Top 10 “Do”s and “Don’t”s of Writing a Query Letter

You wrote a novel! Now what? NaNoWriMo’s “Now What?” Months are here—this February, we’ll be helping you guide your novel through the publishing process. Today, literary agent and editor Elizabeth Kracht shares her definitive list of things you should and shouldn’t do when querying:

Query letters are your calling card
in publishing and shouldn’t be underestimated. They’re pretty hard for authors
to write because they’re technical pieces of writing, not creative. I’m a
fairly relaxed agent, and our agency allows unsolicited submissions, but some
agencies only want to see the query, which means you’ve got one shot. Here are my top ten query letter “Do’s and Don’ts” to help your query letter stand out–in a good way.

DO:

1. Address
the agent as you would in a business letter: Dear. Mr. or Ms. Blank:

2. Give
one line about why you think your work may be a good fit for this agent.

3. Have
your next line lead with the genre, title, word count, and two comparable
titles (books similar in style to yours).

4. Create
a summary paragraph of your novel (150-200 words).  Be economic with words and introduce your
main character, setting, and inciting incident in the first line. In the summary,
tell us what sets your character off and what continues to drive the story and
characters forward. Give us a sense of what’s at stake for your main character
and add a couple of additional plot points. Make sure there is a sense of
tension and urgency in your summary, and end it at a climactic point.

 Here’s an excerpt
of what I used to pitch my author Danny Gardner’s historical thriller A Negro and an Ofay:

On
the run after killing two crooked cops, disgraced Chicago PD Detective Elliot
Caprice finds himself in a jailhouse in St. Louis on false charges. He enlists
friends from his hometown of Southville, IL, to secure his release and returns
to find the family farm in foreclosure and the man who raised him dying in a
flophouse. Consumed with guilt over his past crimes and desperate for money, he
accepts a straight job as a process server for a civil rights attorney and
eventually crosses paths with a powerful family from Chicago’s North Shore…

5. Tell
us about yourself in an author bio (75-100 words) listing where you live, any
degrees, your job, writing credentials or published works, your author website
address, and whether you are active across social media. This section will be
larger for some and shorter for others. If you don’t have much to place here,
simply say something like you’re a debut author living in X and your website can
be viewed at Y.

DON’T:

6. Address
your query to more than one agent at a time. Chain email submissions are
deleted.

7. Oversell
or undersell yourself. Take the middle path. Most authors do one or the
other—claim to be the next J.K. Rowling or that they’re a “nobody.” Those authors
who don’t oversell or undersell themselves really
stand out.

8. Use
gimmicks to get our attention. Sometimes authors are too conversational and
informal in their approach and language. Again, think “business letter.” When we
read a straightforward, well-written query letter, we sit up straight.

9. …Forget
to attach your materials and double-check for typos! Our agency uses a
submission form, so we won’t let you forget your materials, but other agencies
may not. And don’t get rejected for typos in your query. Double-check everything
before you hit send!

10. Be
ungrateful or discouraged if you receive rejections. Rejections, from our end,
are not personal. There can be any number of reasons why we reject a project (from
a full list or illness to the need for development, we have a similar project,
and more). Know there are hundreds of agents out there, and new ones blossoming
all the time. So don’t take it personally. Don’t give up. Say thank you. And keep
submitting your work until you find your person.

Elizabeth K.
Kracht is a literary agent with Kimberley Cameron & Associates and a
freelance developmental editor. Her websites can be viewed at www.elizabethkracht.com and www.kimberleycameron.com.

Top photo by Flickr user Francisco Martins.