How to Write Query Letters That Don't Suck

I have entered into a whole new, more challenging part of the writing process: writing a query letter that doesn't suck. If you are a new writer finishing up your first manuscript, just wait...you thought it was hard to press through those lackluster chapters, find words when they wouldn't come, or make your story hold together believably? Nope, that was just the warm-up. Writing query letters...that's when the real "fun" begins.

In writing a book, the author is quite often the sole gateway to what content is placed on the page and how much of it. In writing a query letter though, you have to take all that content and boil it down to a one-page letter that is interesting and unique. The agent runs this game and the trick is standing out from the crowd since they see thousands of query letters a year, each claiming to be from the author of the next Da Vinci Code.

To kick-off this process, I read a few books recommended to me by writer friends as well as more than a few Writer's Digest articles on the subject. The best of the books was How to Write Attention Grabbing Query & Cover Letters, which puts aside the infomercial veneer too many books in this genre take on in favor of practical, concise suggestions for writing great query letters. It also includes some example query letters, which I found interesting but wasn't quite sure they would fit my book or writing style.

Next, I went a little nuts. I wrote sixteen versions of my first query letter over a year before I sent a single one. Thankfully, I started writing them while I was working on my book so they haven't held up my book going out to agents now the manuscript is done. However, I do think looking back this was overkill. My thought at the time the insanity started was that if I just wrote the right query letter, with the right combination of wit, intelligence, and passion, it would unlock an agent's heart (and phone) and convince her/him to represent me. I used the same overbearing process for the SAT and GMAT and that had worked decently well. But looking back now, although this approach helped me hone my pitch, I probably could have achieved the same goal in half the time, with half as many drafts.

So my advice to anyone going through this process now is:

• Read a maximum of two short books and three articles on the subject. Companies will always try to tell you to read more, but...hey...that's because they're often trying to sell you more books on this topic. Unfortunately, writers are kinda suckers on anything that can help us get an agent or a publisher, because quite often we're desperate to get one!
  
• Write up to ten drafts, but no less than five distinctly different ones
• Get them out as fast as possible. You're going to be waiting a long time for agents to write back. So, you might as well rush to the wait.

As far as what to put in a query letter, I have had the most success with the following guidance from the material I've read as well as my own experiments:

• Be Natural: Make the tone of the letter casual, like you are talking to a friend. Think about how many letters agents and publishers get addressed to "Dear Sir". They probably read more letters than Stanford admission officers, most from people with formal offers for the next Harry Potter (riiiiight) that they have to "BUY NOW!". Skip all that hype and standoffish hoopla. Just write your idea down on paper as you would write a friend. That alone will distinguish you.
• Be Concise: If you hear one thing about agents, it's that they have no time. Don't add to the burden; reduce it. Try to make your letter shorter than one page. Use this straight-forward template:
• Open with a simple statement you are looking for representation for your completed manuscript. (If it's not completed, you shouldn't be writing.)
• Specify in the first two sentences the genre and the title.
• Use the first paragraph to summarize the plot. Give the whole plot, including the ending. Agents aren't your readers. They don't care about spoilers. They want to know how the whole story flows before they can judge if it's even worth reading.
• Use the second paragraph to list your qualifications. Do you have subject matter expertise? What have you written before? If you don't have any writing credentials, get some. Write anywhere third-parties will let you. Publish an article for your local newspaper. Do book reviews. Just get your name and your unique voice out there. Then list is in this paragraph as a qualification, within reason. Don't just list a bunch of self-published drivel no one reads.
• Wrap-up with a short statement about why you are soliciting this particular agent or publisher. What authors that she/he represents do you like?
  

Even after going through this, I don't purport to be an expert. This is just what I've found works better than other query letters I've written. With my first query letter, I got further interest in my entire manuscript from Writers House, my top choice agency. Although I didn't end up obtaining representation there, I do think the fact they even responded with a personal note to my inquiry showed my query letter had achieved a certain level. I'll include my query letter here soon. Best of luck with yours!

Kalamazoo!



Christopher