Youâve written your book, youâve had it edited, and itâs polished and ready to be queried. What now? For writers looking to pursue traditional publishing, a finished manuscript isnât enough. Understanding market expectations, industry standards, and common timelines can help curb disappointment and get your head in the publishing game.
In this live webinar, weâll:
⢠Explore how to effectively search for agents whose tastes and client list strongly align with you and your work.
⢠Learn how to strategically pull together a list of prospective agents to query, including understanding where to look and what to search for.
⢠Understand what supplementary materials youâll need as part of your querying package. For fiction writers, this will include a strong query letter and polished opening pages. For nonfiction/memoir writers, this will also include a synopsis and a book outline in addition to the query letter and opening pages.
⢠Review examples of strong vs. weak query letters and what differentiates the two apart
Traditional publishing means getting comfortable with rejection but understanding how to play the game strategically can give you the upper hand when entering the querying trenches. Learning the dos and donâts of querying will significantly increase your chances of finding the right agent who will wholeheartedly believe not only in this one book you have finished, but in your career as an author and all the books to come.
This live webinar will be interactive with plenty of time for questions and answers.
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Meet the instructor
Nikoletta Gjoni
Nikoletta Gjoni is an award-nominated writer, an editor, and a writing coach who has been in the querying, publishing, and editing trenches herself. As a writer, she has experienced the highs and lows of having agent representation. As an editor, she was worked closely with writers to polish their manuscripts, clean up their query letters, and guide them through the process of submitting their work for representation. Deeply embedded within D.C.âs writing community, she also facilitates monthly in-person creative writing workshops out of Kramers Books and does virtual creative writing coaching with writers of all ages and experience levels. Her stories have appeared in multiple anthologies and have been previously nominated for the PEN/Robert J. Dau short story prize, Best of the Net, and Best Microfiction. She was a scholarship recipient in 2024 for the Salty Quill Writers Retreat in Maine and will be a 2026 writer-in-residence at Chateau dâOrquevaux in France. Originally from Albania, she especially loves stories that grapple with immigration, identity, family dynamics, and folklore and mythology. You can find out more about her and read her work at www.ngjoni.com.
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