Writing the Query Letter
- Nathan Rubin
- Apr 8
- 8 min read
Introduction
If you’re a writer, you’ve surely heard these two buzzy words before: Query Letter. These documents are infamous in the publishing industry, and are essential to the process of turning a manuscript into a published book — a query letter is what gets you the chance to get your manuscript off the document and onto the physical published page. Without it, the process of getting published would be much harder.
Query letters are widely regarded as important documents, and after spending a little bit of time in the industry, you’ll be exhausted from hearing the same two words over and over. However, not everyone knows what separates a good query letter from a bad one.
And what does a well-written query letter look like? How can a writer ensure their query letter puts them in the best position to be picked up by an agent for representation?
In this blog, we hope to answer those questions. We’ll quickly give some context about query letters and then we’ll get right into the part that matters — how to write a good one.
“We’re telling them our truth, that’s our gift to them.” – Peter Coughter, The Art of The Pitch
Prerequisites – Things You Should Know
A query letter is sent along with manuscript to agents to get a book deal with a publisher. You first need an agent to accomplish this.
A query letter is like a job application. If your manuscript is the meat of your application, the résumé, per se, then the query letter is your cover letter. It is a one page, 200–400 word document that serves as a quick introduction to your manuscript.
Agents are busy people, and the condensed format of a query letter helps them sort through manuscript submissions to see which ones they’re interested in.
The query letter should have all of the essential information regarding your manuscript (which we’ll talk about below) and be neatly formatted for an easy reading experience. Obviously, success comes in different forms, but the best query letters follow a tried and true formula. For many authors, a good query letter is what gets their foot in that first door and eventually leads to a book deal.
Warm-Up – Before You Dive In
Before you learn more extensively about the query letter, challenge yourself to a practice activity. Take a look at these successful examples and take note of only the portion of the query letter that summarizes the book itself. It should look similar to what’s on the back cover of any given novel.
Now, bring to mind your manuscript. If you don’t quite have a completed manuscript yet, bring to mind your best idea for a story. Now write a roughly 100–200 word pitch for it. Later, we’ll break down the pitch and look at a successful example, and you can evaluate your pitch based on these guidelines.
“It’s the book that matters.” – Nathan Bransford
Writing a Stellar Query Letter
A good query letter is composed of four parts. As Chuck Sambuchino puts it in his book Get a Literary Agent, these parts are “the simple introduction, an effective pitch, a writer bio, and contact information.” By developing your ability to write all four of these components, you will have a solid query letter ready to submit to agents. Now let’s go through them in more detail.
The Introduction
The introduction is quick and simple but it’s a two-parter. First, you want to have a sentence that introduces the work in the simplest possible language. Be sure to have the title, the word count, the genre, and the completion status (which, in almost all cases, should be completed). For example, “MARIGOLDS is a completed work of literary fiction with a word count of 80,000.”
Second, you want to establish some kind of connection with the agent. Tell them why you’re submitting specifically to them. Do they represent authors exclusively in the same genre of your manuscript? Did you see that the submission wishlist on their website matches your manuscript? Did you see or meet them at a conference lately? Be personal, but be brief. For example, “I saw on your agency’s website that you’re actively looking for science fiction submissions with a focus on climate disaster. For this reason, I thought you would enjoy my sci-fi novel, The Final Sunset.”
The Pitch
The pitch is the most important part of the query letter. Think of your pitch like an extended version of the logline for a movie. It should give the agent an idea of what your manuscript is about without giving too much away. It should hook an agent into curiosity about your story, but it shouldn’t give too much detail. Usually a pitch is between three and ten sentences. It’s similar to what you’d find on the back or sleeve of a published book at the store. See this example of a good pitch, which is from a real successful query letter featured on Andrea Bartz’s Substack Get It Write.
“Josie has spent the last ten years trying to escape her family’s reputation, and with good reason: her father was murdered, her mother ran away to join a cult, and her twin sister stole away her high school sweetheart. Josie has finally put down some roots in New York, settling into domestic life with her partner Caleb. The only problem is that she has lied to Caleb about every detail of her past. When a podcast begins reinvestigating the long-closed case of Josie’s father’s murder, Josie worries that her world will unravel. After the death of Josie’s mother forces Josie to return to her Midwestern hometown, she must confront the unresolved relationships of her past and the lies on which she has built her future. The journalist producing the podcast becomes more dogged (as shown through excerpts from the podcast and tweets), and Josie’s sister reaches an emotional breaking point. Josie overcomes her long-simmering resentment toward her sister to help her in her time of need, and the truth about their father’s murder is finally revealed.”
