#Queryfail

So, #queryfail has become the controversy of the moment among the unpublished masses. If you were vacationing under a rock on Thursday and missed the fuss, #queryfail was a twitter event, during which agents and editors posted comments about queries they recieved, and why they failed.

Nathan Bransford mentioned here why he had decided not to participate in #queryfail. The response to his comment has been passionate, with many of the writers bashing Colleen Lindsay's professionalism. I love sites like Janet Reid's Query Shark, and I follow a fair number of agents and editors' blogs. Why? Because I want to learn. I also want to procrastinate, and the more blogs I follow, the more time I can pretend I'm not wasting.

While I do think #queryfail was meant to be educational, and not at all snarky, I have mixed feelings about the entire affair. On the one hand, writers who want to learn are being given an opportunity to do so. This is important to me. After all, I'd like to be published some day, and I'd rather learn from the mistakes of others. Oh, I'll make my own, and they'll be impressive, but I won't make the same mistakes others are making.

However, for this purpose #queryfail is superfluous. If you want information on the do's and don'ts of querying, you don't have to look far. Miss Snark's website, sadly no longer updated, is full of valuable information. Query Shark has, thus far, 103 queries critiqued and posted for the wannabe writer's reading, and learning, pleasure. It should go without saying that a writer ought to research agents and editors they'd like to query before they send their package off.

I would argue that any aspiring writer who followed #queryfail already knows where to get the information they need about queries. Thus, #queryfail was preaching to the choir, not reaching writers who need the lesson it provided. The only thing I learned from #queryfail was that somewhere someone wrote a story about bonding over mutual vomiting practices. Gross, but not useful. I also had the opportunity to feel smugly superior, since I know better than to not follow submission guidelines, and we all know how much I like to feel superior. Nice, but not useful.

Was it unprofessional? I don't think so. I don't understand why so many people are making such a big deal out of #queryfail. I didn't find it useful, but had I seen a line from my own query in the conversation, I wouldn't have been upset about it. Well, other than the fact that it would hurt the ego, but egos oughten run rampant anyway.

If you disagree, well, don't send participating agents your query. It's as simple as that. But if you want to be a writer, you should get used to the fact that your writing is going to be judged. And no matter how unfair, you, the writer will be judged. Harshly. By everyone. If you can't handle that, you may want to find a different job.