Please do not make X-rated jokes in your queries. Especially if they do not make sense. And especially if they have nothing to do with the cookbook you're presenting--which just happens to be a straight-laced cookbook that could have come right out of the 1950s.
Now, cookbooks of this variety are just fine. I'm all about the period piece book. But your tone (as an author) should match that of your work--or I'm going to wonder if your project is more Betty Crocker--or I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. Do you see Martha Stewart making dirty jokes? (Unless they're about stain removal?) Or, for that matter, Gael Greene suddenly advocating chastity and a straight-edge lifestyle?
No. You, as an author, are also a character. This is just as true in pitching as it is when you're reading your published work in front of an audience.
9 comments:
LOL - I know this is serious, but sometimes it really strikes me as funny the things that people put in query letters. I know you're supposed to let a little personality come through, but if mine was X-rated, I might seriously consider holding back:)
You really don't make this stuff up for our amusement? Maybe the author planned to pair the 50s-ish tone of the writing/recipes with...um, never mind. People are weird.
How about limericks? Do you enjoy a good limerick with your cookbook pitch? Knock knock? No? Just in general then huh? Alright. Time to rework my query...
Cookbooks and X-rated jokes. Yeah, somehow they don't go together.
I hadn't thought of myself as a character. That lends a whole new terror to query writing, lol!
Hi Kate,
No, I *really* don't make this stuff up! I couldn't! It's too bizarre! The joke involved Popeye, Olive Oyl, and spinach (so I guess it being spinach, it's a little related, but it felt like a total non sequitur in the pitch).
Hi Julie Lindsey,
I would much prefer a clever limerick.
Do you watch (well, listen to) Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me?
I love that show.
Hey GK,
My first trip away from the kids was to see Wait Wait with a few friends in Chicago. And it is even funnier in person, if that's possible.
Now, Karl Kassel is a man who knows how to make a pitch.
OMG I thought I was the only person I know who knew what Wait Wait Don't Tell Me is!
Well Whadd'ya Know? ("Not much, you?")
:)
Julie: LOL. Knock knock.
Who's the--
I'm your next client, that's who!
Try that one, let me know how it goes. LOL.
Post a Comment