Melissa West

  Lots of people give out advice on querying. Some of that advice is very good...and some is very bad. My take is just that--my take--but as I googled every form of query advice I could find when I queried, I thought I should put out my own little list. So here goes: You know that you can't query an unfinished manuscript. What you may not know is that your finished manuscript is nowhere near "finished." It's not even in the same ballpark as "finished." To try to get it closer to that sparkly word, I strongly suggest that when you finish your book you let it sit for no less than 2 weeks. Revise (I focus on plot/story first). Make sure there are no holes. Wait two weeks. Revise again (I focus on character with the 2nd revision). Wait 2 weeks. Read the entire book and make notes. Then clean up your prose. Send the MS to at least two readers. Wait until you receive their feedback to revise again, and when you do revise, pay attention to what they suggested.

Add it: GOODREADS Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple, weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag. .   ... Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal opportunity collector and doesn’t want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment: Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within 10 days. . Dante doesn’t know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky, Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect—he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector, and uncover emotions deeply buried.​    __________________________________________________