How to Write a Successful Query Letter (Example and.
Format your query letter like a formal letter, using a traditional 11- or 12-point font (Courier or Times New Roman), single space paragraphs, and double space between each paragraph. Include the date, your name, address, phone number, and email. Formally address your pitch letter to a specific agent or editor you have located through research. Do not send your query letter on wacky stationery.
It doesn’t matter if you are submitting to an agent, a big New York publishing house, or a small press, you have to have a synopsis and a query letter to go with that manuscript. In fact, many of the big houses, and even some agents, will only accept a query and or a synopsis. Chapters can only be sent later if they ask to see them. Hopefully, the information you’ll find listed here will.
A query letter has three concise paragraphs: the hook, the mini-synopsis, and your writer’s biography. Don’t stray from this format. You won’t catch an agent’s attention by inventing a creative new query format. You’ll just alienate your chances of being taken seriously as a professional writer. A query letter is meant to elicit an invitation to send sample chapters or even the whole.
Your query letter is equally simple, once you learn how. You need to be: 1. Professional. 2. Polite. 3. Fully informative. 4. Brief and concise. 5. Intriguing, but don’t go overboard. Begin by putting your full address and phone number at the top, along with the date. Write the sendee’s full name and address.
Start by writing your query letter. I have a query letter template that is a good place to start, and those same key ingredients (setting, complicating incident, villain, protagonist’s quest) should be present in the synopsis. Think of a synopsis as a longer query letter that always includes how the book ends. You have more room to include.
Query Letter Content. A query letter should be a succinct one-page letter that includes a one-sentence logline, one-paragraph script synopsis, one paragraph about your background, and one paragraph inviting the addressee to read your script. Make every word count!
A Query is NOT a Synopsis. Some resources call the section where you talk about your book the “mini-synopsis.” I want to point out that this label is somewhat misleading. Admittedly, while writing the first drafts of my queries, I took the word “synopsis” to heart. Ultimately, I ended up writing something that was more informative than.