Mention social media/online presence?

AbbyBabble said:

In a query letter, should I add the fact that I attend writing conventions such as Readercon, Worldcon and World Fantasy? Should I add that I'm represented on all the major social media sites? Should I mention that I run a video blog focused on publishing?

I've been told by a published author: "You must broadcast these things as it shows you’re not afraid to market yourself. No agent/editor wants a wallflower sitting at home writing fluff pieces. They want social media savvy tigers!"

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No. No. No. These have nothing to do with your query, or your writing.

An agent cares about whether the query has an intriguing, promising story and shows an ability to write, not whether you're on Instagram or what trips you take.

Use your query to sell the book.

Once you have an agent interested in the book, you can talk about your social media presence. But it's assumed that most of us have some presence now; and you really don't want to waste any of the space in your query discussing other things. Use it ALL to sell that book.

AbbyBabble said:

"You must broadcast these things as it shows you’re not afraid to market yourself. No agent/editor wants a wallflower sitting at home writing fluff pieces. They want social media savvy tigers!"

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Totally disagree. If you're social-media-savvy, great! If you're not, but you have written a brilliant, marketable book, also great! Suzanne Collins isn't exactly active online. In fact looking at some of my authors on Twitter I'd prefer they spent more time writing books for me and less time messing about.

Torgo said:

Totally disagree. If you're social-media-savvy, great! If you're not, but you have written a brilliant, marketable book, also great! Suzanne Collins isn't exactly active online. In fact looking at some of my authors on Twitter I'd prefer they spent more time writing books for me and less time messing about.

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This. I can't imagine any agent or editor thinking, let alone saying, 'I wish my writers weren't sitting at home, writing; I'd prefer they were on Instagram making friends.'

I don't think the conventions necessarily matter, but you could include your website (which I assume has all of this info on it?) in your signature. I list my Twitter handle in my contact info if I know the agent is on Twitter.

I personally don't have a problem with agents on Twitter. I don't think that maintaining an active social media presence means you aren't producing work. From what I've seen in agent advice online, I don't think they care either way if you're on social media at the query stage.

here's my take: if you have a super-shiny credit, use it. Maybe Janet once asked you to sub to her but you were with another agent, and now you parted ways and are seeking a new agent. Maybe you wrote a martial arts epic from 1800 Japan, and you're both an expert in kendo and have a masters in 1800s Japanese history.

Anything less than that, and it WON'T sell your query, only your query will. It won't even help it over the fence. So if this is true....and you have 250 words....how many of them do you want to use to say you attended a public conference anyone could go to, or have an active web presence? 30? because that leaves you 220 words instead of 250 to use on what, imho, actually matters.


I doubt you'd be rejected for mentioning those things abby, but I also doubt they will help you in any way, an they're robbing you of words you could use to actually sell your query.

You could simply put the url of your website after you name on the query letter. That way if they want to see more, they can.

Those are the types of things that might be relevant to include in the platform/promotional section of a nonfiction book proposal, however.

From everything I've read I wouldn't put all that in the query itself. BUT since you're so active, in your short bio I would say something about it then reference your signature. In your sig I would list (or hotlink though there's no agreement about that as far as I can tell and I bet some agents don't like it) all your social media sites - twitter, fb, etc.

My feeling is that, if they're interested and want to know more about me and my presence, I want to make it as easy as possible without it being intrusive or taking away from the query letter itself.

You put a link to your website under your name. That's ALL you need.

Are you writing non-fiction? If so, I think agents care hugely about your platform.

As part of a conference critique, I received the advice from an editor to add my activities in the writing community to my query. I have done so in most queries since. This may be agent or editor specific. If it's taking up real estate that would be better served by your pitch, cut it. The one page rule wins. Also, read agent preferences in interviews etc. Don't send what they're telling you they don't want.

That said, I don't know that all of the cons mentioned are geared toward writers. My understanding is they are more fan cons. Attending doesn't sell you as a writer, unless the book you are marketing is con related (takes place at a con or the like).

Does the video blog have a huge following? Would these people buy your book? Is your book related to the blog topic? That might be significant, but otherwise a simple link will do.

I'd recommend mentioning it only if the numbers are impressive. Being active on social media and having only 500 followers actually highlights the fact that your numbers are low, but if you have, say 100,000 visits per month to your blog or 50,000 followers on Twitter, by all means mention it as an example of how connected you already are to potential readers and willing to work on marketing/platform.