Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2011

But...

from my experiences with British Agents, it's very much what they like.

A couple of the agencies I queried give a detailed list asking for theme and motivation etc. very much like David wrote.

From...

reading Ms Snark and the SYW query hell thread and the advice given re writing queries for agents by Americans there is a lot of difference.

My UK editor checked my query and was very strict about it being clear, and factual, and without any skiting or what she called 'over the top' stuff.

Certainly the name agent who kindly read my novel and gave me a crit also said don't rant and rave in the query.

UK query letter

This is the usual advice given to write a query letter in the U.K.

1. Dear...Address by correct name

2. State where you heard of them and why you are approaching them. - 1 short para

3. Tell the publisher/agent about the book - 3 paras
1st para short and factual
2nd and 3rd paras a blurb in the tone and voice of the novel.
This is the meat of the letter.

4. Tell the publisher/agent about yourself. 1 short para

5. End positively

6 sign off correctly not cheers, regards, or anything email style.

N.B.
Be brief and concise
Be chatty yet professional,
Be confident but not arrogant
Save the funny/twee/jokey stuff for pals not editors and agents

My experience with UK agents (and I had several agents reading fulls, and met quite a few at a conference), is that they place a huge amount of emphasis on the synopsis - for some it's the most important part of the package.

Indeed...

they do. And they all have their own version of what they want in a synopsis. When I was subbing 'Jacob's Ladder' to agents I ended up with around thirteen or fourteen different versions of the synopsis.