I don’t have any relevant credits, what should I put in that paragraph in the query where authors list their previous publications and qualifications?

I covered this a while ago in my post on query letters, but it’s come up again recently and I thought I’d give it its own space.

Everybody starts somewhere, and it’s okay to be querying your first manuscript and to not have prior credits to your name. If you don’t have anything to put in that paragraph, just leave it out.

“I’m an unpublished author” or “Publishing a book has been a dream of mine” or “I don’t have anything to list here” just draws attention to the fact that you don’t have anything to list. It’s okay. You don’t have to. Just don’t include the paragraph at all. Pointing it out only draws attention away from the real focus of the query: your work.

The query letter also isn’t the place for your “about the author” biography, or for the sort of personal background information you’d put in a resume. Unless it’s directly relevant to the sort of fiction you’ve written, your publisher, editor or agent doesn’t need to know where you went to college, how old you are, your family or relationship status or romantic preference, or what you do as a day job.

The example I like to use for relevance is Dragon Moon Press’s own Chris Jackson. Chris writes nautical fantasy, so when he describes his extensive sailing experience, and the fact that he lives on a boat full-time, his life experience is relevant. We know we’re not going to have to fact-check any of the technical maritime details in his novels: his qualifications tell us that he knows his stuff.

If, on the other hand, you’re writing a nautical fantasy and you haven’t got extensive experience with the sea, you don’t have to say so in your query. Just don’t mention your own experience at all. It’s okay. Either it will come across strongly in your manuscript, or it won’t. You don’t have to say anything in the query that might lower the recipient’s first impression of you.

If you’re a university professor, a journalism major or a technical writer, if you’ve read a lot, or even if you’ve got an English degree, that doesn’t necessarily tell me that you know how to write fiction. Some of the sloppiest grammar I’ve seen in submissions has come from teachers and university professors. They’d have done themselves a favor just leaving the personal information out entirely. Not once has listing a degree or job position that wasn’t directly related to the content of the manuscript, ever actually swayed me in favor of a query. Never.

Unfortunately, the ban extends to adverse life circumstances, too. Your manuscript will have to stand on its own, so it’s important that you let it. If you’ve overcome great medical or situational odds in your life, that’s fantastic. If someone decides to champion your manuscript, that can potentially be a marketing platform. But when you’re writing fiction and you’re not writing your personal success story, the two are not the same. In non-fiction, it’s potentially a completely different situation. But in fiction, unless it’s relevant to your manuscript — unless your personal experience is with autism, say, and you’re submitting a manuscript about autism — leave it out.

A fantastic manuscript by someone who’s beaten the odds has a chance to become a real contender in the marketplace. A mediocre manuscript by someone who’s beaten the odds will probably only ever have a chance to become a mediocre book.

When people throw in sad personal stories or offer extreme age or youth or some other personal life situation as a marketing platform, it does two things: it makes me feel like they’re trying to earn my sympathy in order to secure a publishing deal that way instead of on the strength of the book (which in turn makes me suspect that the book isn’t going to be strong), and it makes me feel like I’ve just kicked a puppy if I end up having to reject the manuscript. Just leave it out.

There’ll be a time and place to share your personal history later in the process. Let someone decide to champion your book first, and then wow them with the fact that you wrote such a great piece of work despite personal adversity.

In short, no publisher, agent or editor will think less of you for leaving out the “relevant credits and experience” paragraph if you have nothing to add. It’s okay to be the strong, silent type. In my opinion, it’s better to be a mystery than to offer too much information. Make them fall in love with your manuscript and then come to you and want to know more.

And please don’t make me kick puppies. I like puppies!

Tagged as: Chris Jackson, query letter, submissions