Author of the middle-grade historical fantasy novel The Story That Cannot Be Told J. Kasper Kramer tells what lessons she learned from writing about the Romanian revolution, and the truths that the histories of other countries can teach us about our own present.
This series is called “Successful Queries” and I’m posting actual query letter examples that succeeded in getting writers signed with agents. In addition to posting these query letter samples, we will also get to hear thoughts from the writer's literary agent as to why the letter worked. The installment in this series is with agent Alyssa Reuben (Paradigm Literary) for Moses Gates's travel memoir, HIDDEN CITIES: Travels to the Secret Corners of the World's Great Metropolises; A Memoir of Urban Exploration (Tarcher, March 2013). Publishers Weekly said, "Urban exploration with Gates makes for wildly entertaining reading. A solidly entertaining ride for those seeking a gritty travel experience."
A travel memoir is a travel writing genre all its own. It is not a guidebook, trip diary or marketing piece for the Sunday paper. Rather, it is a delicate mixture of recollection and reflection that reveals how a journey, or a series of journeys, transformed the writer. Guest column by Susan Pohlman, author of the travel memoir Halfway to Each Other: How a Year In Italy Brought Our Family Home. Good Housekeeping called the book "a remarkable story."
At lunch on the first day of the Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference, a writer ends up sitting next to a guidebook publisher. The writer asks why there’s never been a guidebook to Europe for beginners, and the publisher replies, “That’s a good idea. What would you put in it?” By the end of the conference, the writer has a contract to write—you guessed it—a guidebook to Europe for beginners. by Linda Formichelli
