Molly Zenk (keatslove on QT) has recently signed with agent Sharona Moskowitz of Regina Ryan Publishing. Molly, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Congratulations and good luck.



QueryTracker: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?

Molly Zenk: My book HYPERION KEATS is a YA Mystery that I usually call "Possession for teens." Two sisters, Hyperion and Isabella, who also happen to be the great-great-add-a-couple-more-greats nieces of poet John Keats, and the boy next door they're both crushing on find a two hundred year old diary hidden in their attic that is written by the girl who inspired Keats' early sonnet "To A Lady Seen For A Moment At Vauxhall." They follow clues from the diary and Keats' life to discover the Lady's identity.

I've always been a Romantic poets fan, and especially a John Keats fan, so bringing his life and poetry to a younger audience seemed normal and natural to me.



QT: How long have you been writing?

MZ: I started writing short stories when I was 7, moved on to writing novels in high school, and I'm in my early thirties now so it's been most of my life with either a pencil or pen in hand or keyboard under my fingers.



QT: How long have you been working on this book?

MZ: I started it August 2010 and finished my first and second drafts in October and November 2010.



QT: Is this your first book?

MZ: No. I started writing novels in high school but those are never to see the light of day. In college, I wrote one novel that a small press offered to publish but they closed up shop before it could come out. After college, I focused so heavily on teaching high school English and Creative Writing that my own original writing was pushed to the side for five years until my first daughter was born in 2006. Then I went back to writing and finished two more novels in late 2006/early 2007 -- both (Chasing Byron and Unheard Melodies) were accepted by small presses and published in 2008. Unheard Melodies was nominated for Best Book Of 2008 by Long And Short Reviews. After collecting some publishing credits and great reviews, I decided to look for an agent. I wrote a YA romantic comedy -- Ninety Cats And No Litter Box In Sight -- and started querying February 2009. In July, I had 4 offers and thought things were set. Unfortunately, I had a bad experience with my first agent, stuck with him longer than I should have, but finally left in November 2010 after finishing Hyperion Keats and started the agent hunt all over again.



QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

MZ: Degrees in Secondary Education, English, and Creative Writing. I taught Middle and High School English, Poetry, and Creative Writing for seven years so it's easy to go into "English teacher mode" when looking at other people's queries and sample pages.



QT: Do you follow a writing "routine" or schedule?

MZ: I wish I had that luxury! I have two small children at home who do not like to hear "Mommy's working" so it's whenever I can sneak some time in during pre-school and kindergarten schedule.



QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?

MZ: Three. Two times before I even first sent a query and then I I got two revise/resubmit requests. One I agreed with so stopped querying to revise. The other I just let slide. The third revision was pretty major -- switching it from 3rd person POV to 1st person alternating POV and adding 10K to the word count. I'm happy with the results and it got me two offers so third time's the charm for this manuscript.



QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

MZ: No other writers, but I did have who I call "my ultimate beta reader" -- the retired LA Times Book Reviewer -- read it. She loved it and gave me a wonderful quote to use in my query letter. Whenever I would get discouraged, I'd always tell myself "If the LA Times Book Reviewer is a fan, you have to be doing something right."



QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?

MZ: I started querying November 2010. I took a two month revision break from end of December 2010 to end of February 2011 before sending out more. 6 months total, 4 if you take out the revision break. For the offering agent, it was 26 days from query to offer.



QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?

MZ: 79 queries. 30 requests for material, 49 negative responses.



QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?

MZ: Because it's a YA mystery with historical elements, I tried to find agents who were interested in all three genres -- YA, mystery, and historical fiction.



QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?

MZ: Not really unless I read an interview the agent gave and then I'd mention it specifically but I'd mostly just make sure I spelled their last name correctly and used Ms. or Mr.



QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?

MZ: Stay strong and do not give up too soon. If you don't believe in your work, no one else will.



QT: Would you be willing to share your query with us?

MZ: Sure. Here's my query letter:

Dear (Agent's Name),

Saddled with an obscure literary name thanks to her poetry obsessed parents, fifteen-year-old Hyperion Frances Keats, great-great-grand-niece of the John Keats can't shake the feeling of being an after thought to her attention magnet sister, Isabella. It's bad enough Isabella falls out of bed looking perfect, makes the varsity cheerleader squad sophomore year, and has a line of admirers a mile long, does she really need to hone in on the first boy Hyperion's ever liked– new neighbor and Keats fan boy Will too? Even though he doesn't know she exists in "that way", Hyperion hopes her poetry know-how will win out over Isabella's smoke-and-mirrors fashion dazzle. In a less than stellar attempt to impress Will during a tour of the Keats family's antique laden attic, Hyperion falls through a floor board and lands in a secret room. Inside, she discovers a 200 year old diary written by the girl who inspired John Keats's early, mysterious sonnet "To A Lady Seen For A Moment At Vauxhall." Following clues from the diary and Keats's personal life, Hyperion, Isabella, and Will work together to give a name and face back to the mystery Lady of the poem that history forgot. What they find is, in the present as well as the past, perception is different from reality and history rarely gets the truth right. When they turn the last page, their lives and the literary world will never be the same.

Mixing the sibling rivalry of JACOB HAVE I LOVED with the literary mystery of SHAKESPEARE'S SECRET and POSSESSION, HYPERION KEATS is complete and ready to submit at your request. Retired LA Times book reviewer and poet, Georgia Jones-Davis, read the manuscript and said: "This is a very sweet and funny novel. You give the right details to break the reader's heart and explain the necessary Keats background information. I love how seamlessly you weave the diary into the narrative and how gracefully you have paced it so that it really is a page turner." I was previously represented by (Agent's Name) of (Agency Name) on a separate YA romantic comedy project. We parted amicably after 16 months. Though jumping back in the query pool is never a fun prospect, I am looking forward to finding a new agent who is a better fit for my projects and career goals.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Molly Zenk