When I’m writing a book, I write up a query even if I don’t need to. It helps me figure out what the book is about, and how to talk to people about it. It’s a good skill to practice!
Isle of Teeth doesn’t fit into a neat genre category, so I made a few different pitches. I’m adding these to give you an idea of the thought process behind how I wanted to position the novel to sell it. In the end, the pitch my agent sent out to editors was a combination of these, and the back cover copy is very similar to the final pitch.
Revolution Query:
Matiu Frankel joined the Empire’s military to escape the nightmare of his childhood: the voices in his head, his father’s experiments, his dead witch-mother’s secrets, and the revenants his family created. Now 17, Matiu faces one last task before he can leave his homeland behind forever: to infiltrate the rebellion that his mother’s death worshiping people, the Songi, are waging against the Empire.
Calyx is a revenant that was pieced together by the Frankels. She’s spent her life left to rot on an island prison when the Frankels abandoned their laboratory. When Matiu accidentally provides a way off the island, Calyx escapes. She has three weeks to find a cure for her ailing siblings, before the sickness that plagues them all finally kills her.
Lost and overwhelmed in the city, Calyx turns to Matiu for help and begins to believe that perhaps not all humans are her enemy.
And Matiu wrestles with the realization that the Songi might be justified in their fight against the Empire. His growing feelings for the revenant complicate everything, because both sides want the same thing: Calyx.
Horror Query:
When Matiu Frankel dreams, he sings to keep the monsters at bay. He’s not the only one trapped in the nightmare: anyone nearby is taken by the music, ready for Matiu to command when he wakes. If the Empire finds out he knows the forbidden Songi art, he will be executed, but he can’t stop, because the monsters in his dreams are real.
Calyx is a revenant. She’s spent half her life trapped on the Isle of Teeth; left behind when the scientists that created her abandoned their experiments. When Matiu accidentally provides her a way off the Isle, she takes the chance to escape. She has three weeks to track down her makers so that she can find a cure to save her ailing younger siblings, before the sickness they are all infected with takes away both her free will and sanity.
But there are worse monsters than revenants stalking the mountains. Little do Matiu and Calyx know, the same voice speaks to them both in dreams. Amidst a growing insurrection, what the Goddess of Death demands is vengeance – and she would use them both to drench the city in blood.
Love Story Query:
Matiu Frankel is wanted for murders he didn’t commit. To save his life he’s on the hunt for the real culprit: a monster of his father’s creation.
Calyx has spent life trapped on the Isle of Teeth; left to rot behind when the scientists that created her abandoned their experiments.
When Matiu accidentally provides her a way off the Isle, she takes the chance to escape. She needs to track down her makers so that she can find a cure to save her ailing siblings.
Lost and overwhelmed by the city of Martinel, Calyx turns to Matiu for help and begins to believe that perhaps not all humans are her enemy. And Matiu finds his growing feelings complicating things. But to win his freedom, Matiu needs to deliver what both sides of a growing revolution want most: Calyx.
Which one do you prefer?
