Successful Queries: Dara Hyde and “Vicious Cycle,” by Jaime Parker Stickle
Find Jaime Parker Stickle’s successful query to agent Dara Hyde for her debut novel, Vicious Cycle; plus, Hyde’s thoughts on the query.
Welcome back to the Successful Queries series. In this installment, find a query letter to agent Dara Hyde for Jaime Parker Stickle's debut novel, Vicious Cycle, as well as Dara's thoughts on what worked in the query and the publishing process.
Jaime Parker Stickle is a writer, podcaster, and professor of film and television at Montclair State University. She is the author of the gripping thriller, “Vicious Cycle: A Corey in Los Angeles Mystery,” and is the creator and host of the true crime investigative podcast, The Girl with the Same Name as well as the hilarious podcast about side-hustles, Make That Paper. Jaime lives in Los Angeles with her husband, son, and fur babies.
Here's Jaime's original query:
Hi Dara,
Thank you, again, for reading my manuscript. I definitely have appreciated the time I’ve gotten to know you through the UCR low residency program and the authors (and books) you represent. I appreciated the notes you gave me during our one on one last June and honestly, your approach to working with your writers - giving feedback, enthusiasm, and being a partner - is, well, it’s awesome.
Corey Tracey-Lieberman is a former television news journalist, new mom, and part-time spin instructor living in North East Los Angeles. But when two teenage girls are found hanged at her local hiking trail, Corey must delve back into the world of investigation and wrestle with her internal demon—Postpartum Panic Disorder—to solve a murder.
#NELA is an 81,800-word work of crime fiction. This is my first novel.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
All my best,
Jaime Parker Stickle
(PS – I hope you are flattered by my diligent note-taking of your query letter lecture. The above is the Mad Lib version, because why mess with the best.)
Check out Jaime Parker Stickle's Vicious Cycle here:
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Thoughts From Dara on Jaime's Query and the Process:
It was short but to the point and other than no bio, it was a great succinct pitch. And she followed some of the tips from a query workshop of mine she attended!
My path to working with Jaime started months before her official query. There are many paths to connecting with an agent, from cold queries, to referrals, to meeting an agent at a workshop or conference. With Jaime it was the latter.
I first met with Jaime at the UCR Palm Desert MFA residency as part of their 15-minute sit down with an industry professional program. She was a new student and full of energy and a bit nervous! But she had this idea she was working on turning into a novel at the program and ran it past me. It was about a new mom who was investigating a murder in Los Angeles, but due to her postpartum anxiety disorder she couldn't leave her baby with anyone, so she was out there with a baby strapped to her chest, looking at crime scenes. I got chills.
And that image stayed with me. Not just the high concept, which was great, but Jaime's voice telling it. I knew there was something there. Since I usually come out to the UCRPD program once a year, I got to see Jaime and even read about 50 pages of her novel in progress when she was graduating. I gave her feedback and let her know I definitely wanted to see it when she was ready to query agents. I really did think about it a bunch before she sent it, hoping it would be as good as I thought it might be.
The thrill when she sent it to me and I loved it! The voice of her protagonist, Corey Tracey-Liberman jumped off the page for me. This was a novel with a sense of urgency, and one only Jaime could write. We then talked about what her vision was for the book and her career, and my thoughts on how to get there, and offered her representation. It's been such a fantastic journey so far and I can't wait for the world to read Jaime's debut VICIOUS CYCLE and get the same chills I got when I first heard about this story.
*****
Dara Hyde is Senior Agent at the Hill Nadell Literary Agency in Los Angeles and represents a wide range of award winning and bestselling fiction and nonfiction, including literary and genre fiction, graphic novels, narrative nonfiction, memoir, young adult, and children’s literature. Her clients include writers such as Angie Cruz, Jamie Harrison, David McGlynn, Samuel Sattin, Jaime Parker Stickle, and Lilah Sturges, and writer/artists such as Paige Braddock, Marco Finnegan, Soo Lee.