This pitch is concise, humorous, and informative. It gives the agent an idea of the author’s writing style without revealing too much, and gives a great summary of the book without spoiling any of the twists or its ending. And, as a bonus, it’s quite a lot of fun!
The Bio
Here is your chance to self-promote. The bio should have any information about you and your history that an agent would find relevant to you and your book. This could include previous published books, awards, a large social media following, memberships, and other accomplishments. Don’t load them up with unnecessary information like your pet’s name or your age. Just give them the run-through and get on with it!
Here’s an example bio: “My name is Shake Annister, and I’m a short fiction writer and novelist. My work has been featured in The Atlantic and The Paris Review, and I am published in literary magazines such as Adroit and Bomb Magazine. I am a fully-funded MFA candidate in fiction at the University of Michigan.”
Now, this is obviously quite an impressive bio, and yours need not be at this caliber. But hopefully this example can serve as a guide for how to format and word your bio, whatever qualifications it might include.
The Contact Information
This is perhaps the most self-explanatory of the bunch. Simply have a final sentence that thanks the agent for their time, and tell them where you can be contacted. Your name, phone number, and website/blog/social media platform are good things to include here. You might also include your email address, but consider that the agent might already have this information given you should be sending your submissions via email.
Example Query Letters
Let’s take a look at a good and bad example of a query letter. First, let’s look at a good one.
Wonderful! Now let’s look at a query letter that isn’t so good. This query letter is a satirical example written by Greg Levin on his blog, Scrawl Space.
The distinction is clear! Although you may have an instinct to try to stand out among all the submissions, you don’t want to stand out too much, as that can give you an automatic no. It is best to follow convention and let your writing and manuscript speak for themselves. Be unique, be yourself, and be informed. That’s the best way to write a good query letter.
“The query letter has one purpose, and one purpose only: to seduce the agent or editor into reading or requesting your work.” – Jane Friedman
Other Tips
We’ve gone through the process of writing a query letter, but there are some lesser known tips that may help you succeed in the query letter writing process. Here are some of the most essential tips.
Don’t predict the future (Don’t tell the agent you want a film adaptation, or that your manuscript will make them rich, or that you’re the next big thing. No!)
Spell names right! Double-check that you spelled the agent’s name right or that you didn’t accidentally write down the wrong name on your query letter. This is an instant kill.
Don’t tell an agent that you’re a new writer, or that you just finished writing your manuscript.
Finish and edit your manuscript BEFORE writing your query letter, period.
Don’t apologize for anything or second-guess yourself in your query letter. You want to look like a confident, experienced writer who believes in their work.
Conclusion
Although it may be a one page document, writing a query letter is by no means an easy task. Some authors claim that describing their entire book in one paragraph is harder than writing the book itself. Nonetheless, the query letter is one of your most important tools as a writer—it helps you enter the world of agents and publishers, which you need if you want to be published in the traditional system.
Just remember these core ingredients when writing your query letter, make sure you aren’t falling victim to any common mistakes, and revise before you send it out to agents. If you do all of this, you’ll be putting your best foot forward, and hopefully your manuscript will emerge from the slush pile. Good luck!
Resources:
Get a Literary Agent by Chuck Sambuchino - Veteran editor and writer Chuck Sambuchino outlines the ins and outs of getting a literary agent in the modern publishing landscape.
Successful Query Letter Examples That Attracted Top Agents - Former publishing professional Alyssa Matesic walks us through real successful query letters, sharing the success stories of each.
How to Write A Bad Query Letter - Jennifer Wright outlines the most common mistakes writers make when writing and submitting query letters to agents.
Successful Query Letters: An Ever-growing List - Writer Andrea Bartz collects real examples of successful query letters by famous authors in a digestible list for writing hopefuls.
Nathan J. Rubin is an Editorial Intern at A.E. Williams Editorial, assisting Lead Editor and Owner A.E. Williams. He is from the Carolinas and plans to graduate from Emory University in 2025 with a BA in English and Film & Media Studies. He hopes to pursue a career in the publishing industry.
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