Query Letter, More or Less.

[T.T. Lyre]

Hello,

I am a newbie and have been unable to find this info in a thread. Any advice would be helpful, or even a link to a previous thread.

I am currently writing query letters to agents. My book, a Peace Corp memoir, is on the upper end of word count allowances. This is a polished version that has been cut down. It comes in at 110,000 words (ms word) in a genre that has parameters between 70,000 and 120,000.

Is a higher word count daunting for literary agents? If an agent or editor is interested will they tell an author they need to cut it down? Is it better to cut it down to a manageable size before sending a query?

Thanks,
T.T. Lyre

[RJK]

In general, it's better to trim all you can. It's better to say something with fewer words, than more.
I don't know where you got your information regarding the acceptable word range, but for novice writers, it's best to come in under 100K words. It's just the economics of printing and publishing.
Once your book is ready for submission, write a synopsis. In fact write two, a detailed one and a short one. Once you've condensed your book to a one page synopsis, you can use this as the basis of your query letter.
After you've written your query letter, post it in the Query letter section of Share Your Work. Password is vista. The folks over there will tear it apart and help you build it back up into a perfect instrument for obtaining an agent.

[T.T. Lyre]

Thanks,

I will do so.