the query letter

The Query Letter

When you query a publisher you may get a faster response as opposed to a full proposal or manuscript but not necessarily a favorable one.

There is such a thing a giving too much information, but query letters tend to provide too little information…you want to include enough to get the editor’s attention – The query should not be too broad ranging or brief. The sort of thing, “I grew up in the former Yugoslavia and I’ve written a book about it…” is not going to pass muster. You need something more solid than this.

As an editor, you’re looking for a writer who is authoritative, has the personal experience if this is a personal story, has a style, which will even show in the letter, and a story that has a real hook. It should be one of the more fascinating letters you read in your life, not just another “I want to write a book about Boston because it’s great…” or some such, but a letter that has some potential at the other end of the line…. overall, there are too many query letters, I think, and most of them are bad. It has become a lazy way out with people writing a one page letter that is milque toast bland.

Your author should, if they are smart, provide a good bio of themselves (third person) with their credentials, a few sample pages perhaps, a rough outline or table of contents doesn't hurt, and the letter itself is a writing sample, so pay attention to how that is written as well, because if the author did not, then that's important too.