The Query Letter That Launched 24 Requests
The other day on Twitter I posted my query letter in case any other querying writers were interested in it. To my surprise, they very much were, and it did some light numbers.
There were lots of questions in the replies, so I thought I’d make a blog post and break down the parts of my letter and talk about why I made the decisions I did.
the metadata
part 1 of my query letter
This is where you get into the nitty-gritty details of your book. Remember, agents want to know
What your genre is
How many words it is
If it’s finished (it should be finished)
Where it would sit on the shelf in a bookstore
These are all things you need to include in your query. The first three are pretty self-explanatory, but comps (comparative titles) trip some people up, and maybe I’ll do a separate post on that. You are showing agents that you understand not only the genre you’re writing in, but the current market. That’s why the recommendation is that comps need to be recent (within 5 years).
Query letters should be pretty brief—the anywhere from 200 to 500 words. Try and keep it to one page, single spaced, 12 point font. Mine clocks in at around 400, which I felt good about.
Once I started getting requests on my manuscript, I added that last line in, updating it when I got requests. I don’t know if this is something most people do, but I wanted to drive excitement for the manuscript and show that it was in demand.
There’s some debate about personalizing query letters—where you add something to that specific agent you’re querying. Since most writers are querying lots of agents, it can get tedious to dig through every agent’s profile or social media to find something relatable. I very rarely personalized my queries, and I got requests from plenty that I didn’t personalize. I only did if there was something very niche about the agent we had in common (a favorite Taylor Swift song, they lived somewhere relevant to me, etc.)
There’s also some debate in writing circles about whether or not to put the metadata at the beginning or the end of the query, and my opinion is this: it does not matter. I tried it both places, and it didn’t seem to make any difference.
blurbs
part 2
This is the meat of the query. The goal is to get the plot boiled down to a few paragraphs—enough to spark interest in the pages, but not overly explanatory (remember, no more than 500 words!).
You need a couple of things in the blurb:
Characterization
Tell the agent who the main characters are. Since mine is a romance, I made sure to describe both my female and male main characters.
Stakes
What is the main character trying to achieve? What could they lose? In my case, Rhiannon is broke. She needs a job, and the quickest way to get one is by asking her dad for one, which she’s loathe to do. Toby has a lot to lose—his fame—and he’s on the brink of throwing it all away because of his out of control behavior.
The hook
What makes this story stand out? Agents get hundreds of queries in their inbox every week. Something needs to stand out and catch their eye. In mine, I talk about how Rhiannon has a job everyone wants, but she hates the band. You immediately get what the story is about.
biography
part 3
This is where you let the agent get to know you a little bit. You can talk about any relevant writing credits you have, training, and awards. You don’t have to have published anything to query!
I also added a line in my bio about other projects I was working on. This gave agents the opportunity pass on this query but tell me to query them with future projects (which happened quite a bit!) and also showed that I was committed to the industry and working on my craft.
Remember: query writing is a completely different skill from writing a book. It’s marketing—you’re selling yourself and your book. Agents have different preferences for queries, and there are many different ways to format them. You have to figure out what works best for you.
I had a lot of help crafting and perfecting mine, so don’t be afraid to ask for input from other writers. There are lots of agents and writers who will do query critiques for a reasonable amount, so if you have had good experiences with any, feel free to list them in the comments!
