Basic outline of a query letter?

James81 · Jan 8, 2009

Ok, so I know there's a section here or threads on this, but for some reason I am not finding it, so I humbly ask if there ARE threads (and I know there almost have to be) here about this if someone can link me up to them. (BTW, I've browsed through the stickies in this, the roundtable, and the basic writing forums, and couldn't find a thread that really answered my questions for me).

That being said, can someone give me a basic rundown/outline/whatever of how a query letter is supposed to be constructed? What kinds of things do you put in there? Do you use the same query letter for all submissions?

I'm at the point where I'm ready to submit,and I find myself hopelessly lost as to how to put together a query letter, so any help you can offer would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

ChaosTitan · Jan 8, 2009

Share Your Work --> Query Letter Critique.

Good luck.

James81 · Jan 8, 2009

ChaosTitan said:
Share Your Work --> Query Letter Critique.

Good luck.

Thanks. About 3 minutes after hitting submit, I looked in there and found that. lol

I guess the most daunting part about this is figuring out who to send this too. I mean, I can pretty much tag my novel as either a literary (or perhaps a Young Adult...kind of iffy on that and it could go either way), but even narrowing that, it's kind of hard to figure out who to send to within those groups. Seems awfully daunting.

I have a copy of the Writer's Market guide for finding agents, and it seems like there are so many of them and not sure if I should just broadstroke hit everybody on the list or send a few out at a time or what.

ChaosTitan · Jan 8, 2009

Another good resource to use is AgentQuery.com, and search for agents who rep literary and mainstream fiction.

My advice is send out queries in batches, around ten or so per batch. See what happens. If you get straight rejections, it's possible there's something wrong with the query and you can try to fix it before querying more agents. Mass-querying everyone at once doesn't give you a chance to fix potential mistakes.

maestrowork · Jan 8, 2009

There is indeed information abundant on this site....

Here's a general template:

[Letterhead if sending via regular mail]

Dear [Name of Editor or Agent]:

[Introduction -- e.g. I'm seeking representation for my 100,000-word epic fantasy entitled TITLE.]

[Paragraph 1 of brief synopsis -- introduce the premise, the main characters and the central conflicts... give them a hook.]

[Paragraph 2 of brief synopsis -- further explain the story and end with final sales pitch to make them ask for more.]

[Credentials (skip this if you don't have any)]

[Closing -- thank them for their time and blah blah blah.]

Sincerely,
Your name

[contact info follows -- if sending via email]

Charlie Horse · Jan 8, 2009

Search Nathan Bransford's blog for his mad lib approach to query letters. Sorry, I'm too lazy to provide a link.

Prawn · Jan 8, 2009

And my advice is to make it SHORT! Agents are busy. Mine was 214 words. A brief query will almost guarantee that the agent will read your whole letter.

scope · Jan 8, 2009

I imagine you know that agents are loaded with work of all sorts, including the reading of query letters. Knowing this, you not only have to write a terrific query, but it's imperative that you grab their attention in the first paragraph (the one after "I'm seeking representation..."). Make sure you give them a reason to read on.

Prawn · Jan 8, 2009

James81, do you have a finished, critiqued, exhaustively polished manuscript? If not, I wouldn't worry about the query letter yet.

If you have one, and are ready to query, then keep in mind that writing a query letter can take a long time. Mine took several weeks.

James81 · Jan 8, 2009

Prawn said:
James81, do you have a finished, critiqued, exhaustively polished manuscript?

Of course I do, or I wouldn't even be thinking about doing this.

Basic outline of a query letter?

James81

Great Scott Member

ChaosTitan

Around

James81

Great Scott Member

ChaosTitan

Around

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Charlie Horse

Speaking in metaphors

Prawn

Writing is finite,revising infinite

scope

Commonsensical Maverick

Prawn

Writing is finite,revising infinite

James81

Great Scott Member