How to Write a Kick-Ass Query Letter
Querying a book is both a lot simpler and a lot harder than it may appear. Simple, because there are very specific things you need to include, and there is a very simple outline you can follow to make sure those elements are present. Hard, because holy cow – creating a compelling short synopsis of your book in one or two paragraphs is a major challenge!
The first thing to understand is what a query does: Sell your book! That is its purpose. Think of it as your cover letter, and the first 1-10 pages of your manuscript as your resume. The job of your cover letter is to get the hiring manager to read your resume. The job of the resume is to get the hiring manager to request an interview. Therefore, the job of your query letter is to get the agent to read your first pages. The job of those first pages is to wow the agent into asking for more pages – even your full manuscript.
Your query letter needs to pop. Agents receive hundreds of queries per week. Three hundred or more is not unusual. As you can imagine, agents are skimming a lot. Something needs to grab them right away. It does you no good to have a fantastic story but a dull, pedestrian cover letter that fails to convey anything compelling.
Some logistics to get out of the way:
a. Your query should be no longer than one page
b. It must be addressed to a specific person, and the query itself should be personalized (i.e., you need to give a reason why you are querying that specific agent: you met them at a conference, they represent other books you love, their wishlist includes ideas like those featured in your story, etc.)
c. Use 12-point font, single-spaced. Don’t get fancy.
d. Be sure to spell the person’s name right. And their pronouns. If they are a woman, “Ms.” is an acceptable address. You will find all this out in your research.
The components of a query letter
First of all, use your Pitch. If you need a refresher on this, please see my post #PitMad? No problem! The Ultimate Guide to Creating the Perfect Pitch. This introduces your main characters, main conflict(s), and stakes/consequences if the conflicts aren’t resolved. Your Pitch may be your Hook, or the elements of the Pitch may be woven into the Mini-Synopsis to create a compelling reason for the agent to read your first page(s).
Your Hook: This is usually the same as, or based on, your pitch. You can find many, many examples at the AgentQuery link below. It must be a catchy introduction that grabs attention immediately.
Mini-synopsis: This expands upon your Hook. The difference is that you need to be specific as to time, place, and important details. However, and this is a big one: It needs to capture the essence of your story, not just your plot. You aren’t going to be able to tell us in one paragraph everything that happens in the story. You need to capture what it means to the protagonist. In other words, conveying the protagonist’s Arc of Change is important.
Homeschooled her whole life by her very conservative family, sixteen-year-old Cecily Davis is excited when she’s awarded a special scholarship to a private high school – and her parents actually allow her to go. But when she arrives, she finds the other kids even stranger than she imagined. They all seem to be super-fast, super-strong, and super-intelligent. Some of them swig what seems to be blood from their water bottles. The lunchroom talk is not just of parties but battles, from which some students never return.
Cecily soon learns that all the demonology stuff her parents made her memorize is real, and she is part of an experimental group of young humans who will be paired with vampires to fight demons who make their way into our world. But when all hells breaks loose – literally – and a full-scale demonic invasion ensues, Cecily has to figure out not only how to stop them, but also how to get Joshua, the cutest vampire in school and her reluctant partner, to ask her to prom. All before the dreaded Final Exam, which will mean Cecily will either graduate with flying colors, or die.
Okay, not brilliant, but you get the idea. These first paragraphs should also be in the same tone as your story, whether that’s humorous, quirky, horror, or drama. This of this as “back copy” for your book, or what a potential reader who picks up your book is a store would read on the back or inner flap.
Handle: This is your book’s genre and length, as well as any comparative titles you can think of. For example, “DEMON HIGH is a YA romantic-comedy-horror story, in the vein of Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Shadowspell Academy. It is complete at 80,000 words.” And yes, your novel must be complete before you query. Only certain types of nonfiction books are sold on the basis of a book proposal and a few sample chapters.
Word count should follow the usual guidelines for your genre (and age group if writing for children). Too low or too high, and you risk being rejected.
Comparative titles, or comps should generally be popular books published within the last 5 years, but can also be classics, or movie/TV shows that genuinely represent the tone or type of your story.
Your reason for contacting that agent in particular: Were you referred by someone else? Is your your book similar to other books represented by that agent? Does your story seem like a particular fit for that agent’s wishlist? Note that if it’s a referral, or a request from an agent you met at a conference, this paragraph should come first!
Your bio: This should include your previous publishing credits (if any), plus any other relevant information such as having your MFA, or special expertise on the subject. Not a full autobiography!
Finally: Thanks, and that you are looking forward to hearing from them soon.
That’s it! But whatever you do, take your time with it. Don’t be in a rush to get it out the door. Agents will have very specific ways they want submissions, and you must pay attention to every detail, and give them exactly what they want. You will only have one shot to get their attention. You can’t resubmit to that agent unless it’s a major revision, and even then, it’s dicey. You definitely can’t submit and then resubmit a week later because you just thought of a better opening paragraph. Too late! Save it for the next agent.
Many agents now use Query Manager for submissions. This is a form that asks for specific things, including many things that should already be part of your query letter. It may also ask you to paste in your actual query letter (agents can personalize the form to ask for what they want). Some writers find this easier, since the agent is asking for exactly what they want and there are clear fields to be filled in with answers. Others find it frustrating to be asked for the exact same thing they already have in their query. Agents use Query Manager because a) many people still don’t know how to write a good query letter, or understand what it should include; and b) they can quickly scan for certain components to see if it’s a good fit.
The best thing is to create a general query template with all the above information, and then personalize your query according to each agent. We’ll go over researching agents in a couple of weeks.
There is a ton of advice out there on querying – blog posts, books, mini ebooks, etc. But you don’t need to tie yourself in knots reading every possible piece on the topic. Two of the best are:
How to Write a Great Query Letter – written by agent Noah Lukeman; available as a free download from amazon.com.
http://agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx - page listing many great examples of hooks and how to construct a query letter (this site is also a fantastic source for agent research).
