In today's Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe critique three query letters during which they discuss the 'hook, book, cook' method; the importance of layering emotionality and depth; writing a narrator that starts as a child and becomes an adult; and the line between emphasis when writing, and not being confident in what you're writing. They also critique a query that was previously submitted to the podcast and discuss the changes that the author made.

After which, Bianca chats with Heather Dixon about her debut novel, Burlington. They discuss the various paths to publication; Heather’s querying process; how she found her indie publisher; pitching your book in a 3-line social media pitch event; the query letter that got her requests for fulls; incorporating the personal universal element; beta reader feedback and revisions; the intentionality behind POV choice; the emotional rollercoaster of debuting; managing contracts without an agent; and her advice for writers currently in the query trenches.

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More information about Heather can be found at www.ramonaausubel.com. She's on Twitter @hdixonwriter and Instagram @heatherdixonwriter.

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